Super Spender

“Oh, really? The Apple company nearly went bankrupt after the departure of Jobs, and they had to beg him to come back, didn’t they?” Finn Lewis gave him a side-eye, casually smoothing out the creases in his shirt sleeve before speaking.

“You!” This shareholder turned flushed in anger. Finn Lewis didn’t give him a chance to retort and directly said, “If you don’t need me, then why did you invite me here? According to your original plan, just launch the new product and that’s it. Why did you call me over? What’s the matter?”

“Gentlemen, calm down, we’re all part of the same company. There’s no need to make the atmosphere so rigid, right? Mr. Lewis is joking. We invited Mr. Lewis over because we want to cooperate with him, and Mr. Lewis himself is our company’s largest individual shareholder, so our cooperation has a stronger foundation, right?” Levinson Wesley hastily intervened.

“Of course cooperation is possible. But what kind of terms can Company A offer?” Finn Lewis sat straight and asked with a light smile.

The board members looked stunned, then turned somewhat speechless. What an extraordinary individual. As a shareholder of Company A, if the company improves, your assets increase, right? And it’s not like they won’t pay for your collaboration. He’s demanding conditions, too.

“Aren’t partnerships always negotiated? If Mr. Lewis, you have other demands, we can discuss them.” Levinson Wesley was quick to reply. There was no telling what agreements or deals Planet had with Finn Lewis. Even if no agreement was reached, if Planet had negotiations with Finn Lewis and Company A did not, the one to suffer in the end would be Company A, right?

Although Company A had a superior software that could crush its competitors, software couldn’t totally replace hardware functionality. If you are outshined when it comes to hardware, then you’re on equal footing. What’s the value of the 4.8% share that Company A paid for? They have to secure a certain market share at the very least. Not to compare with the first generation of Company A, but they do need to increase the declining share in mobile phones held by the current A company.

“I have a condition.” Finn Lewis gave Levinson Wesley a light look and announced.

“What condition, please feel free to speak, Mr. Lewis,” Levinson Wesley asked without a second thought, given the amount of technology Finn Lewis held. As seen during the press conference when the North Federation banned the Xeon chips of Flame Nation’s WT, it was clear what was at stake.

The mobile phone market was so huge, Levinson Wesley didn’t believe that Finn Lewis could ignore it. Therefore, Company A had to grip Finn Lewis tight. “I need to hold more than 30% of all shares.” After some thought, Finn Lewis voiced his condition. Initially, he wanted to say 50%, but he figured it wasn’t feasible.

Even if Finn Lewis insisted on this condition and they agreed to it, it’s unlikely that the North Federation officials would also agree. Unlike other companies, bigger companies like Company A often have some form of cooperation with officials. If a company that already cooperates with the North Federation officials suddenly became under Flame Nation control, how would it be managed?

“No way!” Before Levinson Wesley could respond, a few shareholders blurted out. 30% shares, what a joke. While this share gap is still far from absolute control, it’s already astronomical. The only organization that currently holds over 10% of the shares in the entire board of directors of Company A is the Berkshire Foundation. Strictly speaking, the shareholders who stood with Berkshire had about 27% of the shares.

Though they might be on the same side, they are four different foundations holding shares, and only 4 shareholders in the entire board of directors held more than 5% shares! All of them were investment funds. What followed was Finn Lewis, the largest individual shareholder. The shares held by all directors of Company A only amounted to 64.25%. The rest were all held by other shareholders in the stock market.

It wouldn’t be possible for Finn Lewis to hold scattered stocks exclusively, let alone buying so many dispersed shares. The acceptance of around 4% of floating shares from the stock market would be a miracle – and likely to be far above the market price of the current shares of Company A.

“Then, if I’m selling my shares, are you interested? Or should I ask, do you want to execute the right of first purchase? If you don’t, I will sell directly in the stock market.” Finn Lewis cast a glance at those individuals, snapped his fingers and asked.

In fact, Finn Lewis didn’t want to go against these people, but the individuals present were used to being high above the others. Finn needed to let them understand that not everyone in the world needs to plead with them, and they also need to plead with others. Not everyone would oblige them. If one puts themselves too high, there’s only one outcome – a hard fall.

Touched his nose, Finn Lewis suddenly thought, why was he thinking about all these? How did it concern him? Finn’s words left his audience somewhat helpless, since his attitude seemed a little off. This time, Levinson Wesley quickly responded, “Mr. Lewis, these are not significant issues. If you consider holding a significant number of shares, that’s good news, isn’t it? However, we need a certain amount of time to collect these shares to sell to you.”

“How long?” Finn Lewis looked at Levinson Wesley and asked directly. Strictly speaking, between Planet and Company A, Finn Lewis was more inclined towards Company A. The reason was simple: Company A had already elevated its class. This was more to Finn Lewis’s taste. Like how Planet’s high-end mobile phones were priced almost the same as Company A’s, even more expensive in some cases.

But when you compare them, despite having a similar price, the one that gives the first impression to many people is that Apple is more high-end than Planet. Don’t deny it, that’s what most people think. Even if many people don’t like this idea, when you put Planet and Apple in front of them, they would subconsciously think that Apple is more high-end than Planet.

It must be said, Jobs had instilled this concept into almost all Apple fans and those who knew about Apple. That could also be a part of the corporate culture, right? Having a high class. Mr. Cooper had this high class personified. It was really not easy to get Apple where it is today. Especially in terms of design, whether it was a laptop, mobile phone, or tablet, those were believed to have reached the industry’s peak.