Chapter 99: Hard to Meet Anymore

[PS: Please be patient, everyone. The book will be released this Friday. The author currently has about ten chapters prepared and plans to release 20 to 30 chapters on the launch day, which is quite a pressure. Let the author gather them patiently.]

"Alright!" Masayoshi Son led the applause. Brother Pony was also somewhat excited, while Huang He’s expression grew even more playful.

"What about the three of us?" Masayoshi Son asked again.

"Brother Pony’s career is much like mine—both leaders in our respective industries. Mr. Son’s trajectory is naturally soaring; by then, he’ll be holding hundreds of billions of dollars, becoming a living god of wealth to countless people."

"As for Boss Huang..." Old Brother Pony hesitated here. He was a smart man and wouldn’t want to offend anyone, so naturally, he chose flattering words when predicting others’ futures.

"But the problem is, I already said Brother Pony is the industry leader. So how should I describe Huang He, who’s also in the same field? Second in command? The vice-leader?"

"Mr. Huang will surely become a titan with assets surpassing ten billion!" In the end, Old Brother Pony settled for a safe, steady prediction. After all, everyone here had assets in the billions; better not offend anyone.

"Old Brother Pony is a man of integrity!" Masayoshi Son sighed, then rolled the dice for the second round, and it was Brother Pony’s turn to speak.

"Our future at Tengda!" Brother Pony pondered for a moment, then glanced deeply at Huang He before saying, "No matter the competitors, Tengda will undoubtedly grow into a giant in the network communication industry."

"In the future, outdated mobile phones will be completely abandoned, and the communication networks they use will be entirely replaced by a global, ultra-large wireless network, alongside a portable personal computer—or more accurately, a personal network terminal."

"Every person will hold such a personal network terminal, which will not only support communication functions like QQ—multi-person text chat, voice chat, video chat—but will also browse the web, watch movies and TV, play games, and manage various online affairs anytime, anywhere. Essentially, it will have all the functions of today’s computers but integrated into a small personal terminal!"

"And Tengda will be the pioneer of this personal terminal. We will not only develop the software and systems for it but also establish physical enterprises to produce, manufacture, and research these terminals, ultimately creating an immense market for personal terminals!"

"In my view, Tengda’s future value will be at least $100 billion, standing shoulder to shoulder with giants like Microsoft and Intel!!!" Brother Pony’s words left everyone dumbfounded, even Huang He himself was stunned.

Good heavens, Brother Pony had just prophesied the future of smart phones. Although humorously claiming that phones would be discarded in favor of new personal terminals was a bit off the mark, the concept was undeniably far-sighted.

From a sunny perspective, Brother Pony’s vision far surpassed Old Brother Pony’s.

Don’t think I’m just flattering Brother Pony—this is the truth. Although for a time, there was much hype online about Old Brother Pony, those who understand the development of these two companies know the reality.

Old Brother Pony’s success came from his people management—he could charm others into absolute loyalty, harnessing their collective strength. This was evident from his initial entrepreneurial failures, yet he still managed to have the legendary “Eighteen Arhats” follow him without pay.

However, his own product operation skills were lacking. He personally supervised two products: China Yellow Pages and Alibaba. Both were failures.

It wasn’t until his “Eighteen Arhats” developed Taobao and Alipay that Old Brother Pony turned his fortunes around, becoming one of China’s two internet giants.

But the daily operations of Taobao and Alipay were not managed by Old Brother Pony himself.

Of course, without Old Brother Pony, the “Forty Thieves” would have long collapsed. He was the glue holding the company and talent together, a master of people control, keeping the company’s forces united.

As for Brother Pony, he was a true strategic visionary. Starting with QQ, he seized the massive traffic it generated and plunged into the gaming industry, reaping huge profits. Then he bet on WeChat, and later stepped back from daily operations to focus on investing in various enterprises, forming the vast Tengda conglomerate—all manifestations of his strategic foresight.

A famous example is how Brother Pony dared to directly control user backend data to crush 360, preserving his grip on user traffic.

Old Brother Pony, on the other hand, publicly declared that the “Forty Thieves” would never enter the gaming industry—then promptly launched Alibaba Games.

The former shows Brother Pony’s ruthlessness in business; the latter proves Old Brother Pony never had a comprehensive operational blueprint for the “Forty Thieves.”

“No wonder he’s the destined first son of commerce in future China. Such vision is invincible!” Boss Huang admired inwardly. Old Brother Pony’s eyes sparkled with pride. Masayoshi Son’s expression was more playful, seemingly noncommittal, but he said nothing, merely applauding gently.

"What about the three of us?" Masayoshi Son asked again.

"Old Brother Pony’s future is just as he predicted, though I think $10 billion is too little—it should be at least $100 billion!" Brother Pony was magnanimous, instantly increasing everyone’s asset predictions tenfold.

"Mr. Son will own a super fund worth hundreds of billions!"

"As for Boss Huang!" Brother Pony cast a meaningful glance at Huang He. "Mr. Huang will become the world’s leading leather goods manufacturer. You will take your leather goods and blind boxes beyond Asia to the entire world, even founding your own luxury brand, eventually owning a fashion and luxury leather conglomerate valued at over $100 billion!"

Brother Pony was truly generous—our Boss Huang could also reach $100 billion. Yet this luxury conglomerate forecast implied Huang He would be completely driven out of the internet industry.

After Brother Pony’s grand declarations, only Masayoshi Son and Huang He remained. Son rolled a five, but before he could savor his triumph, Huang He rolled a six.

"Mr. Huang, you speak first; I’ll go last!" Masayoshi Son said naturally, as if he had just rolled the six himself.

Of course, this was understandable. Son was the eldest here, with tens of billions in net worth, while the others had negative net assets. These three seemed to be seeking investment; as the investor, Son naturally always rolled sixes.

Unfortunately, he met Huang He.

"Mr. Son, you might not have noticed—the six was mine! Please honor our agreement and go first!" Huang He said calmly, instantly freezing Son’s smile.

Brother Pony and Old Brother Pony looked at Huang He in surprise, puzzled why he wouldn’t show Son the courtesy—after all, it was just a game.

"Very well!" Since Huang He had made it clear, Son could no longer posture. He forced a smile and said, "Old Brother Pony, if I invest $20 million in him, in twenty years, he’ll return $2 billion."

"Brother Pony, I invest $50 million; he’ll also give me $2 billion in return."

"As for you, Mr. Huang," Son hesitated, "to be frank, I fear it will be hard for us to meet again in twenty years."