Chapter 378 The Surprising Richest Man in Minnesota!

In the reception room 203 of the municipal government compound, Vice Mayor Yao Yuanyuan met with Li Xiaofan and his party.

After Li Xiaofan and the others arrived at the reception room, they sat there for a few minutes before Yao Yuanyuan, who was notified by his secretary, entered the reception room with the heads of several departments.

As soon as the burly Yao Yuanyuan entered the reception room, he came over and extended his hands to Li Xiaofan enthusiastically: "Mr. Li, long time no see!"

"Director Yao... no, Mayor Yao, congratulations on your promotion!"

Li Xiaofan had met Yao Yuanyuan several times before. Last time after New Year's Day in 1996, when he attended the Mingzhou Free Trade Zone Economic Work Conference as the head of the Mingzhou Industry and Trade Company, Yao Yuanyuan was still the top director of the Mingzhou Free Trade Zone Management Committee.

"Mr. Li, you're welcome, please take a seat!"

After Yao Yuanyuan greeted everyone to take their seats, he said to Li Xiaofan: "Mr. Li, I recently noticed a news report on the Internet. Was it that your company in Singapore invested in the Yahoo company in the United States?"

His words surprised Li Xiaofan. Mayor Yao was so fashionable that he actually went online and noticed his news.

At the bell-ringing ceremony for Yahoo's listing in mid-April, the video of CCTV's U.S. station reporter Gu Tongye interviewing Li Xiaofan was later broadcast on the CCTV-2 Economic Comprehensive Channel. At that time, the domestic Internet industry had just begun to take off, and many people did not care about the news. Moreover, Li Xiaofan represented an investment company registered in Singapore.

"Yes. Mayor Yao, how did you know?" Li Xiaofan asked curiously.

Yao Yuanyuan smiled and said: "I saw news reports about your investment in Yahoo in the Straits Times column of Yahoo Singapore..."

His words made Li Xiaofan even more surprised: "Mayor Yao, you also go to Yahoo Singapore to browse news, so your English is quite good! Why are you so concerned about Singapore?"

Director Qian of the Mingzhou Municipal Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, who was accompanying him, answered: "Mr. Li, our Mayor Yao is a top student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Not only is he fluent in English, but he also went to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for training in March this year!"

Oh, I see, no wonder!

Li Xiaofan said to Yao Yuanyuan: "Mayor Yao, you came to Singapore for training, why didn't you call me and ask me to do my duty as a landlord!"

"The last group training organized by the province to go to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore was very tight, only one month, and you couldn't go out at will, so I didn't come to disturb you!" Yao Yuanyuan said with a hearty smile.

As early as 1978, after visiting Singapore, Grandpa Deng gave clear instructions to learn from Singapore. Coincidentally, the mainland's reform and opening up began soon after.

Subsequently, China and New Zealand established formal diplomatic relations in 1990.

In 1992, two years after New Zealand and China established diplomatic relations, Nanyang Technological University launched the first overseas training program for mainland leaders. Over the next twenty years, more than 10,000 personnel at all levels from mainland China came to Singapore to participate in high-end training ranging from two weeks to three months. Later, the two one-year postgraduate courses, the Master of Managerial Economics and the Master of Public Administration, launched in 1998 and 2005, were the most famous. These two courses were called the "Mayor's Class".

"Mayor Yao, you are so unreasonable. You didn't contact me when you arrived in Singapore. This is unreasonable!"

"Mr. Li, there will be another chance next time. Next time I lead a team to Singapore to attract investment, I will definitely come to disturb you!"

After exchanging a few words, Yao Yuanyuan continued:

"Mr. Li, I saw relevant reports on the Internet. After the American Yahoo that you invested in was successfully listed on the Nasdaq, your current worth has exceeded 200 million US dollars. With your current worth of 2 billion yuan, you may be our Mingzhou The richest man!"

Recently, Yahoo's stock price has been hovering around US$92. The market value of the 2.96 million Yahoo shares held by Li Xiaofan has exceeded US$270 million.

Not counting the 310,000 shares held on behalf of Yahoo, the market value of the 2.65 million Yahoo shares held by Singapore Yifan Holdings under the name of Li Xiaofan alone reaches US$243 million, which is over 2 billion yuan if converted into RMB.

In Mingzhou today, Li Xiaofan is the absolute richest man with a net worth of 2 billion yuan!

Yao Yuanyuan's words shocked the leaders of the Mingzhou Municipal Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, the Mingzhou National Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, the Mingzhou Free Trade Zone Management Committee and other organizations who were accompanying him to the meeting.

They were notified before that they would accompany Mayor Yao to meet with a merchant today. When Secretary Yao Yuanyuan notified him, he said he was the Singaporean boss of Mingzhou Industry and Trade Company in the Free Trade Zone.

When they received the notice, they were not too relieved. They just felt a little strange. Why did Mayor Yao meet with the owner of such a foreign trade company in person? The foreign trade data of this Mingzhou industrial and trade company can only be said to be at a medium level in the entire Mingzhou city. Why did Leader Yao mobilize so much...

Now, after what Leader Yao said, they suddenly realized.

I never expected that the young man in front of me was worth more than 2 billion yuan, making him the absolute richest man in Mingzhou City!

You must know that last year, the two national parks of Mingzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and Mingzhou Free Trade Zone combined actually introduced more than 200 million US dollars in foreign investment.

The young man in front of him is worth more than 200 million US dollars!

They couldn't help but start to look at Li Xiaofan with admiration.

"Thank you, Mayor Yao, for your concern. It's just wealth on paper. It's hard to say anything until it's cashed in..." Li Xiaofan smiled modestly.

"Mr. Li, you are too modest! Recently, I have also been paying attention to some news about Wall Street in the United States on the Internet. The Internet concept on the other side of the ocean is very popular. I personally estimate that your net worth will soar!"

"Haha, I wish you good luck, I hope so..."

When Li Xiaofan was dealing with the greetings, he secretly muttered in his heart, Mayor Yao, such a big leader, would not talk about these things with me?

Sure enough, after a few greetings, Yao Yuancheng asked Li Xiaofan: "Mr. Li, you hold such a large amount of foreign exchange wealth, what are your plans for the future?"

Li Xiaofan smiled and said: "To be honest with the leaders, I have participated in the investment of the Lianhai Microelectronics Design Center project initiated by our fellow countryman Academician Ni, and support Academician Ni's China Core Project..."

Li Xiaofan's words surprised Yao Yuancheng, and he said in surprise: "When did this happen? Academician Ni is the pride of all Minnesota people!"

"It happened recently. I think Academician Ni's Lianhai Microelectronics Design Center project is very meaningful. He is very far-sighted, so I supported it. I just registered in Shanghai recently. The Sino-foreign joint venture Shanghai Changjiang Technology Investment Company was established as an investment platform for our Singapore Yifan Company to enter the country..."

"Mr. Li, your decision is correct! Put R&D in Shanghai. However, you can consider putting the future industrialization base in your hometown, Mingzhou. Today I invited the main leaders of the two national parks, Mingzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and Mingzhou Free Trade Zone. In the future, if you have a good project to land, whether it is land guarantee or preferential policies, our two national parks in Mingzhou can provide all-round services!"

After a long time, it turned out that Mayor Yao personally met with Li Xiaofan in order to invite Li Xiaofan to return home to invest.