Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 365 Ranking List Released
There's no rush to increase the number of computer users; we should wait until the job season ends before promoting it.

Masato Takeshita simply shared his ideas with the relevant personnel and then waited for everyone to refine them.

"Let's leave it at that for now. I'll leave the rest to everyone."

"No trouble at all, President!"

The employees attending the meeting responded loudly in unison.

Although adding an extra step to the recruitment process will increase the workload, the current dire situation in Japan makes everyone very willing to work more.

Yes, employees in Japanese companies today are very willing to work overtime without pay.

Because everyone is afraid—afraid that the company will go bankrupt and they will become part of the unemployed.

There is no perfect policy in this world; every policy has both advantages and disadvantages.

Taking the current mainstream lifetime employment system in the Japanese workplace as an example,
The advantage is that employees are rarely dismissed by the company unless they resign on their own.

At most, you'll be sidelined and receive fewer year-end bonuses and benefits.

The downside is that after the company went bankrupt, the vast majority of employees couldn't find formal employment. Former high-earning professionals from large corporations could only find jobs as convenience store clerks or small restaurant servers.

Companies prefer to hire recent graduates rather than employees who have left other companies.

Of course, this is a prominent characteristic of Japanese domestic companies.

Xinghai Group does value recent graduates, but it also recruits talented experienced individuals.

Last year alone, they recruited more than 2 skilled workers.

Every company under the Xinghai Group is in dire need of experienced workers and is eager to recruit more.

After the meeting ended, Masato Takeshita was about to send the message to Nobutaka Kurashige, the head of the China region, but he quickly abandoned the idea.

Different countries have different circumstances, so we cannot simply copy others' methods.

China's economy is not doing well right now, and even if Xinghai Internet Cafe exists, not many college students are willing to spend money to go online.

One hour of internet access costs the equivalent of several days' living expenses for an average college student, which is far too expensive.

"Should I implement a policy allowing ordinary college students to access the internet for free at night?"

"No, no. Not only will it make it easy for others to take advantage of it, but it will also affect the grades of some students."

Masato Takeshita wanted to use Xinghai Internet Cafe to improve the computer skills of Chinese university students, but after careful consideration, he decided to give up.

There are too many vulnerabilities, and it's difficult to manage.

University students learn quickly anyway, so let's help them improve during the internship.

In fact, Xinghai Group trains interns in computer skills not only in China but also in other countries. This way, new employees can get up to speed more quickly when they officially join the company.

However, internship opportunities provided by one's own company are far from enough.

Takeshita Masato thought about it carefully, then leaned back in his armchair and muttered to himself.

"Well, after we distribute the money, let's donate more computers to the university."

Developed countries are okay, but universities in developing countries are really lacking in computers.

Taking China as an example, even with annual donations from the Xinghai Group, top universities like Tsinghua and Peking University still face a shortfall. For other universities, the shortage is even more severe.

However, given China's rapid development, the gap in computer technology can be largely filled before the 21st century.

"Let me think, how much should I donate?"

"Okay, let's purchase 100 million units first."

Masato Takeshita plans to donate to universities worldwide, with a minimum of 500 units per university.

This will significantly reduce the gap in basic undergraduate computer skills between universities in developing countries and those in developed countries.

In addition to computer-related majors, biomedicine, chemistry, business, and law will also be key areas of donation for the Xinghai Foundation.

The STEM fields can help Xinghai Group's various companies make better progress, while the humanities and business fields can help Xinghai Group accumulate a large network of contacts.

Countries like the US, Japan, and Europe primarily govern with degrees in humanities and business; key national positions are mostly held by graduates of humanities and business universities.

“Scholarships for students from impoverished backgrounds, as well as scholarships for outstanding students, should also be provided. The publicity effect of this is even better than direct donations to schools.”

"Of course, the best way to promote this is to donate the building or establish the Xinghai Class."

Schools around the world have gone to great lengths to secure donations.

For example, if you donate a building to the school, the school can name the building according to your ideas.

For example, if you donate a large sum of money to a particular subject at the school, the school can name a top-tier class after your idea.

Masato Takeshita plans to follow Lei Jun's example and donate money to establish the Xinghai Class at the university, which will focus on tackling computer technology.

In addition to schools, donations from local government departments were also planned by Masato Takeshita himself.

This part is more important to the Xinghai Group at present, and he cannot delegate it to his subordinates.

However, he didn't have that much time, so he only drafted an outline, leaving the details to his employees.

After roughly planning the donation ratio, Masato Takeshita chose to seal it away.

Xinghai Fund has not completed all transactions and will need to wait a little longer.

Donating money is easy anyway; a proposal can be easily completed in just a few days.

After briefly outlining the donation plan, Masato Takeshita glanced at the time on his computer desktop.

"It's already noon, no wonder I'm a little hungry."

Takeshita Masato habitually tidied his appearance and strode towards the second canteen.

Xinghai Group now has five canteens at its headquarters, meeting the dining needs of more than 5000 employees.

Of these, he liked the second canteen the most, as it suited his eating habits.

"Boss, give me an egg roll, a salt and pepper shrimp, and a tempura."

"OK, just a second."

Food cultures influence each other, and before we knew it, a large number of Chinese and Japanese cuisine windows appeared at the Xinghai Group headquarters.

It can be used to cook not only Chinese food, but also traditional Japanese food.

But that's normal, since KFC even had preserved egg congee after entering China.

After lunch and a short nap, Masato Takeshita picked up the phone to call his secretary's office.

"Uchida-san, have you compiled the relevant data on telecommunications companies from various countries?"

"It's all packed up, I'll bring it over now."

"Okay, and brew me another pot of tea while you're at it."

"Yes, President!"

The booming internet stock market in the mid-to-late 1990s also greatly benefited related industries. As the foundation of internet communications, the telecommunications industry saw its companies experience a dramatic increase in market capitalization.

The Zodiac Fund, under the Xinghai Foundation, will at least double its initial capital in the next phase. This will be in addition to the Solar Terms Fund, collectively owned by Xinghai Group employees, and the Poetry Fund for Takeshita Masato.

Internet projects alone cannot meet investment needs.

Therefore, telecommunications, semiconductors, chips and other related industries will be the focus of Xinghai Fund's next round of investments.

Although Xinghai Group had already made plans in this regard, the initial focus was on helping Xinghai Electronics sell mobile phones. Now, they are thinking of making money through stock trading.

Of course, selling mobile phones is still an important part of the project, but its priority is not as high as it was a few years ago.

In 1994, the fastest-growing telecommunications industries were in the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Among them, Vodafone in the UK was considered the most aggressive in the industry.

Vodafone, which focuses on the mobile market, has not only invested heavily in the UK, but is also expanding its presence around the world.

Vodafone Mobile has a presence in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

“Good target, we must invest in this.”

During the period of rapid development in telecommunications, the growth of established giants was not as fast.

Both NTT in Japan and AT&T in the United States have a lot of problems.

NTT's market share in the telecommunications industry in Japan was diluted as the country liberalized the telecommunications sector and various giants entered the market.

The situation was even worse for AT&T in the United States, which was broken up beyond recognition and was no longer able to carry out large-scale expansion.

On the contrary, emerging telecom giants are developing faster and faster and are more popular in the market.

For example, Vodafone; if you buy shares in this company, they can easily multiply several times in the future.

For several days in a row, Masato Takeshita spent his time checking the status of major telecommunications giants in various countries, both listed and unlisted.

Those listed funds will be purchased directly on the market after the third phase of the fund begins, while those not listed funds will be sought for investment opportunities.

The Starsea Group is very familiar with this kind of thing. Formerly Telemex, now América Móvil controlled by Carlos Móvil is a significant achievement of the Starsea Group.

"Unfortunately, Singtel was unable to make the investment."

In the entire Asian market, apart from the telecommunications giants of China and Japan, Singapore Telecom is the most promising.

But Singapore is too wealthy and would never agree to invest in Xinghai Group. However, telecommunications giants like Shinawatra in Thailand and KT in South Korea are also good options.

You might not make a lot of money in a short time, but making small amounts shouldn't be a problem.

For several days in a row, Masato Takeshita was reviewing telecommunications data from various countries and developing a series of targeted strategies.

Now we're just waiting for Xinghai Fund's second-phase fund to liquidate its stock holdings and for the third-phase fund to start afresh.

After formulating the development strategy for the three phases of the Zodiac Fund, Masato Takeshita began to process company documents step by step.

Most of the content revolves around spending money: building a factory here today, buying equipment there tomorrow, and investing in another place the day after tomorrow...

"Well, let's take a break."

Masato Takeshita, whose wrists were a little sore, shook his arms and then picked up the newspaper on the table to read.

"Hey, the Fortune Global 500 list is out!"

"Great, now the Daily News will be famous all over the world."

The Fortune Global 500 list is a major event that has caused a sensation around the world.

From then on, governments around the world will use the number of companies on the list as an important reference for national economic development. Large corporations in various countries will also regard being listed as a goal to strive for.

With this Fortune Global 500 ranking, the Mainichi Shimbun's reputation will no longer be limited to Japan; it can directly become a media outlet with global influence.

While it may not rival The Times or The New York Times, it is certainly a second-tier major newspaper, second only to those two.

"Let me see, hmm, not bad, Xinghai Electronics is ranked 472nd."

The 472nd position was neither too conspicuous nor too obtrusive, which Masato Takeshita liked very much.

As for the actual rankings, the young people didn't care at all.

Even if Xinghai Electronics improves its ranking by dozens of places, it won't gain any more prestige.

Apart from the top twenty, and even the top ten, the other companies on this list gain roughly the same level of fame.

Because of limited newspaper space, only the last 50 names are listed today. Even so, the young people read it with great interest.

In this era where information flow is very limited, even Masato Takeshita would find it difficult to obtain such comprehensive information.

"I didn't expect this bank to be so powerful."

Masato Takeshita looked at an ordinary Japanese city bank on the list and never expected it to be on it.

But this is its last moment of glory; it will fall off the list in no more than three years.

"Wow, I never thought that people doing this kind of business could make it into the Fortune 500."

The young man was a little surprised, never expecting that a company that deals with water pollution could be on the list.

Because this industry has very strong local protection, it is difficult for a single company to monopolize it.

Japan is a typical example; whether it's a company that handles household waste or a company that deals with water pollution, it's difficult for them to operate outside their prefecture.

Taking Kanagawa Prefecture as an example, Yokohama City alone has four or five factions with different backing.

After all, this is a project where you can make money even while lying down, so the competition is extremely fierce, and it's very difficult for anyone to achieve a monopoly.

After carefully reading it once, Masato Takeshita reluctantly put down the newspaper and then prepared to call the president of the Mainichi Shimbun Group.

"Hmm, never mind, I'll go over there."

Congratulations over the phone don't show how much you value the daily news; it's better to offer praise in person.

The celebratory banquet following the awards ceremony was attended not only by key members of the Mainichi Shimbun, but also by the presidents and chief writers of the two major newspapers, Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun.

"President Takeshita, I apologize for bothering you. May I have a chat with you for a while?"

Faced with a request from Tsuneo Watanabe, president of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group and a leading figure in the Japanese media industry, the young man was naturally not foolish enough to refuse.

"No problem at all."

The two were already very familiar with each other, as Watanabe Tsuneo had very good relationships with various politicians in Japan.

He was once Kakuei Tanaka's most valued journalist and also Yasuhiro Nakasone's behind-the-scenes strategist.

Even Ichiro Ozawa, who currently wields considerable influence in Japanese politics, is a close friend of his.

It's fair to say that there's no political or economic journalist in all of Japan who can compare to him.

As they chatted, Masato Takeshita tentatively extended another invitation.

"Watanabe-san, you know that Xinghai Group isn't very well-known in the media industry. Would you be interested in helping me out?"

"I am extremely grateful for Chairman Takeshita's high regard for me. If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely accept your invitation."

Watanabe Tsuneo was very interested; he knew that the opportunity for Japanese newspapers to go global was rare. However, he had grown accustomed to his time at Yombu Group and did not want to suddenly switch sides.

Besides, joining the Daily News Corporation like this wouldn't do him any good reputation, and it wouldn't align with his principles as a journalist.

"Okay, I'm really envious of Yombuy."

"President Takeshita is too kind. I am just a reporter. My colleagues at the Mainichi Shimbun are also very excellent."

Watanabe Tsuneo was quite pure; if he hadn't been expelled from the Japanese Communist Party, he wouldn't have joined the Yomiuri Group.

Even so, as a left-wing figure, he drastically changed the style of his readings, moving away from a neutral-left conservative approach.

"There are indeed many, and I only hope that in the future, one outstanding talent will emerge who can rival Watanabe-san."

"President Takeshita is too kind. I just have a little more experience."

Watanabe Tsuneo waved his hand again, his whole demeanor still exuding a natural and gentle aura.

Although he is not yet able to achieve a state of being unmoved by external gains or losses, he is already the most composed person the young man has ever met.

Perhaps only someone like him could remain steadfast in his journalistic career. Two other prominent Japanese journalists of similar renown both pursued political careers.

(End of this chapter)