The Wolf of Los Angeles

Chapter 487 - 487: The Asian Advancement Conference

[Chapter 487: The Asian Advancement Conference]

After confirming LinkedIn as the next target, Hawke immediately pulled up a wealth of related information. Twitter maintained a professional team constantly monitoring potential competitors. LinkedIn, established a few months before Twitter, had always focused on the business sector.

Especially after Reid Hoffman rejected LinkedIn's invitation to invest and Twitter became the industry leader, LinkedIn's social networking platform focused on contacts users knew and trusted in business interactions, often called networking connections. Users could invite people they knew to join their "connections" circle.

Unlike Twitter's global user base, LinkedIn concentrated solely on the niche of professional networking. In this respect, LinkedIn surpassed Twitter.

Hawke called his assistant, Lukat, and instructed him to send the latest information to Reid Hoffman. In this era, Silicon Valley's innovation and vitality were the benchmark for global tech innovation and business development.

Hawke had successfully redirected Zuckerberg's path, making him the sugar daddy to all the sugar babies across America. But Silicon Valley still required vigilance, especially concerning intelligent development programs.

In Hawke's memories, many Silicon Valley companies later collaborated with military contractors to provide intelligent programs for missiles and jets. He had to devise some strategies regarding this.

He called Edward, and together they left the Coastal Building and headed to a parking lot near Venice Beach.

---

A luxury RV was parked near the beach, cordoned off with barriers covering over 100 square meters. This place was long-term leased by the Manhattan AI Project under the pretense of using AI to observe and analyze homeless people, reserved exclusively for Frank's use.

Hawke couldn't find Frank initially and called him; the old guy was at the beach playing around with beautiful women. It was just after New Year, so Venice Beach wasn't crowded. Hawke found a slightly elevated spot to look around and soon spotted the lifeguards in tight red uniforms.

In Southern California's bright sunshine, Frank, wearing a floral shirt and a cowboy hat, held the arms of two women as he walked quickly toward them.

Hawke recognized both women: the blonde was Aurora, and the brunette, of Chinese descent, was named Meihua.

They greeted each other and got into the luxury RV together.

...

Frank grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, saying, "So you two still remember me."

Hawke took a bottle and sat on the sofa. "Of course, we remember. You're another year older now."

Being called old in front of two young and beautiful women, Frank's face fell. "I feel much younger in spirit than you two bastards."

Edward snorted. "Look at your head full of gray hair and those wrinkled lines on your face. Don't fool yourself."

Frank instinctively touched his face and then glared. "I don't have wrinkles!"

Hawke stopped their bickering. "I was suddenly craving your barbecue. Quit the nonsense and start preparing."

"You're a billionaire coming to eat with an old homeless guy?" Frank mumbled but quickly opened the fridge to take out skewers of meat and called Edward to help set up a sun umbrella.

Aurora and Meihua opened the storage compartment and brought out a barbecue grill, placing it on the space in front of the RV.

Hawke's gaze quickly swept over them, curious about what these women followed Frank for -- was it his gray hair and wrinkles? His lack of bathing? Or was it really his grilling skills?

...

While waiting for the barbecue, Hawke, Edward, Aurora, and Meihua chatted casually. Under Hawke's subtle guidance, the conversation quickly shifted to the topic he wanted to ask about.

Hawke looked at the Asian woman, Meihua. "I remember you wanted to get a job at a tech company, and you were planning to go to Silicon Valley."

Meihua did indeed have such plans, but things changed fast. The FMF had no demands; she could leave anytime. However, the "Saint" had instructed to monitor Frank and recently ordered to find a way to infiltrate Twitter through Frank.

Meihua smiled. "I love Los Angeles; I don't like San Francisco. The ocean here is so beautiful -- it makes it hard to leave."

Hawke nodded. "Several Twitter investors come from Silicon Valley. They said many talented Chinese are holding key positions in many tech companies."

Speaking of her community, Meihua was somewhat proud. "We Chinese-Americans are quite united. We formed a Silicon Valley Chinese Entrepreneurs Association that supports each other and even set up a group on Twitter."

She glanced at Hawke, wanting to ask about Twitter but held back, knowing her mission with the Saint was more important.

...

After finishing the barbecue at Frank's place, Hawke returned to the company and quickly pinpointed the Chinese entrepreneur group using supercomputers. Searching further, he also found Koreans, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi groups.

Hawke was well aware that Chinese, Korean, and Japanese groups had conflicts among them, same case with the Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi groups. Americans generally lumped the first three as Asians and the last three as Indian.

...

Hawke called the investment foundation and invited Pierce Madden, the chairman of the charity foundation, who had just returned from Africa.

Pierce reported, "Africa is back on track. Most of the charity funds we've redirected went toward strengthening Hurricane Mercenary Company, with only a small portion used for greening and planting."

He handed Hawke a written report. Hawke accepted it and planned to review it later.

"Is everything normal in Ethiopia?" Hawke asked.

"Andre has increased security," Pierce responded swiftly. "I found no irregularities when I arrived."

Returning to today's matters, Hawke said, "The overseas foundation is pushing an initiative."

Pierce perked up.

Hawke explained, "It promotes Asians -- including Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc. to come to the U.S., enter Silicon Valley... no, not just Silicon Valley but major American tech companies."

Pierce asked curiously, "Do they have special abilities?"

Hawke nodded slightly. "America's tech development depends significantly on them."

Among these, a few were elites, but most excelled at making big promises. In the previous life, some high-tech talent were nicknamed "PPT Geniuses".

Hawke solemnly announced, "The foundation will establish a special department -- the Asian Advancement Conference -- to vigorously promote broader Asian entry into major American companies, especially high-tech firms. This operation starts immediately with overseas funding."

Pierce, though somewhat unclear, complied: "I'll arrange skilled personnel to work on this immediately."

He cautiously asked, "Which types of companies have priority?"

Hawke thought briefly. "Chipmakers, AI development, electronic devices, aircraft, automotive, shipbuilding, military, and aerospace -- any of these are fine."

Pierce agreed promptly.

Hawke handed him some materials: "Get started as soon as possible."

...

Pierce left the office, took the elevator down, got into his car, and called his assistant to convene a meeting of the foundation's executives.

That night, the Asian Advancement Conference was officially established. Several skilled personnel acquired lists of many Asian groups and departed from Los Angeles to various locations, engaging relevant channels to promote Asian development across America's tech and manufacturing sectors.

---

Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale.

Reid Hoffman drove off the main road and glanced at AMD's headquarters by the roadside. Further ahead was Yahoo's headquarters. Compared to these two giants, LinkedIn was just a small company.

The car stopped in front of LinkedIn's office building, and the current CEO, Konstant, waited at the door. Konstant was a Stanford alumnus and an old acquaintance of Hoffman.

They shook hands and went upstairs to the meeting room.

Konstant smiled: "I read in the papers that you were in Los Angeles attending a Twitter board meeting a few days ago. You're back so soon?"

Hoffman relaxed in a single chair. "Twitter's growth is rapid and on track. I just needed to check on the company; I'm not involved in day-to-day operations."

"Reid, if you and Peter had collaborated with LinkedIn back then, things would be different," Konstant said confidently. "LinkedIn might not become what Twitter is now, but it at least could compete in the online media market."

Hoffman shook his head. "No chance. Without Peter and me, Hawke Osment can attract investment for Twitter from other places, and LinkedIn is far inferior to Twitter in attracting users. Hawke's entertainment news swept the U.S. and the world -- could LinkedIn do that?"

Setting aside marketing capability, LinkedIn's geographical position also made such achievements very difficult.

Hoffman continued, "That said, a good opportunity stands before LinkedIn now."

Konstant understood immediately. "You're here representing Twitter?"

"Yes, I'm here as a Twitter board member," Hoffman directly stated. "Twitter plans to acquire LinkedIn."

Konstant wasn't surprised. Over the past year, many big companies had shown interest in LinkedIn. For further development, accepting external investment was inevitable.

He asked slowly, "LinkedIn and Twitter share the same market. If Twitter acquires LinkedIn, will LinkedIn remain separate? Or be absorbed as part of Twitter's platform?"

Hoffman and Konstant were old friends, but Twitter was Hoffman's core interest. Friendship came second to business. He replied, "Those details are negotiable."

Konstant didn't refuse; Twitter's acquisition interest also increased LinkedIn's value in the eyes of other business entities.

He used other companies to raise LinkedIn's importance to Twitter: "Several companies are interested in cooperating with or investing in LinkedIn. Sequoia Capital has strongly expressed interest. Pacific Electric wants to enter new industries and LinkedIn is their first choice."

Hoffman asked, "Sequoia Capital and Pacific Electric?"

"Yes," Konstant briefly elaborated for credibility, "Sequoia plans to invest $3 billion, and Pacific Electric offered a stock swap proposal."

Hoffman shook his head with a smile, "Are you sure you want to swap stocks with a traditional energy company? We saw their setup clearly back at Stanford. Those old energy companies never considered newcomers like us to be equals at the table. Stock swap deals are full of traps."

Konstant knew this and said, "That was just preliminary talks."

Hoffman could tell Konstant wasn't stubbornly holding onto LinkedIn; he was a businessman, after all, motivated by profit.

Hoffman added, "Twitter's platform is better suited for LinkedIn's development. Both companies compete in the same market, and Twitter's promotional resources can be used for LinkedIn too. And financially, Twitter offers more cash than Sequoia or Pacific Electric."

Konstant frowned. "How is that possible?"

"I'm a Twitter director and know the company situation," Hoffman certainly would not tell him that Twitter had tens of billions of dollars in cash flow. "I don't need to brag about this kind of thing."

They had known each other for years. Konstant understood Hoffman: "LinkedIn is my company..."

Hoffman interrupted: "Twitter has prepared a comprehensive plan. Once acquisition completes, LinkedIn will grow rapidly -- several times or even a dozen times its current scale."

Konstant asked, "Can you share the details?"

Hoffman smiled without answering.

After a moment, Konstant said, "Founding LinkedIn was my dream and for profit. I won't refuse outside funding or cooperation, but let's talk specifics later?"

"Agreed," Hoffman replied. His main purpose was to probe Konstant's attitude. As long as Konstant was open to selling and negotiating, everything was manageable.

Konstant invited, "Would you like a tour of LinkedIn?"

"It would be an honor," Hoffman said.

They left the meeting room and toured several LinkedIn departments together.

...

After more than an hour, Hoffman left the office building, waved goodbye to Konstant, and returned to his office, where he immediately called Hawke.

Once connected, Hoffman said, "Konstant, who controls LinkedIn, my old friend, doesn't oppose selling but, from what I see, the price won't be low."

...

In the Coastal Building office, Hawke asked, "Any competitors?"

"Yes," Hoffman responded truthfully. "From Konstant's info, Sequoia Capital wants to invest, and Pacific Electric wants to acquire LinkedIn through stock swaps."

Putting Sequoia aside, Hawke first considered Pacific Electric. "Politically, Pacific Electric opposes us."

Hoffman agreed, "An energy company entering the internet space feels fishy."

Hawke recalled the ongoing Occupy San Francisco movement. It had lasted nearly a year, with the California gubernatorial election approaching and Brian polling over 65%, making the outcome a foregone conclusion.

Pacific Electric was the strongest financial backer of San Francisco's Democratic Party and intricately linked with the Newsom family.

Was there more behind this acquisition?

Hawke had no clear idea for now but said, "I'll quickly assemble negotiation and evaluation teams and bring in a third-party appraisal agency. We'll head to San Francisco this week to assist you with the acquisition talks."

Hoffman agreed without hesitation: "For the next few months, I'll put aside other work to focus on this acquisition."

He reminded Hawke, "Pacific Electric is an old energy company with rough business practices. Be wary."

Hawke wasn't afraid. "I'll also send a professional security team. You're in San Francisco long-term; keep an eye on Pacific Electric news."

"Understood," Hoffman said.

After hanging up, Hawke immediately allocated personnel and organized a specialized team to head to San Francisco the next day to support Hoffman. He also called Campos to dispatch Butterfly Consulting personnel to fly along.

*****

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