Liu Chuanzhi was very excited after his meeting with Feng Yu. He immediately gathered the rest of the founding staffs for a meeting. They need to discuss how to negotiate with the leaders from CAS.
When all these people learned that Feng Yu would not lower their shares percentage and will increase their shares after he became the shareholder, they were on the same page.
Feng Yu’s investment must go through. To them, this was a rare opportunity!
All of them were from CAS. They set up Lenovo with only 200,000 RMB. Can anyone else achieve what they had done?
Since the higher-ups had agreed to restructure the company into a shareholdings company, why can’t the higher-ups give them more shares? Look at Manager Feng’s generosity!
If Feng Yu had not got involved in Lenovo, these people might only grumble about the number f shares given to them. There was nothing they could do except to beg the higher-ups to provide them with more benefits. They had not thought about leaving Lenovo. The two people who had left two years ago were not doing as well as them.
But now, it was different. Liu Chuanzhi had said that if Feng Yu became the major shareholder, he will hold a shareholders’ meeting and give out shares to the senior management as rewards.
This would help the senior management manage the company easier, and they will get more in return. The company will also have enough funds for future developments. They no longer need to wait for the company to be listed. Also, when the company was listed, the share prices will surely shoot up.
With the company’s shares, they would be getting dividends when the company makes profits. These people will be able to save enough money to pursue their dreams.
With all these people thinking along the same line, Liu Chuanzhi told them to look for the leaders they were close with to help support this investment. He will also look for the leaders he was familiar with to help out.
……
“Director Li, Manager Feng does not only have the funds. He still has the technology and connections. If we let him invest, it will help with the company’s future development.”
“How do you know that he was not lying to you? 3rd biggest shareholder of Microsoft? How come I have never heard of this before? Doesn’t Microsoft only have two big shareholders?” Director Li asked.
“Manager Feng is willing to include that in the contract. I believe that he will not lie to us about this. You might not know about this. The businesses under Manager Feng were all making lots of profits.”
“What businesses does he have? The Wind and Rain brand?”
“Not only that. He also owns the Aiwa brand. That CD-ROM technology is developed by Aiwa. He is also the biggest shareholder of Lehaha. The company that makes health supplements for children. I remembered that your grandson is also drinking that supplement. He is also the biggest shareholder of the Machinery Company which owns Songjiang Motors. That is a company who have more than 2 billion assets!!” Liu Chuanzhi emphasized 2 billion.
“We do not object to him investing into Lenovo. But he wants to increase his stake to 49%. The share percentage owned by CAS will drop suddenly and how can I answer to the higher ups?” Director Li said.
“He is investing a lot of money. How can our company grow without money? How can we compete with MNCs from other countries? What is our purpose of setting up this company? Wasn’t it to increase our country’s electronic engineering skills?”
This was Director Li’s soft spot. When computers were still a new thing overseas and scarce in China, he gave Liu Chuanzhi and his colleagues 200,000 RMB. This was only a trial, but to others, he claims that this was to increase China’s electronic engineering skills.
But now, Lenovo’s growth was much better than expected. Director Li was also promoted from an Assistant Director to his current position.
Director Li was not interested in money. He only wants enough political achievements and credits to move up the ranks. However, all his accomplishments and credits needed the help of Liu Chuanzhi and the rest of the founders.
Director Li knew that without Liu Chuanzhi and the rest, Lenovo will never grow to today’s scale. If Liu Chuanzhi and the rest left Lenovo, it would be disastrous.
Without Liu Chuanzhi and the rest, and someone else were to take over Lenovo’s R&D, the company’s technologies will inevitably regress. Other companies only knew Liu Chuanzhi and his fellow colleagues. They do not know about the company’s name.
Director Li had also heard rumors of many MNC trying to poach Liu Chuanzhi and the rest. They were even promised shares of the company if they were to join those MNC.
This was also why Director Li agreed immediately when Liu Chuanzhi requested the company to be restructured into a shareholding. If he does not give these key people shares, they will leave for other companies.
“Since he is investing so much money into the company, why do we still need to be listed? Why can’t we just use the money he invested in setting up the computer division?” Director Li frowned and asked.
“This will not affect our decision to be listed. If the company has sufficient funds, we can still get it listed. We can even merge both Hong Kong and Beijing Lenovo companies and then get it listed. It is totally different for a 10 million listed company and a 50 million listed company.” Liu Chuanzhi continued. “Furthermore, our CAS had lacked funds. This is a good opportunity to sell some shares to Feng Yu to raise funds. Thus, CAS will have enough funds for other research.”
Although Lenovo had grown, there was something Director Li was unhappy about. Lenovo had been making profits but had never given any part of their earnings to CAS! Liu Chuanzhi had spent all the profits!
But Liu Chuanzhi had not squandered the profits. For every cent he spent, he got 1 RMB back as profits. No one could criticize him on this.
Liu Chuanzhi kept telling the leaders that the company was still growing and needed lots of money. That’s why he could not hand over the profits to CAS. But the leaders do not think so. Both Lenovo companies were worth almost 20 million. You can’t even hand over 2 million?
But Liu Chuanzhi refused to hand over parts of the profits to CAS. Not even 20,000 RMB! He does not want to start giving the companies’ earnings to CAS. If he starts, then it would be 2 million today and another 2 million tomorrow. The company will surely have financial issues soon.
Even Director Li, who had been Liu Chuanzhi’s longtime supporter was troubled. Lenovo had been developing well, and he was glad. But it was hard for him to answer to the other leaders if Lenovo does not give part of their profits back to CAS.
“Then what do you think we should do?” Director Li asked.
“I can guarantee that Feng Yu will pay 3 times the market value of the shares CAS sells to him!” Liu Chuanzhi said confidently.
“3 times?! How is this possible? You said that he had lots of successful businesses. That means he is not stupid. Why would he pay 3 times more for the shares?” Director Li asked.
“Not only that. We can still insist on our management staffs’ shares will not be diluted after his investment. This way, even if Feng Yu spent more money, we still have control over Lenovo!” Liu Chuanzhi continued.
“All of the management staffs’ shares will not be diluted? That means our shares will be diluted even further?” Director Li frowned.
“I guaranteed that this will not happen! If you agree to his investment, I promise that we will not lose out in this deal! Manager Feng is a Venture capitalist. He will exit once the company is listed. We are just taking out a sum of money now, and you can answer to your higher-ups. When we have the money in two years, we can buy back those shares for CAS to have the controlling stake! Even so, we still have the final say over Lenovo now.”
Both of them continued to discuss this investment, and Director Li told Liu Chuanzhi: “We need to hold a meeting to discuss this. You can go back first.”
When Liu Chuanzhi leaves Director Li’s office, he knew that Director Li was persuaded…..
