The Battle Between People

Several investors from Sabine City were now somewhat uneasy.

Strictly speaking, they and the capitalists from Kuli Lan City on the other side belonged to the Progressive Party camp, and they often shared resources and information.

This is where capitalists with political affiliations have an advantage when facing capitalists with no affiliation or neutrality; they may even form a temporary alliance under the intervention of certain powerful figures.

However, they can't be considered the same group, since they've never worked together before. Besides, these people are here to steal their business, so it's even less likely they'll get along with them.

What truly unsettles them is that they publicly claim a valuation of 70 million for Interstellar Trade Company. Regardless of whether Mark actually invested 2 million for a 3% stake, this valuation is absolutely essential now.

This has nothing to do with Mark. If the valuation decreases, Mark's shareholding will increase first, and then they may use more wealth than they have budgeted to compete for more shares.

Everyone knows that in a company, whoever holds the most stock has the loudest voice, the most support, and the ability to decide everything within the company.

This is where the love-hate relationship between startups and investors and investment firms stems from the fact that their equity stake is often lower than that of the investment firms. This has led to many founders being ridiculously removed from the Board of Directors and kicked out.

Their initial plan was to negotiate the valuation as low as possible, and then work together with Lin Qi to keep the outside world's perception of Interstellar Trade Company's stock price rising.

They weren't worried that Lin Qi would refuse, because this was a faster and more lucrative way to make money than doing business honestly and practically.

Increasing a company's market valuation is essentially no different from speculating on the price of a work of art; it involves constantly reselling the same piece to raise people's expectations of its value.

The hype surrounding antiques ultimately waits for a fool, while the hype surrounding a company's market value is meant to bring it to the market and then wait for a bunch of fools.

In the present-day Bayer Federation and even throughout the world, a large number of capitalists are shifting from the most primitive physical business operations to capital operations. They no longer pursue the value of goods, but only the value of capital.

They had hoped to acquire more shares from Lin Qi for relatively little money and other things.

However, the emergence of competitors means that if they lower their prices, the other party can also achieve more with less money (acquire more equity). Once the two sides start competing, the conflict will intensify, and their losses will be greater.

There was also a troublesome young man among them, Lin Qi.

If at this point they still think Lin Qi is just a lucky kid, then they are truly foolish. The mistake of arranging these two groups together is either utterly stupid or incredibly cunning.

Without a doubt, Lin Qi doesn't seem like a stupid young man; he quietly won over Mark, which means they were the ones who misjudged him.

"Everyone here is here for my company..." Lin Qi smiled and took a sip of his coffee. The slightly bitter taste was followed by a rich aroma. The coffee was roasted to perfection. He put down his cup, looked at the two groups of people with a leisurely air, and continued, "I do not reject other people's investment in Interstellar Trade Company. I have never believed that a successful person can achieve success on their own. Everyone's success requires the help of others."

"If I succeed, you will be the ones who helped me, and vice versa; if you succeed, I will be the one who helped you."

When he said this, he set the tone for the small meeting: to agree to invest and take a stake, an attitude that left no room for criticism.

In order to plunder wealth, these Federal capitalists even pushed for legal provisions requiring companies valued at over ten million to have multiple "shareholders," the purpose of which can be said to be to forcibly acquire equity.

Lin Qi didn't object to the investment; on the contrary, he warmly welcomed them. But for some reason, they felt a little... uncomfortable.

Then he got to some of the core issues. "Actually, the reason I brought everyone together is that there are some things I don't want to repeat myself. I hope you can understand me, after all, I'm a young man, and sometimes my temper can be quite bad."

He then looked at the two groups of people on either side, and after everyone expressed their understanding, he nodded noncommittally, "In my eyes, my company is definitely the best in the world, but I am also well aware that this is not objective enough, and we must respect the choice of the market."

"Not long ago, Mark, a well-known young entrepreneur from Sabine City, acquired three percent of my shares for two million. I think that's a relatively reasonable price. What do you think?"

The people in Sabine City were already quite speechless after Lin Qi's few words. The valuation of 70 million was something they themselves had advertised, and they didn't have the courage to ask Mark if he had really given them 2 million.

If the other party really did give two million, these businessmen in Sabine City would face the mayor's wrath because they had caused the mayor to lose money.

So they pinned their hopes for a counterattack on the merchants in Kuli Lan City, hoping for the first time that these people could be of some use in bringing prices down.

Their silence led the businessmen in Kuli Lan City to believe that "that's roughly the truth." Didn't they see that the businessmen in Sabine City didn't voice any objections? They didn't know much about Lin Qi's company, after all, it was a company from another city. In this era of inconvenient communication, people would only learn about things that interested them.

Moreover, the person who brought them this time was Noah, the mayor's Attendant Official. Noah subtly told them that he was very optimistic about Lin Qi's company, which meant that they should try to acquire a portion of Lin Qi Company's shares, or at least be able to attend the company's Board of Directors.

By acquiring a stake in the company and using those shareholders to exert pressure on the Board of Directors, Lin Qi could secure more funding for construction in Kuli Lan City and create more jobs.

Sometimes it has to be said that being a politician in the Federal is not an easy thing, because to be a qualified politician, you not only have to understand politics and how it works, but also have a good understanding of the economy.

These people came with a very simple purpose. When they saw the person opposite them, they didn't say anything, tacitly agreeing with Lin Qi's statement, and naturally they didn't interrupt.

Neither side spoke, which surprised Lin Qi. He had thought they would start to undermine his valuation. He had even planned to make concessions on the price later, but he would split the business into three companies, so they would still have to pay him every penny.

But their choice to remain silent made Lin Qi think these people were somewhat endearing, adorably silly.

He nodded and patted the armrest of the sofa, which basically settled the matter. The rest was just a tug-of-war over the quantity and payment method.

"At least half in cash, that's the bottom line..."

Finally, someone interrupted Lin Qi. The people who spoke were the businessmen from Sabine City. They felt that if they didn't speak up, the other side would remain silent like fools.

By then, many things would be irreversible, so they had no choice but to speak up.

"That's impossible, Mr. Lin Qi!" The speaker was tall and thin. In fact, when people think of capitalists and businessmen, the first impression is often a slightly bald, greasy, middle-aged fat man who is also very cunning and slippery.

In fact, this is just a product of the times. Most capitalists actually maintain very good health because they have dedicated stewards or other people to help them manage their health. They also have enough time and money to use the most advanced and scientific methods to solve some of their health problems.

Some scientists have said that the world's most cutting-edge technological inventions were invented to better serve the wealthy, and they were never intended to serve ordinary people.

Moreover, the more successful a capitalist is, the stricter their self-discipline is. Nowadays, it is rare to find capitalists who are so fat that they can't breathe when they walk, and who are greasy and cunning.

Lin Qi looked at him, and he met Lin Qi's gaze without flinching. The thought of losing a large sum of money made his heart bleed; now, to think they could cut him in the head was something he absolutely refused to accept, even unto death! After expressing his strong opposition, his tone softened slightly, "Mr. Lin Qi, you know the current situation. Cash is becoming increasingly difficult to recover, and we also have to deal with many other unforeseen circumstances..."

The others nodded in agreement. Getting money back was difficult, but spending money was easy. Every month, just paying various salaries, utilities, gas, or site management fees would give them a headache for a while.

If Lin Qi demands such a high cash ratio again, some of them may suddenly find themselves in a cash flow crisis, or even face a broken cash flow chain.

Therefore, a 50% cash ratio is absolutely unacceptable! Lin Qi looked at him, "Then what do you think would be appropriate?"

The Skinny Tall Guy gave a result they had agreed upon beforehand, "Around 15%, this percentage is reasonable."

Lin Qi shook his head immediately, "No, that's too little. I would never agree to that."

The Skinny Tall Guy men seemed to be exchanging pleasantries, then raised the price by two percentage points, "Seventeen percent in cash, that's our greatest offer!"

Lin Qi stood up abruptly, patted his backside, and looked down at the group. "I had some drinks tonight, and my head is a bit fuzzy right now. We also think we need to reconsider this issue. Let's find a time to talk about it tomorrow or the day after."

The Skinny Tall Guy was also adamant. "Even tomorrow or the day after, this ratio won't fluctuate much."

Lin Qi chuckled and turned to leave.

He actually knew about these people's tricks when he first entered the industry. They didn't care about their own company's valuation because they probably never thought about how much money they would spend to invest.

It must be said that Mark is a kind and honest kid, while these capitalists, though seemingly weak, are the real wolves!

Their tricks are actually nothing special. A company's market value is composed of many factors. If you want to determine how much a company is really worth, you can look at its net asset value.

However, no company will talk about net worth with others. For example, many companies use bank loans as their annual income, and operating with debt is a normal thing. These companies will avoid talking about net worth.

A company with a market capitalization of 10 billion might suddenly see its market value drop to a few million, or even become negative, when it talks about its net worth.

Therefore, capitalists cleverly introduced the concept of expected value into the estimation of market capitalization. In other words, they included the money that could have been earned in the past into the company's value in advance, making a short-term market capitalization valuation, and then presented this short-term market capitalization valuation as the company's value to the public.

Even if Lin Qi values his company at 100 million, these businessmen won't find it a headache. The solution is simple: they can also create a company valued at 100 million and then cross-share to obtain shares in Lin Qi Company.

I also have 100 million, and you also have 100 million. I'll exchange 10% of mine for 10% of yours. Is that alright?

As for my company suddenly going bankrupt later, that was because of my poor management; you can't blame me.

The shares of your company that I hold were used to offset debts to a third-party debtor company. In other words, I could have completely trapped a company with nothing to my name.

So no matter how high the valuation of Lin Qi Company is, these people are not afraid; they have ways to deal with it.

What really gave them a headache was the percentage of cash Lin Qi demanded. This was real cash, and there was no way to manipulate it.

Whether it's a one-dollar denomination or a one-hundred-dollar denomination, it's still money, it's still cash! Their initial plan was to acquire at least 30% of Lin Qi Company for around two million dollars, but now the valuation issue won't change, the price won't move, so these people can only manipulate the cash percentage.

Even now, if they did it the way they do, it would only take around three or four million in cash to acquire 35% of Lin Qi's company, which is worth 70 million! It sounds like a fantasy, buying over 20 million worth of shares for three or four million, but this is the most common method in the capital market, because they will also use various company shares or property rights that are probably worth around 20 million as an exchange.

Note that this is only a possibility; Financial Market are full of risks, and some things become worthless overnight.

However, they may not be able to achieve their goals this time. When it comes to cunning and treachery, Lin Qi is definitely superior!