Chapter 163: Hunting (2)

Following Zhang Meili.

Cao Xiu also went all-in on Company No. 6, taking a stake as high as 14.5%.

As a result.

Zhou Chen's share: 24.5%

Cao Xiu's share: 14.5%

Zhang Meili's share: 13.5%

Simply put, if Company No. 6 earned 1,000,000, Zhou Chen would only receive 245,000.

Furthermore, the price of the newly issued shares was fixed at 15 dollars per share. If he wanted to buy cheaper shares, he had to wait for other shareholders to sell.

The pressure he faced was immense.

Out of these three, one was constantly buying back shares, while the other two were continuously extracting blood to sustain their own companies.

In other words, these three essentially posed no threat whatsoever.

...

As time passed.

To Zhou Chen's surprise, the other companies showed no intention of selling their shares.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Chen Ran gave him a peculiar look. "You might want to carefully calculate exactly how much you can earn per production cycle after expanding your operations."

Zhou Chen froze.

After expanding production, each cycle required 60,000 units of raw materials at 50 dollars each.

That amounted to 3,000,000.

For the veteran employees and older equipment, salaries and maintenance alone would cost 600,000.

New employees: 100 per person.

New equipment: 150,000 in maintenance fees.

Total cost: 3,900,000.

60,000 products sold to the marketplace.

4,800,000.

This meant a net profit of only 900,000 per cycle.

'Fuck, how can expanding production yield such meager profits? And on top of that...'

'I can only take 24.5 percent!'

'That is a mere 220,500.'

At this moment, Chen Ran slowly lit a cigarette, his expression odd as he spoke. "To be honest, your moves baffle me. This is clearly a trap, yet you all dove headfirst into it."

"The profits from the expanded production and the dividends you receive will soon fail to keep up with your companies' expenses. And since the funds on your books have basically all gone all-in on Company No. 6, here is the question."

"How long do you think your companies can hold out before going bankrupt?"

He was right. The three companies had very little money left on their accounts, and going all-in on Company No. 6 would not yield much in dividends...

This meant the continuously rising costs of labor and maintenance would soon catch up to their dividends. Without funds to cover the deficit, bankruptcy was imminent.

And it would happen fast.

After all, Company No. 9's 14.5% stake only yielded a dividend of 130,500.

Company No. 5's 13.5% stake provided a mere 121,500.

It was simply too little.

A cold sweat instantly broke out on the three of them. They glared furiously at the other six, only to be met with cold, greedy gazes—exactly like the ones they had seen on television shows when they were alive...

Ruthless and avaricious capitalists.

"I think you all should have carefully read Marx's Das Kapital. The essence of capital is exploitation, therefore..."

"Just start laying off employees!"

The three of them widened their eyes in shock. It turned out that from the very beginning, this group's target had been...

Company No. 6's newly issued shares!

Buying Company No. 6's original shares was just a means to allow Zhou Chen to expand production, thereby issuing an additional 1,000,000 shares.

Originally, it would have taken them considerable effort to drive down the price of the newly issued shares.

However, Cao Xiu had made his move.

They simply beat him at his own game, forcing Zhang Meili and Cao Xiu to become parasites attached to Company No. 6.

As a result, Company No. 5 and Company No. 9 were left with little capital, turning into lambs waiting for the slaughter. Meanwhile, with a reduced equity stake and meager dividends, Company No. 6 had no choice but to lay off workers to cope with continuously rising wages.

Layoffs meant the company's stock would plummet, which in turn meant...

Moving forward.

Company No. 5, 6, and 9 would all carry out massive layoffs, causing their stock prices to crash and allowing the other companies to buy them up at a bargain.

Once these three companies secured funding, their only option to permanently solve their current crisis would be to expand production again.

Expanding production would return the stock price to normal.

These three companies...

Between this crash and recovery, how many more leeks could the other seven companies harvest?

Put simply: the three companies had completely degenerated into mere money-making tools for the other seven.

Realizing this fact.

The three wore grim expressions. Cao Xiu, in particular, wished he could ruthlessly slap himself across the face.

'It is impossible to defend against this!'

'I was wondering earlier why Chen Ran had not made a move, but it turns out...'

'He is the one harvesting the leeks!'

However, the most explosive development was yet to come...

[Stock Market]: Please note, Company No. 9 has conducted massive layoffs, resulting in a stock price decline.

[Stock Market]: Please note, Company No. 5 has conducted massive layoffs, resulting in a stock price decline.

The price instantly dropped to 7 dollars per share.

Yet, nobody cared. After all, Cao Xiu and Zhang Meili had already parasitized Company No. 6. Company No. 5 and Company No. 9 could no longer expand production; they had become junk stocks.

Anyone who bought them would be an absolute idiot.

Seeing this, Cao Xiu and Zhang Meili exchanged a glance and decided to just strip it down completely.

They fired every single employee in their respective companies, turning them into mere shell corporations.

This way, they no longer needed to pay wages. The equipment still required maintenance, but their financial pressure was significantly reduced.

Now...

The pressure shifted to Zhou Chen. He knew full well that Company No. 6 was the real prey.

The seven of them had woven a giant net, firmly trapping the three of them within Company No. 6.

'As long as I conduct layoffs and replace the highly-paid veteran employees with new ones, I can save a massive amount on labor costs. At the same time...'

'Laying off 300 employees at once will cause the newly recovered stock to plummet once again. It might even...'

'Drop below 8 dollars.'

'However, the seven hungry wolves glaring covetously from the sidelines will heavily buy up the shares.'

'I will get butchered again!'

'Simply put, they were not full from that 51 percent stake, so they are coming back to slice off my flesh to feed themselves...'

'Simply put, they were not full from that 51 percent stake, so they are coming back to slice off my flesh to feed themselves...'

'Fuck!'

'This is an absolute curb-stomp. It is no longer a matter of understanding the stock market; this is a pure crushing of intellect. I... I have lost.'

Left with no other choice.

[Stock Market]: Please note, Company No. 6 has conducted massive layoffs, resulting in a stock price decline.

14 dollars!

12 dollars!

10 dollars!

8 dollars!

6 dollars!

5 dollars!

Zhou Chen, Zhang Meili, and Cao Xiu all felt like dying when they saw this price.

The stocks plummeting were the newly issued shares!

The very next moment.

Moving like ravenous wolves, the other seven companies swept up Company No. 6's stock, buying everything out in an instant.

Having secured another round of funding, Company No. 6's only way to resolve its immediate crisis was to hire more staff and expand production, which meant...

Having just laid off nearly 300 employees, Company No. 6 now had to rehire 300 workers, plus an additional 600 new employees to expand operations—a total of 900 people.

Only then would the stock price return to normal.

At the same time, the profit margin per batch of products went from 900,000 to...

Raw materials: 6,000,000.

Labor costs: 600,000.

Maintenance fees: 450,000.

Total cost: 7,050,000.

Products sold to the marketplace: 9,600,000.

Profit per batch:

2,550,000.

This was not the end. As time went on, labor and maintenance costs would continue to rise, forcing Company No. 6 to endlessly hire more employees and expand production.

The earnings per cycle would continuously increase, only to serve as wage labor for the other seven companies.