Chapter 537: Miha You Acquired (Part 2)

Chapter 537: Chapter 291: Miha You Acquired (Part 2)

Jin Ying was very bullish on Spicy King, and her company’s internal resolution was perfectly in line with her own views.

Acquire as many shares of Spicy King as possible, at any cost.

“President Jin, at the current valuation, your company would have to put up 1.5 billion US dollars at once. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?”

Yuan Li was quite surprised, and she couldn’t help but marvel internally.

‘As expected of a sovereign wealth fund. When they make a move, it’s always earth-shattering.’

“Don’t worry, President Yuan. We at Temasek aren’t short on capital. We never skimp on our investments when it comes to companies with potential.”

Jin Ying smiled faintly. “And Spicy King is the star project we’re most bullish on. We believe it has the potential to exceed a market cap of one hundred billion US dollars!”

“Of course. However, I need some time to consider this. I’ll give you a reply as soon as possible.”

Yuan Li had gotten the satisfactory answer she wanted from Temasek. Now she wanted to see if the other sovereign wealth funds would raise their offers.

“I understand. I’ll await your good news, President Yuan.”

Jin Ying wasn’t surprised at all. She had been given discretionary authority for this deal.

As long as Spicy King’s valuation didn’t exceed 50 billion US dollars, she had the authority to match any offer.

After seeing Jin Ying out, Yuan Li immediately contacted the other sovereign wealth funds.

The two existing shareholders, Sequoia and Black Ant, were also duly notified.

Given Sequoia’s size, it could still afford to follow on.

Black Ant Capital, however, could only look on with a sigh, completely outmatched.

“President Yuan, we at Black Ant Capital will be passing on this round. We’ll accept the share dilution.”

He Yu wasn’t the least bit upset. In fact, he couldn’t stop a massive grin from spreading across his face.

Judging by the way this funding round for Spicy King was going, Temasek might not get its way with a 30 billion US dollar valuation.

The other top-tier, equally wealthy sovereign funds wouldn’t miss out on a surefire, high-quality project like this.

Just as He Yu had predicted, the sovereign wealth funds of Norway, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar all sent representatives to meet with Yuan Li.

The valuation skyrocketed from 30 billion to 45 billion US dollars.

Once the valuation reached that level, even these sovereign wealth funds began to hesitate.

Jin Ying threw down an offer at a 50 billion US dollar valuation, completely knocking the other sovereign wealth funds out of the running.

Not even Sequoia knew what Temasek had negotiated, but they too chose not to follow on.

Spicy King’s Series C financing round seemed more like a private show staged exclusively for Temasek.

An astronomical valuation of 50 billion US dollars!

Even as Qi Sheng signed the papers, he was flabbergasted.

While he had immense faith in Spicy King, certain it would one day exceed a market cap of a trillion yuan, that was all in the future.

To reach such a high valuation right now was truly beyond his expectations.

The entire investment world was stunned by Temasek’s massive gamble.

The last domestic company to reach a 50 billion US dollar valuation was ByteDance, one of the “new three giants.”

But ByteDance and Spicy King were in completely different sectors.

For a company in the hot pot industry to reach such a valuation was simply absurd.

But Temasek had thrown down cold, hard cash.

It forced many investors to take this new leader of the hot pot industry seriously.

And calling it the leader was no exaggeration.

Before, Haidilao was barely worthy of being a benchmark for Spicy King.

Now, Spicy King had supplanted it as the undisputed leader of the hot pot industry.

The biggest benefit of Temasek’s investment for Qi Sheng was that his own shares were now worth much more.

Unlike an internet company, Qi Sheng had never even considered creating an employee stock option pool for Spicy King.

The talent provided by the system was all fiercely loyal to him.

Besides, the salaries and benefits he offered were exceptionally generous.

So, even after this round of financing, Qi Sheng’s stake in the company was still a staggering 81.22%.

What did that mean?

It meant Qi Sheng’s personal stake was worth 40 billion US dollars.

Converted into RMB, that was a full 280 billion.

If Qi Sheng wanted to, he could replace Old Ma and become the undisputed richest man in the country in a heartbeat.

‘Hmm, I’ll let Old Ma enjoy the limelight for now.’

Qi Sheng planned to pledge some of his shares to secure a loan.

Given Spicy King’s growth trajectory, there was no shortage of banks willing to offer him a loan.

Preferring to stick with who he knew, Qi Sheng found his past collaborations with China Construction Bank to be quite pleasant.

Thanks to his connection, his old friend, Zhou Yu, had even been promoted to Vice President of the Chengdu Branch of China Construction Bank.

It was still a vice president position, but the status was on a completely different level.

Naturally, Zhou Yu was incredibly grateful to Qi Sheng.

His own connections were one part of his meteoric rise, but more importantly, he had met a great benefactor in Qi Sheng.

“Chairman Qi, our bank has decided to offer you a low-interest loan of 3 billion US dollars. We can get the rate down to as low as 4% for you.”

Zhou Yu had also pulled quite a few strings.

This was possible thanks to Spicy King’s ferocious growth and its recent investment from Temasek.

Its internal risk assessment rating at China Construction Bank was also excellent, which allowed the loan to be approved.

“Three billion US dollars… I suppose that’s acceptable.”

Qi Sheng nodded slightly, reasonably satisfied.

“Ahem, Chairman Qi, that’s already a huge amount.”

“Even companies the size of Ali or Penguin would only be able to secure a loan of this magnitude.”

Zhou Yu wiped the cold sweat from his brow, taken aback by Qi Sheng’s massive appetite.

This was 21 billion yuan in cash, and Qi Sheng still wasn’t satisfied.

“President Zhou, I have some other business to attend to. Let’s get together when we have time.”

Now that Qi Sheng had the funds, he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and acquire Miha You ahead of schedule.

If he didn’t act quickly, the System’s asking price would just keep getting higher.

Even he was starting to feel the sting.

“Of course. I’ll be waiting for your call, Chairman Qi.”

Zhou Yu’s face lit up when he heard that.

He didn’t relax until he had personally seen Qi Sheng get into his Cullinan and drive away.

Before, he could still curry favor through Chu Qing.

But Chu Qing had long since quit to become a wealthy man’s wife.

Zhou Yu could only do his best now, hoping to maintain this connection on his own merits.

‘Who in the corporate world doesn’t have the ambition to climb higher?’

“President Zhou, we just detected a large-scale transfer from Chairman Qi’s account. He’s acquired a company called Miha You.”

Zhou Yu had just returned to his office when his secretary came in to report.

“Miha You?”

Zhou Yu looked puzzled and asked curiously, “What kind of company is that?”

“It’s a game company. It has a decent reputation in the anime and gaming community. Chairman Qi used 12 billion yuan in cash to become its new owner.”

The male secretary making the report couldn’t hide the astonishment and envy in his voice.

‘We’re the same age, yet I’m still struggling to earn a meager salary.’

‘And here he is, casually spending tens of billions to pull off an acquisition of this magnitude.’

“I understand. Keep me informed of any of Chairman Qi’s activities immediately.”

Zhou Yu instructed sternly, waving his hand.

“Understood.”

‘Of course.’ The secretary knew perfectly well. Everyone knew Zhou Yu’s rapid promotions were because he’d latched onto the right person.

‘Only Zhou Yu could have such dumb luck.’

‘Miha You… I’ll have to keep a close eye on this company from now on.’

Zhou Yu opened his computer and searched for the game company, muttering to himself pensively.

Based on his knowledge of Qi Sheng, he knew the man would never make a losing investment.

He had watched with his own eyes as Spicy King grew day by day into the powerhouse it was now, the leader of the hot pot industry.

And now, Qi Sheng was spending tens of billions to acquire Miha You.

Only a fool would believe he was just doing it for fun.

But after looking through all the available information, Zhou Yu couldn’t see any particular potential in the company.

The games it had previously produced were decently profitable, but nothing spectacular.

If it truly had that much potential, it probably would have been acquired by Penguin or NetEase long ago.

“Epic gaming masterpiece, *Genshin Impact*, now in closed beta…”

Zhou Yu did, however, notice an announcement for this game, which was touted as being three years in the making.

‘Could it be? Did Qi Sheng acquire the entire company just for this one game?’

* * *

Seeing that the transfer of ownership for Miha You was complete, Qi Sheng let out a long sigh of relief.

Shengxuan Group now had absolute control over Miha You, holding a 100% stake.

The System’s compulsory acquisition authority was, frankly, a bit overpowered.

But since he was the one benefiting, he couldn’t complain.

In fact, Qi Sheng wished the System’s powers were even more potent.

It wasn’t a bad deal for Miha You’s three founders, either.

Each of them walked away with over two billion yuan.

As long as they weren’t reckless, that was more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime.

As for whether they might try to create another Miha You, Qi Sheng wasn’t worried in the slightest.

A cash-cow masterpiece like that wasn’t something you could easily replicate.

Even if they had the capital to recruit new talent and develop another game, it would take two or three years at a minimum.

By that time, Qi Sheng would already be drowning in cash.

Besides, with the talent provided by the System, Miha You would become even more brilliant under his leadership than it had been in his previous life.

Once *Genshin Impact* launched, it would only take a year for him to easily recoup his initial investment.

After that, everything else would be pure, unadulterated profit!

‘The joy of effortlessly raking in tens of billions a year. Who wouldn’t love that?’