Extraordinary Genius

“Oh, how is that website, eBay, you invested doing?” Feng Yu asked.

Feng Yu was a bit frustrated when mentioned about this. He had asked Kirilenko to invest in internet-related companies, and Kirilenko invested in a group of companies, and eBay is one of them.

Feng Yu had forgotten about this company, and when he remembers it, the company does not need investments. Even Kirilenko had bought out most of the available shares, including the smaller shareholders. He is currently the second-biggest shareholder of eBay, and the rest of the shareholders are the management staff of the company.

Luckily Feng Yu knows Amazon will also do well. eBay is a shopping website for businesses and people to sell their goods, and Amazon is different from them.

In Feng Yu’s previous life, eBay had been doing well until Alibaba appear. eBay’s operational model can be easily copied and is currently the biggest platform in North America temporary.

“eBay? It is doing well, but they have just changed their CEO, and the CEO is a woman! I don’t know what that Pierre is thinking. What can a woman do?” Kirilenko grumbled.

Feng Yu thought to himself. If it was not for this woman, eBay might not be successful. In his previous life, this woman is a talent and had been the CEO of several Fortune 500 companies. She will move on to HP as the CEO after eBay.

Some people even said that without her, eBay will not exist, and might have been acquired by some other companies, or even bankrupted.

“If I am you, I will trust her. She is someone extremely capable. This is also good as you can leave everything to her. My suggestion to you is not to sell your eBay shares, and eight to ten years later, your shares will be worth much more than you can imagine.” Feng Yu reminded Kirilenko.

Feng Yu is afraid Kirilenko will listen to others and sell away his shares.

“I know, and I will not be selling those shares. You told me to sell the technology shares of the listed company before the year 2000, and hold on to the shares of the companies that are going to be listed after the year 2000. I don’t lack money so that I will hold on to it.” Kirilenko replied.

Huh? Seems like I am over worrying about him.

“What about your Amazon? Didn’t you ask me to set up a website like Amazon? I looked at that website, and it seems that Amazon is not making money at all.” Kirilenko is puzzled. That site does not have high visitors and transactions and is only a site selling books.

“Have you decided on the locations of the supermarkets?” Feng Yu asked excitedly.

“Not yet. But we can start on the website first. All we need is an office and a few tech staff.”

“Amazon lacked fund and was thinking of getting listed to raise funds. But I refused. Luckily I won, and Amazon will grow slowly according to my plans, and their product variety is increasing. Not long ago, Amazon had acquired Internet Movie Database and is currently in acquisition talks with a few other companies. Those companies are social media, database, and search engine companies.”

Feng Yu will provide the funds if Amazon needs it and does not have the need to get listed. However, he does not want the core staff of Amazon to leave, and he managed to persuade the rest of the shareholders to split the shares into two types. New investments will not get shares with voting rights, and this is similar to raising funds from the public listing.

All these will make Amazon developing about the same pace as Feng Yu’s previous life, and Feng Yu did not interfere or give any suggestions. Currently, internet shopping is still at its infant stage, and Feng Yu can’t use the things he knows about e-commerce from his previous life now, as there are not enough customers.

The PC and internet are not popularized yet, and how can an e-commerce site be popular?

“You are not going to be listed, and is allowing this company to lose money like this?” Kirilenko does not understand want Feng Yu is thinking.

“After the year 2000, Amazon will start to make lots of money, and the profits will grow. I asked you to learn this type of operating model is to let you grow a customer base first. When your customer base reaches a certain scale, you will make money. It is the same as physical retail stores.” Feng Yu explained.

“Really? That means our online shopping will lose money for a few years?” Kirilenko was unhappy. If this venture has to lose money for the first few years, the duration will be too long to recover his capital.

“Around two to three years. But I promise your returns will be more than ten times five years later. It might be even higher!” Amazon is predicted to lose money for the first five years. Still, Kirilenko’s website can learn from Amazon’s mistakes and will develop much faster. Getting the returns earlier is not impossible!

Huh? The return is so high? Kirilenko cheered up immediately.

“Our importation supermarket is registered, and we are scouting for locations. I estimate that it will start operations in the second half of this year.”

“Ok. You must take note of the placement and the categorizing of goods on the shelves. All these can attract customers, and we must grab every customer that enters our supermarkets.” Feng Yu said.

“Don’t worry. I had hired professionals for the layouts, and our supermarkets will be much better than your Tai Hua Supermarkets.”

Feng Yu laughed and shook his head. Kirilenko is too competitive, but he is still assured of him handling the supermarkets. After all, Kirilenko had been making retail sales for a long time and will have lots of men that are good at this. Feng Yu even felt his reminders are unnecessary.

“Ok. I will ask my men to transfer the first investment over to your account tomorrow.”

“There is no rush. Just transfer it before the end of the month. You said that Soros would attack Russia and Rubbles. Why is he so quiet recently?” Kirilenko asked curiously.

“It is because Rubbles is Soros last resort, or he is planning to attack Hong Kong again. After attacking Hong Kong, he will surely attack Russia. From what I know, he should be setting up plans to attack Japan now. Once he starts attacking Japan, we will enter the Japanese market quietly and should get at least 20% profits.”

Feng Yu’s men had been monitoring Soros closely. Soros had attacked Indonesia again and let the Indonesian Government suffer massive losses. This time, the IMF stepped in as the rest of the Southeast Asia countries did not interfere.

Soros had become the most hated man in Southeast Asia, while Feng Yu and his allies made a large amount of money from there and did not get scolded.

Feng Yu is determined to participate in the attacks against Japan. He wants to create a more devastating blow to the Japanese economy and slow down their economic recovery.

Of course, Feng Yu wants to make money at the same time. Even if the profit is only 20%, the returns will be a lot, as the amount used by Feng Yu is significant.

Feng Yu and Kirilenko chatted when Feng Yu’s satellite phone rang.

“Hello? What? Alright. Get ready. It’s time for us to enter!”

Kirilenko looks at Feng Yu curiously. “What is it?”

Feng Yu turns to Kirilenko. “Yen is starting to fall!”

Translator’s notes:

Pierre Omidyar