The rest of the day just seemed to pa.s.s by in a haze as I mad preparations for the dinner with representative from Zeta Corp. Apart from that I also had to prepare a digital doc.u.ment listing the terms I needed from the world leaders before I could offer any sort equipment or man power to them. But even with that, I had a brief meeting with the head of the newly formed a.r.s.enal division, whoever came up with that naked needs to have his or her head checked.
Three of our companies manufacturing plant in different parts of the world would be repurposed into a weapons and war tech factory. Currently most of the scientists and developers responsible for preparing earth for war would be s.h.i.+pped there in under a week to begin productions and research. One of those facilities was somewhat in the Australian out back, another was right at the edge of the Himalayan mountain range, and the third was an island in the Caribbean.
Seeing how out of the way these three facilities were, it stands t reason that they were built away from human habitats due to the secret experiments being carried out, plus while I doubt I would be able to find anything once I send my people there to investigate, these three facilities were requisitioned by my father for almost a year now. And while official doc.u.ments say these three facilities have not been active for the past six months, the fact that there was a weaponized imperium surveillance drone pointing a gun at my head during my meeting with the cartel had left a bar taste in my mouth, not to mention a serious amount of suspicion.
I"m not sure I could trust anyone from Imperium industries to watch over these trio of weapons factory, especially with their safety. Which means it"s about time to pay a visit to that facility under the San-Francis...o...b..y, after all that was the main base of all my forces with most of them concentrated there and ready for deployment. Not a lot of time has pa.s.sed since I took over my grandfather"s mantle, but if I really wanted to keep the power I have now, I have to consolidate it and know exactly what cards I can play and what pieces I can move.
By the time I was done with everything in the office, it was almost 6:30 pm. I had another meeting by 7, hopefully I get through with that on time and get home to the game. Plus Ron looked like he would drop like a sack of potatoes any moment from now, and I would have sent him home but I don"t trust anyone to take him home, other even Kira. It might be surprising to most people for me to suspect her of betrayal, but all of her suggestions and even her actions so far has had little traces of self preservation or rather an ulterior motives. It would be hard for some people to notice it, but the two and a half years I spent in the army, with most of that time spent killing and infiltrating, it won"t be too hard to spot someone with an ulterior motive from a mile away, especially since said person is not really trained in the art of subterfuge. I left the office with Ron and Nicholas, I obviously don"t need to have them around me during this meeting, but I needed to keep a close watch on my son and my new subordinate. Nanny Florence and I needed to have a good long talk, I"m not in the business of training child soldiers, and for all intents and purposes that"s exactly what Nicholas was. Whatever he"s supposed to be to me, he can do that once he"s old enough to make decisions for himself and have probably graduated high school.
The meeting place was a high cla.s.s Italian restaurant that was surprisingly close to home, I"m not really into expensive food even though I can afford it, but never the less this was necessary. We left the car as a valet took the keys from me and drove away, thankfully Pegasus is not awake, he would have probably given that guy an earful.
"Welcome to Emiliano"s do you have a reservation?" a neatly dressed porter (or was it a butler...or maybe a manager) said to me. I gave him my name as he nodded and led me in, I made another reservation at a table close to mine so that Ron and Nicholas can hangs around where I can see them, though given how the manager seemed to twist his face, I don"t think he like the fact that there were kids here. Well that"s too bad for him, I do what I want, especially since I have the money to do it.
Five minutes later I was sitting on a table a gla.s.s of red wine in my hand, and sitting directly opposite me was a woman that seemed to be in her early to mid thirties. She was dressed in a pristine black designer suit with silver highlights on the lapels and collars.
"Rena Zeta! Seeing as you came here by yourself, this deal must be quite important for your company." I said to her as I sipped the rich red wine in my hand with a smile on my face.
"And seeing as you came here with your son, I don"t think you"re taking this deal seriously." She said with steel in her voice as she stared at me with undisguised annoyance.
Her blond hair seemed to glow under the glare of the chandelier above our heads. Her green eyes were sharp and clear and surprisingly enough she was not wearing any makeup, but sue was still a beauty that had the power to shake the hearts of most men, myself included. But I was here for business, let"s keep pleasure aside, at least for now.
"On the contrary Mrs. Rena, the fact that my son is here means I"m according you an honor that most people don"t deserve. So you don"t need to worry about my commitment to this deal." I said to her.
"It"s Ms. Not Mrs. Nevertheless let"s get down to business and stop with the small talk." I nodded in response what she just said.
"Mr. Wade we"re prepared to sell sixty of Zeta biocorp making you the princ.i.p.al shareholder, however we would still like control over it"s facilities to continue our research and anyone you bring would come on as a helper and addition to the main team. You"re not allowed to interfere in any large decision making and if you have suggestion, we would take it under advis.e.m.e.nt before deciding whether or not it should be implemented."
I raised my eyebrow, the smile on my face didn"t fade though, it just seems to get wider. Now most inexperienced people would probably get angry at what she had just said, because let"s face it, this was blatant daylight robbery....or rather evening robbery, it was past 7 now. However I wasn"t angry, this was how negotiations worked, she would call out a ridiculous deal, and I will call out a counter offer, and it would go back and forth u till we both reach an agreement. The thing is no matter what she says or offers, I"m the one with the initiative.
They"ve hit a wall with their cloning technology, their inability of for all intents and purposes; recreating a human soul, has left them stumped. And they"ve lost billions of dollars in the process, which was why the higher ups decided to cut their losses and move on to better things. But with how much they"ve sunk into this project, they"re very much unwilling to completely let it go, which was why they weren"t selling the entire shares.
"That"s a rather tough offer, but I can make you one better. I"ll but 95% of your company"s shares, which at the moment is priced at 1.1 billion dollars, and that"s due to the fact that your company is able to grow and sell organs to health organizations for transplants. But that"s limited in the amount of revenue it can generate for you guys. And given the cost it takes to make those clones and their organs, you guys are taking a loss. Which means the worth of Zeta biotech is only about 700 million as opposed to the 1.1 billion that the public think it is. So here"s my counter offer.
I buy all 95% of the shares at the market price, you can retain all your staff, but Imperium industries will be taking over the entire research. But it would be a joint partners.h.i.+p, and decisions would be made after extensive a.n.a.lysis, of course if it"s a stupid decision I can get rid of it nice and easy. I have the means and tech to make sure your clones are not a total failure, heck given the nature of what I"m about to do, it would become possible for human consciousness to be placed into anyone of the clones you make. And even with just 5% you"re going to be excessively richer than you already are at the moment. Plus you guys will still get to keep your name as Zeta Biocorp." I said to her as I smiled widely.
She was silent for a bit, she knew the deal I gave her was the best she could get on this world. Though all of the clones her company had made was the epitome of physical perfection, both humanoid and animal like, but the problem remaining was the lack of a proper consciousness. The colonies on Mars and the moon could solve all these problems by generating AIs for the bodies, but it"s not cost effective to run a company from a colony all the way on their home planet, especially with the rising tensions everywhere. n.o.body off world would make this deal, it would be a total loss, which leaves us; Imperium industries and Zeta Industries number one compet.i.tion.
However if we"re able to pull this off, the standing of both company will change, and while the Imperium industries definitely got the better of the deal, the same halo of excellence that would be on Imperium would also be on Zeta. It would also be the first step to foster a proper relations.h.i.+p outside of rivalry with each other, it would make us quite a few enemies, but it would also make us powerful.
Plus with what I have planned, both companies would be as powerful as nations if not more. Zeta Biocorp is the next step, or rather the second leg that would carry my grand plans of becoming a universal power house.
"Make it 15% and you can change the name of the company to whatever you want." She said to me as she sat up a bit straighter.
She"s a very decisive woman, though five percent was a little too low, she knew I made that offer to give her more room to negotiate, but the fact that I was willing to buy at the stated market price for 95% of the shares rather than what it"s really worth, was a deal she wouldn"t get anywhere else. After all it was only 95% of the shares that were up for sale, with remaining 5% belonging to her, that was why she had come over to personally oversee this deal. Zeta Biocorp was something she and her now very dead husband had spent 11 years building, right from the moment they finished college.
Getting more percentage means there would be more power in her hand, the company would be ran between her and Imperium industries. Since it was a loss the Zeta Industries was pulling out, they owned 95% which was everything they had put on the market, signing it off to her to sale, and now she was going to get the better of them.
"Okay then, that"s a deal I will be able to make, 75% for 1.1 billion dollars, I"ll get my lawyer to draft up a deal and then we can meet sometime later for the official signing." I said to her as I placed the wine gla.s.s on my hand back on the table.
"Imperium Industries won"t regret making this deal, especially with the technology you"re bringing to the table." She said to me as for the first time tonight, she actually smiled. But then I looked at her with pensive look as I said to her.
"It"s not the Imperium Industries that"s buying your company....I AM!"