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Chapter 169: Being an Outstanding Person
At this moment, the manager of Dawn Asset Management Company was sitting in Lynch's room. The manager's name was Arthur Ellwood. He wasn't a native of the Baylor Federation but came from another country.
In the Baylor Federation, people were generally indifferent to names, but not to the extent of having such an unusual one. Additionally, with his slightly brown complexion, it was clear that he was an immigrant.
Not all immigrants were wealthy; many were middle-class, and labor immigration was particularly prevalent in recent years.
A few years ago, the Federation received substantial international investments, leading to a boom in various industries and a labor shortage. This situation gave rise to a new industry: human trafficking.
These so-called labor companies scoured the world for people willing to work abroad or escape wars, bringing them to the Baylor Federation for heavy labor and low-level jobs. This greatly alleviated the labor shortages during the early stages of the Federation’s rapid development.
As the population later migrated from rural areas to cities, the labor shortage eased. However, some people believed that these "illegal laborers" were taking jobs that rightfully belonged to the local workforce.
Consequently, under the influence of the Conservative Party, the Immigration Bureau was established. Many early illegal laborers brought in by these traffickers were subsequently caught and sent back.
Yet, some managed to stay in the Federation; there would always be a few lucky ones.
Arthur was one of them. Shrewd and smart, he quickly stood out from the ordinary laborers due to his education, literacy, and arithmetic skills. Shortly after arriving in the Federation, he became a foreman.
He spent his spare time reading and studying, and early on, he married a local girl—a plain-looking but hefty girl weighing over 200 pounds. This marriage helped Arthur avoid deportation and secure a social security number.
Even so, the labor market still held biases against immigrants. Life was tough for the locals, and even tougher for immigrants.
When Lynch was recruiting managers, he discovered Arthur, a clever young man.
At that time, there were many more qualified professional managers with better education and more extensive work experience than Arthur. However, none of them caught Lynch’s eye.
Instead, this young man piqued Lynch’s interest. It wasn’t Arthur’s background that intrigued him, but his smile.
It was hard to describe that smile. Lynch’s smile was clean, transparent, sunny, and filled with cheerfulness and confidence. It was like a spring breeze melting the winter frost, making people feel the warmth of revival and instantly like him.
Arthur’s smile, on the other hand, was like a flower stubbornly blooming despite the autumn frost, strong and full of courage. It gave the impression of reliability, tenacity, and an indomitable spirit.
This kind of smile was very inspiring, making people feel motivated just by looking at it.
Lynch valued this smile. He knew that in any business, legal or otherwise, the first step was always communication and interaction.
One might have the highest qualifications and have held important positions, but would a picky and difficult client appreciate them more for that when sitting face-to-face? Not necessarily. A smile was the most powerful weapon, quickly and non-verbally breaking down defenses. That was the ultimate weapon.
Everything else could be trained with hard work, but this unique quality in a smile was hard to come by.
Lynch spent half his life mastering such a smile, while this young man seemed to have it naturally. Sometimes, one could only envy others' talents.
Lynch decisively hired Arthur, making him a manager of several of his companies.
The tall, thin guy wasn't wrong; Arthur and Dawn Asset Management Company were backed by Lynch.
In the heavy topic of capital plundering, the nature of capital was always harsh. Perhaps they weren't like this initially, but now they'd accepted reality.
So, could this plundering be countered?
Yes, it could. The simplest method was to establish other companies to hold cross-shareholdings. Like now, Lynch used another of his companies to acquire shares in Interstellar Trading Company. From Interstellar Trading Company's perspective, his shareholding was gradually decreasing.
But in reality, apart from the shares he actually sold, he hadn't lost much control.
These small companies usually remained silent, but when critical decisions needed to be made, and Lynch needed support, these companies would stand by him—no doubt, because they were his companies.
This way, he could still retain significant decision-making power, preparing for the future, as he planned to split this company and raise funds again.
An old man once told him that selling something at a high price wasn't a remarkable skill; many could do it with the right timing and reason. The true remarkable skill was selling something at a high price repeatedly without breaking the law.
At this moment, Arthur sat on the sofa opposite Lynch, curiously and reflectively looking at Lynch’s calm face.
It was hard for him to imagine that someone who had just played two groups of capitalists had no trace of pride on his face. This made Arthur reflect deeply.
Over the years, he had done many different jobs and met many people, but this was the first time he had seen someone so young achieve such a scale.
Initially, he thought Lynch might be from a wealthy family or an agent of some conglomerate, as such things were common. For example, everyone knew that Mark, the tycoon, was just a frontman, and he was only a few years older than Lynch.
But soon, Arthur realized Lynch only worked for himself, not anyone’s puppet, which surprised him.
Today was just another part of his daily surprises.
"Tomorrow, when you return to Sabin City, publicize our deal. Make it big, buy some newspaper space, and include the acquisition of the newly established transport company..."
Lynch instructed Arthur on his next tasks. The immigrant manager quickly took notes, not daring to be careless, feeling this was a significant opportunity in his life. He believed he could learn many useful things from Lynch that couldn’t be learned elsewhere.
Lynch had established a separate transport company for Cook and other truck drivers, holding 90% of the shares, with the remaining shares incentivized to the entire transport team, with distribution rights given to Cook.
This transport company would be acquired by Dawn Asset Management Company, which would sign an exclusive transport agreement with Lynch, handling Interstellar Trading Company's intrastate transport work.
Considering issues in the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law," the contract duration was short, only three years, far from legal thresholds.
It must be said that the Baylor Federation's legal complexities almost made Lynch give up reading them further.
In short, for the next three years, as long as both parties complied, the transport company acquired by Dawn Asset Management Company would handle Interstellar Trading Company's intrastate transport business.
And because all this was done before the investors bought shares, the new shareholders naturally couldn’t alter or interfere with these contracts later unless they paid millions in breach fees.
This was just part of the plan, not the whole, and didn’t even count as deception since Lynch would disclose these contract details before they invested.
Knowing these conditions, if they still chose to invest, it meant they accepted the agreement, and the law would side with Lynch.
Additionally, Arthur was tasked with setting up another construction company, as Interstellar Trading Company would have many construction projects. It was better to benefit his own company than others’.
Even if the new company lacked the track record to take on large projects in the short term, they could still “win” the bid and subcontract the work, saving additional money in the process.
Satisfied with learning about society's harsh realities, Arthur returned to his room to study Lynch's thoughts and guidance.
The next day, local businessmen persuaded Lynch to stay despite his plans to leave.
Dawn Asset Management Company's involvement set the bottom line. After discussing with Noah, Kurland City's businessmen gave up trying to secure the majority of shares and instead aimed for participation rights, signing a new agreement with Lynch.
They acquired 5% of Interstellar Trading Company’s shares with a 40% cash ratio, including a supplementary clause granting them priority in future financing rounds.
Simply put, when new capital entered the company, they could increase their holdings to maintain their 5% share, preventing dilution and loss of board representation.
This was the true business mentality and standard, something the opportunistic “insiders” who wanted to take advantage of Lynch wouldn't be able to learn.
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