Chapter 1108 – Using people to decide
Feng Yu’s offer is very attractive, but Ma Yun is worried he might lose his control over the company in the future. Feng Yu has money and is close to Zhong Qingxian and Liu Chuanzhi. If Feng Yu bought a stake in the company, the three would have more than 51% shares.
This company is painstakingly set up by Ma Yun and his close friends and has high prospects. He does not want to give up his authority to someone else.
No one is willing to let someone take over their company even when the other party is giving high offers. The founders of those companies that were acquired will use the money to set up new companies. Ma Yun is used to having the company’s final say and will not like being someone’s subordinate. At the minimum, he wants to be on par.
Just like Zhong Qingxian. Although Zhong Qingxian might have more authority than Feng Yu in Lehaha, Feng Yu is still the company’s major shareholder. That’s why Zhong Qingxian is still actively investing in other companies, like Alibaba. Everyone has their own thinking, and no one likes being a subordinate forever, especially for someone capable.
“Manager Feng, how will the cooperation be like?” Ma Yun thought for a while and asked.
Feng Yu was relieved when Ma Yun asked this question. If not, he can only let Amazon enter the Chinese market and compete directly with Ma Yun. But that is not what Feng Yu wants.
“How do you want to cooperate? Merge is not possible, as no one will agree. I will get Amazon and eBay to send a team each to help Alibaba. They will help you set up the eCommerce site, and they will use a sum of money to exchange Alibaba’s shares.”
Ma Yun frowned. Feng Yu’s ultimate motive is still the shares.
Zhong Qingxian is currently holding on to Alibaba’s 30% shares, Liu Chuanzhi owns 10%. Ma Yun and his team of 18 people owns 55%, and his CFO, who had joined later, owns 5%.
If Feng Yu is going to invest, he will be investing more than Liu Chuanzhi, and might even be more than Zhong Qingxian. How many shares should Feng Yu hold? It should be at least 10%.
The share proportion is not very important. What’s most critical is who will have the final say!
Feng Yu saw Ma Yun deep in thoughts and suddenly remembered what Ma Yun did in his previous life.
Feng Yu continued. “Manager Ma, the Alibaba group, should be a shareholding company, right? I can promise you that you will be the company’s Chairman in the future, and will support you. I only need two seats on the board of directors. My friend, the shareholder of eBay, and I will send a representative each on the board. The number of people on the board of directors can set as nine people, and as the Chairman, you will have two votes. We will not make decisions based on the share proportion, and it will be based on votes. What do you think?”
Ma Yun looks at Feng Yu in shock. It is not a surprise for Feng Yu to support him as the Chairman, as Zhong Qingxiang and Liu Chuanzhi support him. He had also heard rumors that Manager Feng does not like to be directors. Other than the two holding companies, Feng Yu is not holding on to any other positions in other companies.
Feng Yu even suggest making decisions through voting and not based on the proportion of shares. The Chairman is ent.i.tled to two votes, which means he will still be in control of the board.
“Manager Feng, are you joking with me?” Ma Yun asked seriously.
“You can ask Old Sun, Zhong Qingxian, Liu Chuanzhi, or even Zhang Chaoyang and w.a.n.g Zhixi. When have I gone back on my words? Just think about it. I have lots of investments in different industries. Will I have time to monitor my every investment? I am a lazy person, and my favorite pastime is to do nothing. Since you can think of such an interesting business idea, I believe you will succeed. If you need my help, I will always be there for you. The better the company is, the more I earn. I am just a businessman, and my purpose is only to make money.”
Sun Lijie added. “Manager Ma, you can trust Manager Feng. He is not lying. Even those two security guards do not know who Manager Feng is. This shows how often Manager Feng comes to the office.”
Feng Yu thought to himself. I didn’t know that even the people from my own company does not know me!
It will be a joke if I am stopped from entering my own company one day.
Ma Yun thought for a long time and looks at Feng Yu. “Manager Feng. I cannot decide on my own. I need to discuss with the rest and will give you my answer sometime later.”
Feng Yu smiles. “No problem. I can wait. I believe our cooperation will be successful. Our Chinese companies will step out of China and make money from all those foreigners!”
Ma Yun looks at Feng Yu. This is the first time he heard something like this. Is this want Manager Feng’s true purpose?
Ma Yun left to attend the Internet Summit, and Feng Yu immediately shouted. “Old Sun, do you have alcohol? We need to celebrate!”
Sun Lijie immediately gets his men to bring some beers over. Feng Yu and Sun Lijie opened a can of beer each and drank a few gulps.
“Ahhhh…! Old Sun, we had successfully invested in the most important few people on the list! The rest should not be appearing anytime soon. Just look out for them and try to invest in their companies before other foreign inst.i.tutions. If their investors are Zhong Qingxian, Liu Chuanzhi, or someone we know, then let them be.”
Sun Lijie asked. “Manager Feng. Is that person’s company really worth it?”
Feng Yu had suggested to Ma Yun to bankrupt his company, and he will provide funds for him to set up a new one. He will also give Ma Yun 30% to 50% shares of the new company.
“Old Sun. Five years ago, pagers were rare in China, and even lesser people own a mobile phone. Just look at PCs. At that time, only a few of the government departments have PCs. Now, pagers are almost obsolete, and many paging companies had closed down. The mobile phone is the main form of mobile communication devices, and PCs are very common. Technology is changing very fast, and we are getting more reliance on technology and the internet.”
“Manager Feng, I don’t think so. Even without all these devices, we can still live.” Sun Lijie retorted.
“That’s right. Even without these devices, many people’s lives can still carry on. But you must admit that with these devices, our lives will become better. After you have a mobile phone, is it easier for you to call someone? With the internet, is it more convenient for you to communicate with other parties? In the future, business negotiations can even be conducted over the internet, and we don’t have to travel all the time. We can just fly over to the other party to sign the contract after the negotiations are completed. If I tell you that we can even buy toothpicks over the internet and someone will deliver it to your house in the future, will you believe me?”
Sun Lijie was stunned. This… is this possible?