As the globally recognized stock god, Winston Benett had already made a name for himself in the 1990s’ financial industry around the world.
While the financial industry was considered one of the more sophisticated and closed-off ones, the man truly made his name known among ordinary folk when he started to auction his lunch for charity in the year 2000.
Jasper still remembered that this year in 2001, Winston Benett’s lunch would be auctioned off at 18,000 US dollars, which was the cheapest in history.
In the year 2020 in his past life, Jasper had reincarnated before the auction that year. The latest he remembered was 2019. One might ask how much his lunch was auctioned off at.
4.56 million US dollars, which was 31.54 million Somer Dollars according to the exchange rate at that time.
Jasper had always thought that Winston Benett had made a great move by doing so.
For it had gotten him fame and actual benefits.
While it was done in the name of charity, Jasper’s keen eyes and understanding of things had greatly exceeded those of ordinary people. He was well aware that Winston Benett auctioning his lunch was a much more complicated and wise business skill.
Ordinary people would never understand why someone would spend tens of millions for a plate of steak that Winston Benett had eaten before, but the increase in reputation was much worth the price paid.
The Maybach quietly drove past New York’s streets and boulevards before it finally arrived at a seemingly normal restaurant by the streets.
Jasper realized that a white old man seemed to have been standing at the restaurant’s entrance for quite some time.
That man was the legendary Winston Benett, an old man with a kind smile that never left his face.
Jasper had already stepped down from the car before Doyle could open the doors for him, and he made his way toward an approaching Winston Benett.
“Hello, Mr. Benett, it’s an honor to receive an invitation to join you for afternoon tea. I’m sure our conversation today will be immensely joyful,” Jasper spoke first.
Winston shook Jasper’s hand and spoke gently, “Mr. Jasper, while this is the first time we’ve met, I must say that I’m greatly impressed by your achievements. I’m also very glad to see such an outstanding talent emerge from the mysterious Somerland in the East.”
“My country has one of the oldest civilizations in the history of mankind. It’s also the only one of the four ancient civilizations that have continued into the present…”
“I believe all we lack back home are opportunities. Now that opportunities have arisen, I’m sure that there will only be more people like me making a name for ourselves outside the country for the world to know.”
Jasper was neither too humble nor arrogant when he spoke, and his confidence in his own ethnic race was rewarded with Winston’s admiration.
A man’s success would be limited if he did not even love his country and its people.
The two chatted happily as they entered the restaurant.
It was a normal restaurant and there did not seem to be anything special inside.
Considering the time now, the restaurant was rather empty. There were only two waiters with Jasper and Winston as the only customers.
Winston must be a regular here, for the waiters did not seem too excited at the sight of the man. They merely greeted him and asked if he wanted the usual.
Winston turned to look at Jasper and introduced, “I love the food at this restaurant so I chose to meet you here. Is there something you’d like to eat, Laine? I personally quite like their beef Wellington. It’s very authentic.”
“Alright then, I’ll have a beef Wellington with a fruit salad and a cup of tea please.” While Jasper was not used to eating Western food, he had no other choice but to go with the host.
Jasper was really hungry considering he had not eaten anything since he woke up hungover, so the large portion of beef Wellington actually tasted delicious.
“I must thank you for the statement you released on the first day Sena went public, Mr. Benett. Had it not been for you, I don’t think Sena’s share prices would’ve managed to reach 122 US dollars,” Jasper told Winston after finishing half his food.
Winston smiled and replied, “It’s what I usually do, releasing a statement after I’ve purchased a certain percentage of shares. It’s nothing to thank me for. Plus, even if I didn’t release any statement, I’m sure someone will manage to find out from the published data sooner or later.”
“But there will be different implications to the public if they were to realize it themselves and if you were to release a statement about it yourself. Its effects and time taken are different too, ” Jasper spoke seriously.
Winston smiled and slowly said, “Laine. I actually invited you today because I’d like to discuss business with you.”
“Business?”
Jasper put down his cutleries and looked at Winston intently, waiting for the other to elaborate.
As expected, Winston did not make Jasper wait too long and quickly spoke, “Laine, you own a company called Terizone Inc back in Somerland, correct?”
That sentence immediately raised Jasper’s defenses.
After a moment of thought, Jasper replied calmly, “I wouldn’t say I own it. Terizone has a group of founders and I’ve agreed that while I do own a majority of shares, I will not interfere with the company’s day-to-day operations.”
Winston smiled as if he had seen through all of Jasper’s thoughts.
“I understand. We play quite the same role most times, looking for promising companies and investing in them to earn profits in the end.
“But the difference is that the companies you’ve invested in as of late are all companies with unlimited potential. Your foresight is something no one can compare to and this Terizone Inc is one of the most outstanding of them all.”
Winston’s gaze shone with great interest. “From what I can tell, Terizone will one day become an entity so large it’ll stun everyone. It’ll become a topic everyone talks about in the internet era, but it’s a shame that you were a step ahead of me.”
In all honesty, if not for the fact that it was impossible, Jasper might seriously suspect Winston to be another reincarnated man.
This old man’s foresight was too accurate.
Terizone had already shown its strengths, but it still had a long way before it became a household name.
Especially the base of Terizone’s business, the instant messaging domain, which would be known as the social networking domain when the concept expanded in the future.
As of that moment, in the year 2001, no one in the world had any idea how socializing on the internet would completely change the way people socialized.
Yet Winston Benett had already realized it.
“Are you interested in Terizone Inc, Mr. Benett?” Jasper had to ask.
“I am!”
Winston replied straightforwardly and frankly.
“If possible, I’m even willing to invest one billion US dollars to buy all the Terizone shares you have.”
