Chapter 1476: An Opportunity for the Company and the Problem with Having Too Much Money
t.i.tanium Phone Company was already estimated to be worth more than 100 billion.
It was also one of the companies that basically relied on its own development to achieve this value.
At the same time, the two independent F2F and Messenger network companies were also under the control of t.i.tanium Phone Company’s CEO, Jenny Gwenis.
The market valuation of the two network companies had already surpa.s.sed ten billion, and was still increasing rapidly.
They would probably become the second and third companies under Jenny’s control to become worth hundreds of billions.
As a result, Jenny’s influence in America grew.
More and more people schemed against her, and more and more business spies were sent into the company.
However, half of these spies were discovered by Luke on a regular basis, while the other half was weeded out by Bobby Max, the original owner of Mental Communication; these spies were barely given the chance to play tricks.
But money moved the hearts of people. In the end, Luke even cleaned out a dozen of Jenny’s bodyguards.
The bodyguards had pa.s.sed Luke’s test at the beginning, but couldn’t withstand the pressure from the outside world, and eventually chose to sell Jenny out.
Jenny didn’t hold back. She would sue when she got evidence, and the law would decide the price.
She paid top money for the bodyguards, and naturally, the penalty would also be the highest.
After a dozen times, the security team finally stabilized.
It wasn’t that the bodyguards had no weaknesses, but that the people who had used their families to threaten them disappeared.
After a few incidents, it got around in the circle that Jenny Gwenis was no pushover.
There weren’t any good guys in the upper-cla.s.s circle, but Jenny had just been a regular young lady over a year ago. Some people treated her like a nouveau riche upstart, and didn’t necessarily have the time to turn money into combat force.
Mercenaries or hitmen were just temp employees who could never be relied on for important private matters.
Many underground forces that had attacked Jenny disappeared overnight, which made it clear that this young lady also had her own trump cards.
When this news spread, some people who wanted to play dirty immediately gave up.
As long as she had trump cards, she wasn’t some young lady who could be dealt with quickly.
With enough time, she could make use of her connections in the government to crush most forces in the underworld.
Jenny, who had hundreds of billions in a.s.sets, really had that ability.
Naturally, it was Luke who had dealt with the underground forces.
Money indeed wasn’t important to him, but the lack of it was.
He basically didn’t care about regular business tricks; Jenny could handle those herself.
But if anyone wanted to touch his money bag in the dark, he didn’t mind playing even darker tricks.
There were too many people who harbored ill intentions since Jenny’s company made too much money.
The phone company was completely a cash cow, while F2F and the messaging app were up-and-coming social media giants.
For Jenny, the smartphone + Internet + app combo was clearly more interesting than pure cell phone manufacturing, and also more lucrative.
The CEO, who was busy with this new undertaking, wasn’t any more idle than Luke. Otherwise, someone who only appeared once every ten days to two weeks would have been in even bigger trouble.
The Battle of New York had been a huge disaster for the citizens, but it was a huge opportunity for Jenny’s three companies.
As other bigshots entered the arena, low- to mid-range smartphones quickly grew in popularity.
Derivative groups started to take shape in the smartphone industry, which further boosted the development of phone networks.
Putting aside the remote countryside, cell phone networks in major cities in the United States were becoming less and less restrictive.
In New York, public wifi or mobile networks could be accessed practically everywhere.
When the battle broke out, the people in hiding contacted each other, spread the news, and posted online.
They were hiding, but knew what was going on outside at any time. They could also look up notifications about emergency shelters, which increased their chances of survival.
This further demonstrated the value of the F2F and Messenger apps.
Information could be disseminated promptly and the apps were far more convenient than regular media.
Naturally, it was safer to hide and watch the news on a phone than to look for a TV.
Furthermore, what was shown on TV was limited. Instead, people could find out more when they searched the Internet, and were able to get more information quickly.
After the Battle of New York, Jenny had tried her best to stall for time.
Many bigshots had already seen the enormous value of F2F and Messenger; they were now worth far more than a few months ago.
This wasn’t the first software to provide this sort of online service, but it was the first to become a leader with such an absolute hold on the industry.
t.i.tanium phone users could directly get a joint account for F2F and Messenger, which was countless times better than other apps.
Currently, Jenny’s problem was that she needed to choose a business partner to share the benefits with, and then spend the money that came in.
Following the release of the phones, the three companies had never been short of money. Jenny had been doing her best to spend it.
She couldn’t squander it casually; she had to choose something that would best benefit the company’s development.
Jenny had thought about buying a building in New York to use as the company’s office, but Luke had firmly rejected the idea.
Thinking about it now, Jenny felt a chill run down her spine.
The building she had been interested in wasn’t far from Stark Tower. A big worm battles.h.i.+p had crashed into it, and it was now on the verge of collapsing.
Although the building had insurance, it was hard to say when the insurance company would have the money to cover the damages.
The company had so much money that it burned their hands, but they now had to face the bigshots who waved around cash and stocks and strongly wanted to invest.
Jenny had to ask Luke for his opinion and decide the company’s future path.
Luke thought for a moment before he said, “Then we’ll do charity. We’ll set up a separate foundation and donate to related organizations like the New York authorities, NYPD, emergency services and the fire department. Hm, we can also buy some auction items from Batman’s foundation. It’s fine to get them at a premium.”
Jenny was stunned. “You… are a fan of Batman?”
Luke turned serious and shook his head. “No, but he saved my life during the subway explosion on Wall Street.”
Jenny’s mouth moved, but she didn’t say anything.
The lives of the rich were valuable but also worthless.
For example, if someone happened to save Jenny’s life, she would help them solve a lot of problems or even make it so that they lived happily ever after, but she absolutely couldn’t outright give that person tens of millions of dollars.
There were many reasons. Simply put, it was unnecessary.
Too much money wouldn’t make a person grateful, but would conversely cause greed to grow.
Giving too much money wasn’t worth it.
Besides, capitalists also worked hard to earn money; few would be willing to do something as stupid as give it away just like that.
Looking at her face, Luke could more or less guess what she was thinking. He said with a smile, “This is a good thing. The money doesn’t go directly to Batman. Everybody knows it’s a philanthropic company, and this can help preserve Batman’s reputation.. Why wouldn’t we do it?”