"Enough, you shameless wretch. You purchased the company and the nation's interests, and you still dare to spout such sophistry! You..." A director from Goldman Sachs angrily pointed at the other man's nose, but before he could finish speaking, he was silenced by another shout.
"Enough! Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?" Another director slammed the table and stood up. This was an elderly man with white whiskers, highly respected in the industry and a regular at annual banquets. When he spoke, the Goldman Sachs director's bluster immediately deflated.
"Mr. Sotheby, I am doing this for the benefit and future of the United States..."
"Shut up. Don't try to talk to us about national interests here. When have we ever harmed the nation's interests? Isn't it for the nation's benefit to build more high-quality and safe ultra-vacuum magnetic levitation pipelines with less funding?"
"But..."
"You don't need to say another word. Actually, everything we wanted to say was already said by that director just now. Whose interests are more important, yours alone, or all of ours here? If you can't even figure out this simple question, yet dare to speak so arrogantly, I think Goldman Sachs is living in the past."
"When did the Goldman Sachs that used any means necessary for profit become this Goldman Sachs that now shouts slogans of serving the nation and the people? Or do you just want to monopolize the 20,000 billion US dollars in procurement fees?"
"We really didn't..."
"Alright, the vote is over, and the result is very clear. Over 75% of the directors strongly support Mr. Swift Jr.'s plan. I believe our company should introduce Chinese technology and build the safest pipeline railways at the lowest cost."
"As for the issue of technology being monopolized, I think Goldman Sachs is being overly worried. The technology belongs to others, but the actual manufacturing of the pipeline railways is done by our enterprises, and the construction is done by our employees. Our workers can completely master Chinese technology during the manufacturing process."
"And with the technological level of our United States, once we master this technology and then advance it further, developing even more advanced next-generation technology ahead of the Chinese is only natural. I don't believe we will fall behind in the competition for next-generation technology; you at Goldman Sachs are just too worried."
"Sir..."
"You can either shut up and sit here obediently, or go back and have your Professor Parkinson come talk to me personally. You, on the other hand, should stop spouting any more unpleasant nonsense. None of us here want to hear you speak!"
Seeing the angry expressions of the other directors around him, the Goldman Sachs director realized he had thoroughly incurred the wrath of the crowd.
This was understandable. After all, Goldman Sachs had placed itself on a moral high ground of serving the nation and its people to demand things from others, which would imply that the other directors who voted against them were all traitors selling out the country. It was no wonder these directors were in no mood to be pleasant with him.
"Yes, I'll take my leave then!" The Goldman Sachs director understood that staying there any longer would be meaningless. He left with his people, planning to contact Professor Parkinson immediately to discuss further plans.
Meanwhile, after the Goldman Sachs people left, Swift Jr. shook hands with everyone with a beaming smile and mingled with everyone, as if they had always been this harmonious.
"Mr. Swift Jr., the message you sent us on the terminal earlier, wasn't it just to help you drive away Goldman Sachs, and then have us driven away by you as well!" Sotheby said, narrowing his eyes.
"How could that be? I sincerely wish to share the profits with all of you. After all, with our 46.8% stake in the future 60,000 billion US dollars, we can directly receive 28,000 billion US dollars in profit. Why would we refuse such a good thing?" Swift Jr. said with a smile. The others also wore smiles, though their hearts were sour to the point of madness.
Good heavens, the Western Mustang Fund and the Jiangnan Group behind it could directly receive a net profit of 23,000 billion US dollars at once. For them, the traditional American powers, to only be able to squeeze together to share the remaining 10,000 billion US dollars felt terrible. This was because nearly 30% of the shares were in circulation on the market and not in the hands of these directors.
Thinking of this, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up. That's right, there was also the 10,000 billion US dollars in profit that originally belonged to the retail investors! How should this sum of money be distributed?
Did the Western Mustang Fund intend to monopolize this money as well?
Seeing the hungry stares of these directors, Swift Jr. naturally knew what they were thinking. He then continued, "Gentlemen, please don't rush. I assure you all here that our Jiangnan Group only needs 20,000 billion US dollars. The remaining 40,000 billion US dollars will be distributed to all of you!"
Upon hearing Swift Jr. say this, everyone's expressions finally eased a little. Although it was still displeasing that the Jiangnan Group alone was monopolizing 20,000 billion US dollars.
However, after all, the technology was Chinese, and the company was Chinese. None of this could be achieved without the cooperation of the Chinese. They could only grudgingly accept it.
Moreover, the total share that the Jiangnan Group should have taken according to its stake was 28,000 billion US dollars. Now they were voluntarily giving up 8,000 billion US dollars, which was already a very considerate gesture.
The key issue that followed was how the remaining 40,000 billion would be distributed.
Swift Jr. continued, "I have already compiled the statistics. The directors present here, including Goldman Sachs, hold a total of 20.8% of the shares. According to the proportion, they should receive 12,480 billion US dollars from the 60,000 billion US dollars."
"Therefore, this portion will be distributed entirely according to the proportion of shares you hold. I believe you all have no problem with this, right?" Swift Jr. said with a smile. Everyone subconsciously nodded. This was the fairest part, so they naturally had no objections.
However, this brought another extremely critical issue to the table.
With 40,000 billion US dollars distributed, and 12,480 billion allocated, there was still 27,520 billion US dollars remaining to be distributed. The latter was more than double the former; this was the most valuable part.
And judging by Swift Jr.'s words, he didn't seem to intend to distribute these funds according to the proportion of shares.
"Mr. Chairman, what are your plans for this money? How will it be distributed?" a director asked curiously, representing everyone's thoughts.
"Of course, it will be distributed in the most equitable way that also best helps the company develop!" Swift Jr. said with a smile. "Gentlemen, as I mentioned at the very beginning, the company's current cash situation is extremely dire. Although we have made every effort to convert many unnecessary assets into cash over the past year, the company's accounts still only have less than 50 billion US dollars. The total construction funds required are 10,000 billion US dollars."
"Therefore, we still have a funding gap of 9,500 billion US dollars that cannot be filled. This is the necessary expenditure for the entire railway pipeline project in the future. I do not want this expense to be delayed and difficult to implement. At the same time, considering the funds needed for the company's daily operations, I have decided to raise 10,000 billion US dollars in cash for the company within a month, and truly secure the full construction funds for this project!"
"You want us to come up with this 10,000 billion US dollars? And then distribute the remaining 27,520 billion US dollars in profit according to the proportion of money contributed?" These were all shrewd old foxes, and coupled with Swift Jr.'s earlier revelation that he wanted them, the directors, to pay to solve the company's construction fund difficulties.
When these two factors were combined, these old foxes naturally guessed Swift Jr.'s intentions completely.
At the same time, it had to be admitted that just a few hours ago, the directors who had dismissed the idea of them paying as a joke and adamantly declared they wouldn't pay a cent, were now all tempted. Some were even calculating in their minds how much money this company could afford to pay and what future profit share they could secure.
After all, the investment here yielded a 170% return. Although there were slight risks, this was the United States, and they had ways to suppress the risks. They couldn't possibly let this money slip away.
"We, Citi Fund, are willing to contribute 240 billion US dollars to help the company commence construction!" Sotheby, the old fox, was the first to speak.
This statement completely ignited the entire conference room. The other directors began to speak, and each of them offered funds in the hundreds of billions of US dollars.
In the blink of an eye, the total amount of funds the attendees were willing to pay had already exceeded 50,000 billion US dollars, and it was still increasing. This showed just how abundant the funds in their hands were.
After all, the economy was not doing too well these days, and there were very few stable and profitable investment projects. Having suffered losses from the financial crisis in '08, they naturally became more cautious with their money, and thus accumulated so much without realizing it.
"Senior gentlemen, I am very moved by everyone's enthusiasm. However, as you can all see, your enthusiasm is too high. This distribution method will definitely not satisfy everyone, and we need to find another, more fair and just method."
"Coincidentally, do you all remember the issue we set aside at the very beginning, the problem of acquiring the land needed for pipeline construction? I previously proposed resolving it through an exchange method, and that remains the case."
"As I said, I have divided the land that needs to be exchanged into 100 portions. Each portion is a binding of two plots of land, one old and one new, of equivalent value. The price of each such plot of land is 10 billion US dollars."
"I have prepared the detailed information regarding these land exchanges for everyone. Each of you can take this information back and carefully consider which plots of land your respective capabilities can easily resolve."
"If you feel it's feasible, come to me and pay 10 billion US dollars to purchase the qualification for this land exchange. Once you have properly arranged the new land, you can then exchange it for the old pipeline land."
"Of course, this 10 billion US dollars is not for me, but for the company's construction funds for the vacuum ultra-magnetic levitation pipelines. The future 27,520 billion US dollars will also be distributed according to today's purchase proportions. This is the final solution. Are you all satisfied?" Swift Jr. asked with a smile.