My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

Chapter 89 Mr. Snail is just a writer, what does he know...?

Based on sales figures at this time, SoftBank is worth at least 2 billion yen. This is based on the fact that Toshiba and Fujitsu received 300 million yen at the beginning of the year to acquire a 20% stake. Zhao Wen has initially agreed to invest in SoftBank, but the valuation and share issues will have to be left to the professional President Ye Meili to figure out.

Actually, Sun Zhengyi should have had some money during this period, but he actually returned the money to Toshiba and Fujitsu and took back 20% of the shares. The reason was that the newspapers said he was a swindler who cheated Toshiba and Fujitsu.

Despite losing everything, he still put on a brave face and repaid the equity of the two giants, which earned the head of SoftBank a lot of praise. If Zhao Wen hadn't come, it wouldn't have been long before he received low-interest loans from several large institutions. Loans! Not financing!

Since Zhao Wen established his own base, "Snail Investment Co., Ltd.", he stopped living near Tokuma Bookstore. After leaving Tanaka Nigi's studio, Zhao Wen quietly returned to the third floor of Snail Investment, which is the top floor.

Unless he's in a place where there are a lot of enthusiastic fans, such as Tokuma Bookstore or when picking someone up or dropping them off at the airport, Zhao Wen acts alone, except for the few "bodyguards" assigned to him by Saionji Muneaki.

For ordinary people, recognizing Zhao Wen is much more difficult than they imagine. There is a concept in psychology called "cross-contextual recognition." People you have seen in photos have an astonishingly low recognition rate when placed in real-world scenarios.

He has only so many die-hard fans in Japan, no more than a million, while there are 1.2 million Japanese people. Besides, it's so late, his fans need to sleep too, how could they possibly be looking for him all over the streets?

So, how ridiculous are those celebrities who have dozens or even hundreds of bodyguards and entourages? Is Mr. Snail popular enough now? But he wasn't wearing sunglasses or a hood, and although he covered several hundred meters, some passersby did recognize him, but...

They would at most pause, and those with companions would at most point at him with their fingers; they would never swarm him.

On the way back to Yanyin, President Hanami sat in the car without saying a word for a long time.

But with a smile on his face, he was calculating in his mind—today's game was worth it.

He spent 250 million yen to invite Tanaka Nigishi to perform flower arrangement. He originally just wanted to entertain Mr. Snail and show off his connections and taste. But unexpectedly, Mr. Tanaka was humiliated.

And they were completely convinced of their defeat.

The master I hired for 250 million yuan almost ended up becoming Mr. Snail's disciple.

Hua Jianhe was overjoyed—this was a huge profit.

Who is Tanaka Futanigi? He's the third-generation master of the Sogetsu school, a top figure in the Japanese flower arrangement world, with ladies from both the political and financial sectors lining up to become his students. Yet now, Master Tanaka treats Mr. Snail with utmost respect, even more so than a student would show to their teacher.

Besides, Mr. Snail was obviously playing dumb today, and I was worried about him!

He took out the letter again, admired Zhao Wen's captivating calligraphy for a while, and then secretly glanced at the person beside him.

Akina Nakamori—Akina, Akina, our Yanon, you're really about to take off!

"Motoko, replace all of Akina's etiquette teachers with someone who teaches flower arrangement, someone who teaches... that structure."

Motoko turned her head from the passenger seat and asked, "President, what's the structure?"

President Hanami thought for a moment and said, "Well... what were you doing just now? Didn't you hear what Mr. Snail said? The framework was created by Mr. Snail; it's a new school of flower arrangement!"

"Oh~"

President Hanami sighed, gazing at the Tokyo night view outside the window, her tone carrying an indescribable sense of awe: "Akina, I really can't judge a person based on hearsay. Mr. Snail isn't the kind of superficial literary figure you'd expect. Before you go to Tainan, I have something very important to tell you."

"Ah, if it's important, can't we talk about it now?" Akina asked curiously, rubbing her sore shoulders.

"Hana Misuru remained silent. Silly child, that's a secret about Mr. Snail. How can you tell outsiders about it?"

When Ye Meili took over "Snail Investment", the first thing she did was to build a team.

She didn't dare hire anyone from Tokyo, even though it was her "hometown." Like her boss, she harbored a very, very strong "prejudice" against the country.

She made a direct call to First Securities in Taipei and transferred all four of her original team members to her team, doubling their salaries.

These four people are well-known, discreet, quick, and have seen all kinds of market conditions. Ye Meili finds them convenient and trustworthy—when it comes to building a position, the worst thing is having too many people talking at once; using your own people is the safest bet.

Saionji Muneaki's house is a detached house, very close to the business offices of several large securities firms. She installed ten telephone lines at once—now she doesn't need that many, only four are actually in use, serving as dedicated lines for Nomura, Nikko, Daiwa, and Yamaichi securities firms respectively.

The pace of building positions in December was very slow. The stock market was quiet at the end of the year, with everyone busy settling accounts and trading volume shrinking significantly. If you were to buy aggressively at this time, a few billion in buy orders could send the stock price soaring. So Ye Meili wasn't in a hurry and just bought in little by little each day.

"Sister Ye, the founder of SoftBank is coming today to discuss financing. You're in charge of negotiating with him."

"Okay, Mr. Wen, what are your expectations for valuation and market share?"

"The valuation just needs to be no more than 3 billion yen, and the share must be 32%."

"it is good."

Ye Meili didn't ask any further questions, such as why it had to be exactly 32%, no more and no less.

This is the professional attitude of a professional manager!

Zhao Wen's insistence on exactly 32% is really not mysterious; it's just a matter of morbid humor...

The owner of SoftBank couldn't sleep all night, not because he was worried, but because he was excited.

After listening to Mr. Tanaka's further explanation of Zhao Wen, his mind was like a boiling pot, bubbling with all sorts of thoughts.

Mr. Snail, Zhao Wen.

The literary upstart made a fortune, holding a lot of cash with nowhere to spend it.

In his eyes, this kind of person has only one label: stupid and rich.

On his computer desk was a piece of paper covered with numbers.

How much is SoftBank worth now?

He had pondered this question many times. Based on normal valuation, considering sales revenue, growth rate, industry prospects, and team value, it was worth 15 billion? At most, it was worth 20 billion yen.

But now, the person sitting opposite me isn't a venture capitalist or a bank; it's Mr. Snail.

What does a book author know about software? What does he know about valuation? What does he know about distribution channels?

Masayoshi Son chuckled, picked up a pen, and drew an X over "20 billion".

No.

The estimate was too low.

To quote a price to someone who doesn't know anything about the industry is just plain stupid! Sun Zhengyi knows all too well that people are like that; the more expensive something is, the more they think it's good.

Perhaps 30 billion would be needed for Mr. Snail to consider this a good thing?

Masayoshi Son threw his pen on the table, leaned back in his chair, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The number swirled in his mind.

But won't it scare people away?

Mr. Tanaka said, "How many copies of Harry Potter have been sold? There must be millions worldwide, right? The royalties alone must be billions. And then there's Norwegian Wood, and Love Letter... This person's net worth is at least tens of billions."

With a valuation of 30 billion, investing a few hundred million yen is just pocket change for him.

Moreover, Sun Zhengyi sat up straight and began to make excuses for himself.

I am the owner of SoftBank, the largest software wholesaler in Japan. I control the distribution channels, and the entire market will be mine in the future.

There's also the publishing business. What's the current circulation of my computer magazine? And how much will it be in the future?

Furthermore, Toshiba and Fujitsu now regard me as a righteous person, and there are plenty of opportunities for cooperation. How much are these resources worth?

Most importantly—how much am I, Sun Zhengyi, worth?

The more the conman thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

30 billion is not expensive at all; he's being too conservative!

If Mr. Snail is smart, he should thank me for giving him this investment opportunity.

He picked up a pen and wrote a large number on the top of the blank paper: 40 billion.