Chapter 247 - About Investments
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
Seeing that Shi Lei had suddenly stopped in the middle of the sentence, the Scepter knew that he must have understood the problem. Surprisingly, it didn’t scorn him this time, instead waiting for him to continue.
“You said that investments above 100,000 yuan but below a million can’t employ more than five staff members and the maximum salary can’t exceed 25,000 yuan. Do you mean that all of it has to be my personal investment?” Shi Lei asked doubtfully.
“Looks like you aren’t that stupid,” the Scepter replied in disdain.
Shi Lei wanted to continue with his other questions, but he was moved. He hadn’t forgotten that the Scepter could conceal information, but definitely couldn’t lie to him. During the processes of interacting with the Scepter, Shi Lei had also discovered a pattern. When the Scepter didn’t answer the question straightforwardly and instead gave him an vague answer, it was hiding something.
Shi Lei pondered carefully in silence about what he had just said and whether or not there was a loophole in it.
The Scepter seemed slightly impatient. “Are you done or not? Any more questions? If not, then hurry up and eject the card.”
Shi Lei confirmed his a.s.sumptions when he saw the Scepter’s behavior. It definitely had something it was not telling him clearly.
“Wouldn’t it be difficult for me to achieve a completely independent investment other than buying and selling stocks? Even if I open a flower shop or a restaurant, it’s perfectly normal to find a partner. So it doesn’t exactly need to be my personal investments only, as long as I control the stocks, right?” Shi Lei asked as an attempt.
This time, the Scepter remained silent. However, the Black Card obviously had a requirement to the answering speed of his questions, so its silence only continued for one to two seconds before it said, “Fine, you’re right.” The voice was still androgynous, but its tone was rather dejected.
Shi Lei still thought that something was wrong since it was rare to see one individual with all investment shares. The bigger the company, the more complex the structure of the shares. Unlisted companies were fine, but once the company was listed, it would be almost impossible to own more than half of the shares, since the circulating shares in the market would take up a major portion.
Hence, Shi Lei asked, “If I don’t have the shares but merely enough to have a say in the company—for example, if I only owned ten percent of the shares, could I still have occupy an authoritative position, with majority of the shareholders willing to support me—is that also fine?”
The Scepter became impatient. “Theoretically, yes. But you’ll have to figure out the details by yourself.”
Shi Lei smiled. The Scepter was still the same old Scepter, moving when he touched it, just like an abacus would. It would almost never explain things until Shi Lei asked, besides the parts the Black Card required it to.
“So when I don’t have the leading role in the investment, I can’t use the sum to pay for any of staff’s salary even if I invest ten million. But if I invest 100,000 yuan—the minimum cost—then would purchasing office supplies be counted? It should count as the company’s daily expenditures if I’m buying office supplies.”
Shi Lei wanted to make the money for office supplies count toward the total, so his portion of the shares would increase accordingly.
“You can,” the Scepter quickly replied, “But not everything. The amount of money you use for consumptions can only be the same percentage of or lower than the percentage of shares you own.”
Shi Lei understood. So if he invested 100,000 yuan and purchased 10,000 yuan worth of office supplies, then this 10,000 yuan could be counted into the total and also raise his percentage of shares from ten to eleven percent at the same time. This meant that he would be utilizing the Black Card’s money to increase the portion of shares in he owned. That way, it wouldn’t be that he wasn’t allowed to use the money to invest, but that the desire of doing so was linked closely with how much private funds Shi Lei had.
Of course, that was under the condition that the company Shi Lei invested in needed to buy over 100,000 yuan worth of office supplies, but it was unlikely that someone would use all the money from an investment they just received to purchase office supplies. However, it wasn’t a big problem, as long as the amount of money Shi Lei spent on supplies was lower than ten percent of all the money needed to purchase office supplies. And the supplies obviously included things such as renting the works.p.a.ce, which needed to be paid in advance. Shi Lei could even promise a higher sum of investment than what he owned at the moment to a project, like if he only had 100,000 yuan but promised the overall sum to be 300,000 yuan and invested in separate stages. That way, he could invest 100,000 yuan in the first stage and it wouldn’t be impossible to spend all of it on renting the works.p.a.ce and purchasing all necessary office supplies.
Then he had to clarify whether or not he could invest in different stages like normal investments. After all, he did not have that much money at the moment and the Black Card might see it as him using its money to invest.
“Let’s a.s.sume that there is an investment opportunity right now. The estimated value I have for the company is three million and I need to have ten percent of the shares. However, I don’t have 300,000 yuan in private funds. Am I allowed to invest a portion of it first, sign the contract with the company, exchange it for shares, and then invest in different stages instead of paying everything in one go?”
The Scepter laughed strangely. “Looks like you’ve learned how to use imminent capitals. You’ve definitely learned some things from the time you’ve spent with rich second generations recently. Alright, rule number four states that the employee is allowed to use his own money for investments and use the Black Card’s money for cash deposits.”
Shi Lei froze for a second. He didn’t expect to unlock the fourth rule, but what did it mean by cash deposits?
“Cash deposits? Why would I need that?”
“Stupid marmot, I just complimented your improvement, and yet you’re still as stupid as an idiot—”
“I believe ‘stupid’ and ‘idiot’ mean the same thing!” Shi Lei quietly mumbled in response.
“Level two employee, the almighty Scepter will warn you again. Do not cut in when I am speaking.”
Shi Lei shrugged and remained silent.
“If you were working under a renowned investment company, then the other investors would not doubt your abilities. But you are only a worthless investor. You have to provide your partners proof of your ability to invest in them. No proof is more straightforward than the savings in your bank. Rule number four means that you are allowed to use the Black Card’s money to gain their trust and convince them to believe in your capability to invest while at the same time believing that investing in different stages is only to provide more security to your investment.”
After the Scepter’s explanation, Shi Lei understood everything. He immediately began to smile.
If that was the case, then when he made sure that certain a project had potential, he could promise the opposite party an amount of money that was greater than what he actually owned. So naturally, he could request them to use the first investment for rental of the works.p.a.ce and office supplies. He could increase the percentage of the sum as quickly as possible, or in other words, decrease the amount of private funds required for investments.
“What a stupid guy. I shall warn you since you’re laughing so happily. Act within your limits. If you sign a contract like this without enough money to continue investing later, then I will force you to use the Black Card’s money to invest. If that happens, just be prepared to be killed by me…Hehe…”
The Scepter laughed deviously as Shi Lei stood there, shocked.