"President! In one day, our company processed over 100,000 contracts, with a deposit of over 20 million US dollars collected at once!" On the third day, in the office of Stark Mobile Communications, Malik Omar's secretary excitedly reported to Malik Omar.
Although processing 100,000 contracts didn't earn much money, the upfront deposit was substantial. According to the rules, customers had to pay a five-month deposit when signing up. Since most customers opted for the $39 per month plan, this naturally resulted in around $20 million in deposits.
While called a deposit, this $20 million would not be repaid within two years, as the contract was a strict two-year commitment. To receive the deposit back, one would have to wait until after those two years.
Furthermore, if the contract was breached within the two years, the deposit would be forfeited and not returned. In addition to this, Stark Mobile Communications gained a fixed monthly revenue of $4 million.
Combined with the existing contractual income of over $6 million, Stark Communications' fixed monthly income increased to $10 million. Stark Communications' monthly fixed costs were around $6 million, resulting in a net profit of $4 million per month.
This influx of funds allowed Stark Mobile Communications, which had been in dire financial straits, to immediately achieve a financial turnaround and begin making profits.
"That's fantastic!" Malik Omar excitedly clenched his fists. Gaining over $50 million in cash in one day seemed to have solidified his position as president.
Seeing that everything was successful, Malik Omar finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid it was all a dream, and that nothing would be left once he woke up.
The reason for this feeling was that Malik Omar knew very well that he was currently just a figurehead. The capital behind him had fabricated a story, a deeply moving "American Black Dream." Thus, Malik Omar became President Malik, sitting in this spacious and bright presidential office, with a beautiful and charming white secretary. In fact, if he wished, with a simple gesture, this white secretary would embrace him. This was something the old Malik Omar had never even dared to imagine, but now it was within his grasp.
Malik Omar understood that without the meticulous planning and execution in public opinion and marketing by the "America First Group" behind him, and without the company's newly designed contract system telling the perfect story and script of Malik Omar's rise, he could not have succeeded.
And if the capital behind him decided to withdraw its support, he would likely be dismissed in an instant. Despite his high profile online and the daily media interviews, he was merely a rootless duckweed. His only recourse now was to continue clinging to the capital behind him and play the role of their figurehead diligently to maintain his current happy life.
Of course, Malik Omar still harbored a small ambition: to continue working hard, constantly enriching and improving his abilities, so that he could truly become a president worthy of his current position.
Although it was difficult, Malik Omar had never been afraid of challenges. Otherwise, he would not have abandoned his family's land and resolutely come to the United States, enduring two years of hardship.
What was it all for?
Wasn't it to prove that he could live a better life than his fortunate senator brother?
In fact, the stories circulating outside had some minor inaccuracies. For example, Malik Omar was not a struggling farmer in his hometown, but the owner of hundreds of acres of land.
Malik Omar's father, when he served as an economic advisor, was not truly poor. Someone living in poverty could not hold an official position in the Kenyan government.
Although his father squandered most of his wealth, he still managed to acquire vast tracts of land at home, enough for Malik Omar to live a life of privilege in his own country.
Malik Omar had always wanted to surpass his brother, always!
***
While Malik Omar was basking in success, Billy Howard, on the other hand, was genuinely miserable.
Miserable, so very miserable!
Billy Howard's original plan was to release the scandal of Jiangnan Group's chip plagiarism after the public's attention on the previous matter had subsided, thus making Jiangnan Group fall harder after rising higher.
But you kept riding one news wave after another, dominating the entire internet with your news, leaving my intended exposé with no attention!
The scheduled time for the scandal to break had arrived, but the public's attention was still solely on that Black man named Malik. There was no remaining traffic for Billy Howard to exploit, leaving him exhausted.
To maintain their basic visibility, Billy Howard had to spend $30,000 daily on basic "water army" expenses. These costs were borne by Billy Howard himself. Every day he delayed, he lost $30,000, which was more painful than killing him.
However, this was not the worst. What truly terrified Billy Howard was that Edward Zamp had summoned him and strictly ordered him to take action within three days and achieve results, otherwise he would withdraw the $4 million previously provided.
Yes, Edward Zamp's feelings were entirely understandable. His objective in targeting Tianxing 5 was to prevent Jiangnan Group from entering the entire mobile phone industry through the Tianxing 5 mobile phone.
Because Edward Zamp understood that in the future, if Jiangnan Group entered the market, Motorola would face an extremely formidable competitor worldwide, a situation Motorola absolutely could not accept. Therefore, he had to stifle the opponent in its cradle, which led to his desperate efforts to prevent the Tianxing 5 mobile phone from being network-approved.
But now, Tianxing 5 had managed to enter the market by forcefully acquiring a mobile communications company. It was reported that they had incurred over $200 million in massive debt for this endeavor, which made Edward Zamp even more concerned.
The reasoning was simple: the total profit from the Tianxing 5 mobile phone was likely only a few million dollars. Yet, Jiangnan Group was willing to spend $200 million to acquire a company for such a small profit. If the other party wasn't trying to enter the mobile phone industry through this acquisition, Edward Zamp would gladly chop off his head and give it to Boss Huang as a football.
Therefore, Edward Zamp became more urgent. He had to immediately tarnish Jiangnan Group's reputation and definitively prove their guilt in stealing chip technology.
Once this charge was proven, he would have room to maneuver and could use this reason to ban the sale of the Jiangnan 5 mobile phone.
Hence, Edward Zamp issued a death order to Billy Howard, pushing Billy Howard into a corner.
"Fine, then I'll use everything I can to win this battle!" After a long period of contemplation, Billy Howard finally made his decision: to fulfill Edward Zamp's command at all costs.
Of course, Billy Howard also prepared a quotation of $5 million. Since Edward Zamp was pressuring him so severely, these additional costs would have to be borne by Motorola.
Indeed, taking half of this $5 million for himself wouldn't be excessive, would it?
***
"Mr. Chairman, what do you have to say about your association's announcement a few days ago condemning BLm Company and stating that the Tianxing 5 mobile phone would be permanently prohibited from network access, yet the Tianxing 5 mobile phone is still functioning normally on the network?" At the entrance of the US Mobile Communications Association, the chairman, who was eagerly surrounded by reporters, could only utter with a blank expression, "The situation is currently under investigation, and we will provide an explanation in the future," before rushing into his office, escaping the reporters' pursuit.
"Damn it, I knew this would happen!" the chairman cursed, while his secretary remained expressionless.
Both of them had indeed anticipated such a situation but failed to prevent it. Now, facing such questions and mockery was only natural.
"Sir, Motorola has sent another message, hoping we can find a way to stop Tianxing 5 from accessing the network again! Even if it's already connected, it can be disconnected!" the secretary said.
"Stop it? How can I stop it? Unless we expel Stark Mobile Communications directly, no one can take this damn phone off the network!" the chairman said helplessly.
"Sir, Mr. Edward Zamp also mentioned that he has prepared the position of Chief Industry Consultant for Motorola for you, with an annual salary of $300,000!" the secretary continued.
"$300,000..." the chairman fell silent. After a moment, he said, "Tell Mr. Zamp that I still find it very difficult. This is not something I, as chairman, can do alone; it requires the unanimous agreement of all members!"
"Yes!" The secretary nodded and said no more. The chairman felt a tightness in his chest. This was a $300,000 annual salary position! Moreover, a consultant role was clearly a part-time job, requiring no daily clock-in at the company, allowing for multiple concurrent part-time positions.
In fact, the chairman had already determined that after his retirement, he would have four different part-time jobs, with a combined annual salary of around $250,000.
The combined income from his four part-time jobs was less than what Motorola offered for just one part-time position, which made the chairman feel extremely distressed.
"Perhaps we should try to convene a general meeting?" the secretary suggested.
"It's useless. General meetings are held once a quarter, and the last one just concluded over a week ago. We'll have to wait another three months. Although an emergency meeting can be called, it can only be convened if more than one-third of our association members proactively propose it. I have no additional authority!" the chairman said helplessly.
Although he was the chairman, the association's power clearly rested with its members. Otherwise, if he voluntarily tried to manage a chairman who was above him, wouldn't that be unacceptable? And to prevent the association from becoming a mouthpiece for a large corporation, all matters of the association required a vote. If a consensus could not be reached, the association would essentially be unable to decide anything.
"Yes!" The secretary nodded, and then a strange smile appeared on his lips. "However, sir, forty-two members, led by AT and SP Communications, have just proposed to convene an emergency meeting!"