“It’s nice to get to meet you two.”
Jasper reached out to shake Page’s and Brin’s hands as he spoke, approaching them once they got out of the car.
Page shook Jasper’s hand and spoke with a smile, “Hello, Mr. Laine. I’m Page and this is Brin, we’re the co-founders of Google. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“I’m honored to meet you as well.”
In truth, Jasper had seen pictures of these two people in his past life.
Page was a shut-in obsessed with technology, a direct and blunt man. While Google was still in its most difficult incubation stage, they had relied mostly on generosity to overcome it.
Brin, on the other hand, was more restrained and had more tact. He was more of a businessman than Page.
When Google grew, Page became the face of Google most of the time but true control of the company still laid in Brin’s hands.
He was a low profile man who had self-restraint.
After quick small talk, Jasper invited the two into the hotel’s restaurant as they enjoyed dinner.
Page and Brin had just sat down when they realized that Jasper had attentively prepared a meal that catered to their Jewish tastes.
“To be honest, Mr. Laine, I’m feeling a warmth from you that I’ve never felt before during this time,” Page told Jasper, feeling touched.
Jasper smiled. “I learned that you two are Jewish from Mr. Todd, so I had the hotel prepare something else instead. It’s nothing much, actually. I just believe that mutual respect is the foundation of mutual trust between people.”
Page and Brin shared a look before nodding.
This alone had earned Jasper brownie points from both of them.
As they ate, Jasper also began to chat aimlessly with Page and Brin.
Jasper had merely been an employee of a small financial company back in Somerland in his past life, so he had only eaten meals outside with his superior a handful of times—let alone top-notch talents like Page and Brin.
Yet here Jasper was, eating dinner with them as the duo spoke politely to Jasper.
Such was life…
After simple small talk, Page first brought up the issue of investment.
“We know that you’ve bought 27% of Google’s shares from Mr. Todd, Mr. Laine. Do you perhaps see a bullish trend in our company’s future?” Page asked excitedly, extremely eager for Jasper’s recognition.
After all, in comparison to them, Jasper had achieved way more. They were both in the dot-com industry, and Jasper’s Sena had already successfully gone public and evoked the enthusiasm of the investors in the United States to invest in the industry. Sena’s share price had also exceeded 150 US dollars in a few days!
“My apologies, I don’t really know Google too well, so I can’t say whether I have a bullish or bearish stand on your company’s future.”
Admiration was one thing, but Jasper was not going to compromise at all when it came to business—even if he was facing future big shots.
Everything Jasper said now would affect the investment and distribution of benefits later, so Jasper made sure he spoke in accordance.
Ignoring the disappointed looks on the duo’s faces, Jasper continued, “To be honest with you, I bought 27% of your shares because of my friendship with Todd. Google itself did not play too big a part in my decision.
“I heard that you’re lacking in funds?”
With just a few sentences, Jasper managed to put Page and Brin, two future wealthy businessmen, through an emotional rollercoaster. At the same time, he had also grasped the initiative of the negotiation tightly in his hands.
“We are. Our company does indeed need more funds for future development. Not to toot our own horn, but our patent search engine technology is irreplaceable worldwide!
“All we need are funds to expand our company’s business. Once we have the funds, I’m certain that we’ll be able to further develop in a short amount of time. I promise that you won’t make a loss if you invest in us, Mr. Laine.”
Page spoke hastily.
After a moment of thought, Brin added, “We’ve been in contact with Yahoo three months ago, Mr. Laine. And we’ve proposed a partnership with them. We’re willing to provide our search engine technology to them for free.
“The partnership hasn’t been approved yet, but once it has, Google’s search engine will immediately take up most of the United States’ market share and we’ll be able to gather a large number of users’ data in a short amount of time.
“These are all beneficial to Google’s development.”
Both Brin and Page felt rather guilty after saying those words.
After all, including themselves, no one would believe that Yahoo would partner with such an insignificant company.
Yahoo was currently the largest web portal in the world and the technology company with the second-highest market price just after Weresoft.
Yahoo and Google were miles apart, so there was no way the former would consider their technology.
Yet Jasper smiled as the two were worried.
Page and Brin were still fresh to the world.
