Ch. 1651..1660
Life at the Top Chapter 1651
Jasper’s actions were rewarded with a lot of gratitude from the woman, but the leader of the boat was furious. From his point of view, Jasper was challenging his authority.
“Do you want to die?”
The leader of the boat furiously drew a gun from his waist, pointed it at Jasper’s head, and tried to pull the trigger with a grim look.
Jasper looked at the leader of the boat indifferently and said, “I advise you to calm down. If you put the gun away now, I’ll pretend that nothing has happened, otherwise, you will die and your whole family will also die miserably. Believe me, I am not trying to intimidate you or bluffing.”
Maybe it was Jasper’s extremely calm response that shocked the leader of the boat, at that moment, he hesitated.
“Boss, forget it.”
At this moment, a subordinate came over and whispered in the ear of the leader of the boat, “Although these people are all pigs, it’ll be troublesome for us if they’re driven to desperation. We can’t keep throwing them overboard. We’re almost there, so just let him off the hook.”
The leader of the boat was given a way out of this situation. He snorted coldly, put away the gun, and said, “I’ll give you another chance, if it happens again, I will definitely kill you with one bullet.”
As Jasper watched the leader of the boat leave, he felt relieved. To be honest, he really did not want to deal with these desperadoes.
The other party was an unreasonable tyrant and his life was always on the line. Meanwhile, Jasper was worth tens of billions and a single strand of his hair was worth more than the other party. In the mind of a businessman like Jasper, fighting with this kind of person was equivalent to the loss of exchanging gold for stones.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
The woman held her child tightly as she thanked Jasper.
“Don’t thank me. Just be quiet. If you annoy him again, we will all be finished,” Jasper said.
The woman nodded tearfully, holding the child tightly and keeping quiet.
Jasper glanced at the frightened child and then realized that the child was actually mixed race.
His mother was from Sunrise Land but the child had blue eyes, which showed that his father was a Westerner.
However, this had nothing to do with Jasper. After a glance, he turned his head and waited silently for the speedboat to reach its destination.
The speedboat sprinted frantically the whole way. The waves were huge and they nearly met calamity a few times during the journey. Two older stowaways fell into the sea because they could not hold on and were swallowed by the ocean in the blink of an eye.
The leader of the boat and even the other people on the speedboat looked indifferent. No one had any plans to go back to save them.
Jasper could only sigh when he saw this. He was not a saint, and he could not even take care of himself in this kind of environment. In the face of the power of nature, he was powerless and he had no way to save the two stowaways who might have already known how they would end up.
After more than two hours, the speedboat finally docked on a sandy beach.
“Get off! Get the hell off!”
Amid the shouts of the leader of the boat, more than twenty people lined up like pigs and were driven off the boat.
Just as Jasper and the others came ashore, several super-powered searchlights suddenly lit up from all directions on the dark shore.
The searchlight dissipated the darkness of the night in an instant, illuminating this beach as bright as day. Everyone looked up in a panic. Their expressions were full of alarm and consternation.
“What’s happening?”
The leader of the boat screamed in horror. His first reaction was to turn around and run. He wanted to get on the boat and escape. Those who were in the smuggling business were always facing risks.
The biggest risk was to be caught by the authorities.
Smuggling was a felony no matter which country you were in, and people who organized the smuggling, once caught, would face twenty years in prison if they were lucky, while the more serious offenders would be imprisoned for life.
Aside from being arrested by the authorities, there was also the human trafficking business. These stowaways would be the perfect candidates for them.
Traffickers would be willing to kill the leader of the boat just to catch these stowaways.
Life at the Top Chapter 1652
There was a gunshot that was accompanied by the screams of the leader of the boat. Blood poured out from his thigh as he was fleeing frantically, and then he was seen falling on the beach and struggling frantically.
Behind the searchlight, a group of people walked out. They were all armed with guns and ammunition, and they all had grim and murderous looks.
Seeing this, Jasper breathed a sigh of relief.
What he feared most were Sunrise Land officials. Judging from how they were dressed, these people represented someone else.
He quietly hid among the crowd. Jasper did not want to attract anyone’s attention.
Meanwhile, the woman next to Jasper cried and rushed forward with the child when she saw a man in the lead. The man was also very excited. He hugged the woman and the child immediately.
This scene stunned everyone.
The woman pointed in the direction of the crowd and said something to the man. Then, they saw the man walk up angrily and stepped on the head of the leader of the boat. Before the leader of the boat could beg for mercy, the man stomped on the leader of the boat, causing the man to scream wildly.
With a wave of his hand, a subordinate carrying a gun immediately came over and dragged the leader of the boat toward the shadows.
Only God knew what happened to him.
All of the stowaways were trembling from fear.
The man approached Jasper under the guidance of the woman.
Jasper could guess what was going to happen. This woman holding the child had a very powerful man. Now, the other party was coming to pick her up. While he was at it, he would avenge his woman and thank her savior.
If he was exacting vengeance on the leader of the boat, then he would also thank Jasper. This made Jasper breathe a sigh of relief.
“Thank you for saving my wife and children.” The man walked up to Jasper and said sincerely and earnestly.
Jasper then realized that the other party was indeed a blond Westerner. It was not just him, all his subordinates were foreigners.
Jasper did not plan to interact with these people too much. So, he replied cautiously, “You’re welcome. I just happened to be there.”
“You have to accept this.”
The man took out a few gold bars and handed them to Jasper.
Jasper’s face fell.
Damn it, this man was giving these gold bars to him in public. Was he worried that Jasper would not die fast enough?
Sure enough, the timid illegal immigrants around him became envious.
Since ancient times, wealth could move people. It was possible that some these people were already planning out how to kill Jasper to get his gold after they got to safety.
“I can‘t take it. You should know why.” Jasper smiled wryly.
The man also realized that this situation was not ideal. He hurriedly put away the gold bars and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, but l didn’t think about it. I’m leaving with my wife and kid now, so… This is my business card.”
The man thought for a while, took out a business card, and handed it to Jasper. Then, he said, “I owe you a favor. If you ever need it, you can contact me at any time, I will do anything I can do for you. Goodbye!”
The man was swift and decisive. He left immediately with his team after speaking with Jasper.
Jasper also breathed a sigh of relief. Damn it, a business card was much better than gold bars.
Looking down at the business card, Jasper took a sharp breath.
Grey… Van Halen, a hereditary Viscount from Finland.
Life at the Top Chapter 1653
Jasper never thought that the father of someone he saved in passing would actually turn out to be a hereditary aristocrat. This sort of person was extremely rare in modern society.
The title of nobility was much more valuable than the so-called billionaires.
Kayden’s father only obtained the lowest ranked noble title in the United Kingdom that was not even hereditary after working hard for so many decades. The most important thing was that the Viscount was from Finland.
As a republican country, the royal family of Finland was over a hundred years old, and the hereditary nobles that remained in the country numbered even fewer than giant pandas.
Also, Jasper’s next destination was Finland. It was possible that this favor would play a vital role when the time came.
After putting away the business card, Jasper glanced at the numb and indifferent stowaways around him and ran into the darkness without looking back. Although he did not know where he was, Jasper knew that he was now within Coreana’s borders.
Although he could contact Sylphie immediately, he first had to figure out where he was.
So, after walking along the road for more than an hour, Jasper finally saw traces of civilization. This was a small village by the sea. Even though it was not developed, it was enough for Jasper.
After asking for the address, Jasper called Sylphie.
“Are you in Coreana?”
Sylphie, who was on the other end of the phone, was surprised.
“I have already sent you the address. Come and pick me up as soon as possible. If you don’t come soon, I may end up a beggar on the street.”
Forty minutes later, a convoy drove into this little fishing village that no one had previously cared about. The villagers were frightened.
Sylphie got out of the car, and when she spotted the unkempt Jasper sitting on the curb of the road, her first reaction was to laugh at him.
“Wait, I want to take a picture of you right now as a souvenir. I’m sure it’ll be very valuable. Hahaha!”
Jasper stood up with a dark face, glared at Sylphie, and said, “Hurry up, I already have a plan. I’ll find a novelist to write my experience of this journey into a script and then make it into a movie. It will definitely sell well.”
Sylphie got into the car with a smile. She was not disgusted by the dirt and odor on Jasper. With one hand on her chin, she looked at Jasper with big eyes and curiously asked, “Can you tell me about your experience first? I’m curious.”
With a grunt, Jasper said, “I’m a businessman caught in the political confrontation between two countries, and I was almost turned into cannon fodder and crushed to pieces. I think that’s basically it.”
The car was shaky and Jasper, who was nervous and tense all the way, was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. After relaxing for the first time in hours, his exhaustion washed over him like a tide.
Looking at Jasper, who had fallen asleep unknowingly, Sylphie sighed, pressed the intercom, and spoke to the driver, “Drive slowly.”
More than an hour later, Jasper woke up as they arrived at their destination. His first request was to take a bath, change his clothes, and…
“Find a chef from Somerland and have them cook me a table of dishes and also a big pot of rice, hurry up!” This request was nothing to the Sentel family.
After taking a shower, Jasper changed into a new set of clothes and sat at the dining table feeling refreshed. As he looked at the table of delicious dishes, Mr. Laine was moved to tears.
Life at the Top Chapter 1654
“You know I realized a very important truth, which is what the most important thing is to a person,” Jasper said to Sylphie as he held his cutlery.
Sylphie curiously asked, “And that’s staying alive?”
Jasper shook his head and viciously took some bacon and pasta before he said, “It’s having a full stomach!”
“It makes sense.”
The person who said this was Sylphie’s father, Emil.
“Mr. Emil is here.”
Jasper greeted him. Then, he pointed to himself and said with a smile, “I’m not going to be courteous with you anymore. It’s really impossible to be mindful of manners when I’m like this.”
With a wave of his hand, Emil said, “You don’t have to be. Just be yourself. You can eat first.”
After two plates of pasta, Jasper finally felt relatively satiated. Then, he said, “This time, the contribution of Sentel Corporation in our cooperation is obvious to all. I will remember this favor and I will return it in the future.”
Emil laughed, his eyes bright.
Although Sentel had a cooperative relationship with Jasper, there were actually many things that did need to be done so well. The reason for this was that they were optimistic about Jasper which was why they invested in him.
Aside from the actual profitability of the investment, at least they were recognized by Jasper. This was a good start.
“Since we are partners, this is what we should do.”
Emil’s polite remark made Jasper smile, but he did not take it to heart. Jasper would be a fool to think that the Langs from Sentel were stupid just because of this.
If they could survive as a plutocratic family, it meant that none of the family members were easy to deal with. Speaking of which, this partnership was nothing more than an exchange of interest. However, now that they were in the honeymoon period, there was no need to say much.
“This time, I’m here to bring you a piece of news. Let’s check it out.”
Emil waved his hand after speaking and ordered someone to bring him a computer.
Jasper was eating while looking at the computer screen.
He could see that the higher-ups were holding a press conference.
“Now, we’re announcing that Jasper Laine, a merchant from Solermand, and his company JW Capital, will be included in the sanctions list. No Sunrise Land domestic companies will be allowed to cooperate with them while all of JW Capital’s employees, including Jasper, will be barred entry to Sunrise Land.”
“This is normal behavior to protect the economy and trade of Sunrise Land, and there is no intention of retaliation. This is also in line with international practice…”
Jasper almost burst into laughter when he heard such a sentence.
“Sanction me? Those dwarves from Sunrise Land are so petty.”
Jasper put down his cutlery and wiped his mouth without any worry. He continued, “Just let them sanction me. Do they expect me to go to Sunrise Land for the second time in my life? It’s impossible. I wouldn’t go even if they rolled out the red carpet for me.”
When Emil heard this, he replied cautiously, “If the sanctions are imposed by Sunrise Land, it may affect the globalization of JW Capital. After all, Sunrise Land is currently the second largest economy in the world. The most important thing is that the sanctions of Sunrise Land will affect the attitude of many other countries that share good relations with them.”
“A country’s sanctions are not terrible. If the United States did the same, it would have cut down opportunities for JW Capital to globalize by half. You have to treat this matter carefully.”
Emil’s words made Jasper smile. He said, “Mr. Emil, I understand your worries, but after all, strength speaks in this world. If I say that doing business together can bring profit, who would refuse?”
“When that time comes, no one except the people from Sunrise Land will care about this sanction. As for the attitude of the United States, they will not impose unilateral sanctions on a minor character like me. By the way, please buy a plane ticket to Finland for me.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1655
“Finland?”
Emil‘s eyes shone with interest.
No matter what a person with the status and position of Jasper did, he would never do it casually. There had to be a profound meaning behind his actions. Thus, Emil believed that Jasper must have a purpose when he requested to go to Finland.
“Mr. Lang, on one hand, I am going to Finland this time to avoid pursuit and killing. On the other hand, I am also going to discuss cooperation. I don’t know if it will happen, but if there is news, I can bring Sentel along to make money together. I will definitely not forget about you.”
Jasper knew what Emil was thinking without even looking at him and actively explained. Yet, deep down, Jasper did not intend to tell Emil of his plan to acquire Nokia.
Jasper was not stupid.
Sentel also manufactured mobile phones, and in the future, Sentel’s mobile phones would be able to compete with Apple’s.
Although the domestic sales were bleak due to various factors in the future, this did not prevent Sentel from catching up on the international market and becoming the world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer.
Even if mobile phones like HW and Meemer were selling very well in the country, aside from HW which had its own research technology, mobile phones like Meemer were just made from a component manufacturer that were purchased from the world’s top hardware manufacturers. After taking them back to Somerland, they would be assembled into mobile phones to be sold.
Speaking of it, Sentel was once an important supplier to Meemer.
If you were to disassemble Meemer‘s mobile phone, you would realize that none of the parts in it were domestically produced.
Sentel was able to cooperate with Meemer because Meemer did not have the capital to surpass it at all, and even after leaving Sentel, Meemer could not survive, so Sentel did not care how popular Meemer was in Somerland. After all, the more popular Meemer became, the more Sentel would earn.
However, if Sentel knew about Jasper’s acquisition of Nokia, things would be different.
Once this merger was successful, Somerland would immediately have a mobile phone manufacturing company ranked among the top three in the world in terms of comprehensive strength and R&D strength.
This was not something Sentel wanted to see.
Seeing that Jasper was being very secretive about this, Emil did not insist anymore. After all, they were now in the honeymoon period and Emil did not think that Jasper’s discussion about cooperation would have any impact on Sentel.
“Okay, I will ask someone to book you the next flight.”
Half an hour later, Jasper received the news that the flight was ready. Sylphie did her part to send Jasper to the airport.
“Do you want to acquire Nokia since you’re going to Finland?”
Sylphie’s question in the car surprised Jasper.
“Judging at your surprised expression, the thing I was only 80-90% sure of is now 100%.” Sylphie looked at Jasper and laughed.
Jasper smiled bitterly and said, “Do you know how to read minds?”
“This does not require mind reading. Finland is a very small country and it does not have any particularly large companies. Except for Nokia, it is rich in mineral resources, but JW Capital has never been involved in the mining industry.”
“I have known that you have been in the mobile phone industry for a long time. You are worried that your business in this area will conflict with Sentel, so you chose to avoid this question when my father asked, right?”
Seeing that Sylphie had said this, Jasper nodded and answered, “Yes, I am indeed going to talk to Nokia about the acquisition, but new Nokia is in full swing so I might not be successful. I never announce the good news of something uncertain in advance.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1656
Sylphie seemed to be smiling but she did not continue to pursue this topic. After all, the relationship between them was not that good. In a sense, they were still competitors in the mobile phone industry, so it was only appropriate that they do not pursue certain topics so deeply.
At least this way, it could guarantee the current cooperative relationship they had with each other, while Jasper would also owe them a favor.
At the airport, After Jasper said goodbye to Sylphie, he boarded the plane.
The flight that Emil had arranged was naturally in business class. This seven or eight hours flight also allowed Jasper to finally have a good rest.
When the plane landed in Finland, Jasper immediately felt the cold. He called a taxi and went straight to the hotel.
In Finland, Jasper was not the same cowering fugitive who was afraid of revealing his whereabouts in Sunrise Land. Back then, he did not dare to use his credit cards and even cash and checks.
Now, he immediately booked the best room and then asked the hotel to send a set of clothes to him. As long as there was money, these things outside the usual scope of service could be settled with no problems.
Jasper did not go to Nokia directly but instead, he stayed in the hotel for two days. During these two days, he was waiting for someone to arrive.
Greg Costa.
Blau Mobiles was now capable of making mobile phones in Somerland, but they barely made it into the top five companies in the industry.
This was even after swallowing Fliegen. If Blau Mobiles were forced to develop on their own, who knows who long they might have taken.
After all, not everyone was like Jasper, who had the advantage of having memories of his reincarnation. Therefore, Jasper was actually satisfied that Greg could do this much.
“Mr. Laine!”
In the hotel room, Greg saw Jasper and ran over excitedly to give him a big hug.
Jasper laughed, patted Greg on the back, and said, “What Mr. Laine? We’re not in the company so you can just call me by my name. You and I are brothers before subordinates.”
Greg stubbornly shook his head and said, “No, I can only call you Mr. Laine now. Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. If I get used to it, it won’t be conducive to company management if I refer to you directly by name in front of others.”
Jasper looked at Greg’s stubbly face. His handsome face looked as if it had gone through great changes and hardships, but it also lost the original young and naive appearance which seemed to have been replaced by matureness and steadiness.
In other words, if the former Greg was just purely handsome, now, he possessed the charm of a real man as well as the pull of a successful person.
“Not bad, you changed so much,” Jasper said with a laugh.
Greg replied emotionally, “It’s not too much to call you my savior. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be living a life that was worse than an animal’s. Now I feel fulfilled, and find that life is meaningful.”
He smiled and led Greg to sit down. Then, Jasper said, “Your abilities are evident too. The development of Blau Mobiles is impressive. Although I rarely intervene, I have always paid attention. If Blau Mobiles continues to follow this momentum, there will surely be a place for Blau Mobiles in the mobile phone industry in the future.”
Greg asked puzzledly, “Now Blau Mobiles’ sales volume ranks among the top five in the country. Are you really still worried that Blau Mobiles won’t have a place in industry?”
“You don’t understand. The future changes in the mobile phone industry will be earth-shattering. More and more capital will flow in. Would you believe me if I told you that the output value of the industry will increase 20 fold in just three years? Yet, these are the changes the mobile phone industry will experience within the next ten years.”
“Blau Mobiles may look good right now and have a lot of market share, but in ten years, Blau Mobiles of this size can only be called a small workshop.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1657
“Why did I ask you to take charge of Blau Mobiles alone? I can’t just randomly find an industry for you to work in, right?”
Jasper’s words caused Greg to hurriedly reply, “Of course not. What you asked me to do had to make sense.”
Jasper laughed and said, “Yes, I’m telling you right now, right now, the PC, which is in the personal computer industry, is booming, but after a while, it will be replaced by mobile phones or smartphones. After all, computers are too big and bulky, and you can’t take it anywhere with you.”
“But what if one day, the mobile phone that you can carry in your pocket at any time and any place will grant you the ability to play games, chat online, and do everything that computers can do. When that time comes, who will this era belong to? Computers or mobile phones?”
Jasper’s words slowly unfolded a grand blueprint in front of Greg. His eyes were getting brighter and brighter.
“Now, Nokia’s Symbian operating system has begun to show its powerful capabilities, and as far as I know, Terizone’s KK also has a mobile platform, which can be directly installed on the Symbian operating system, right?”
Jasper smiled and said, “Yes, it seems that you did not become the president of Blau Mobiles for nothing. You’re still pretty attuned to these things.”
“At present, we are still in the wild and uncivilized stage of this industry. No one realizes how overwhelming things will be in the future. It is precisely because of this that we have to race ahead of everyone. We don’t have to take up everything, but we must devour at least 50% of the market share into our stomachs.”
This was the first time Jasper was showing his ambitions for the mobile phone industry in front of others.
Greg asked with excitement, “Then, why are we here?”
“What else would I do when I come to Finland? Obviously, I have come to buy Nokia. Do you think I am here to see the reindeers?” Jasper laughed.
Greg rubbed his hands and walked around the room, muttering as he walked, “I knew it, I knew it had to be the acquisition of Nokia.”
“I didn’t dare to think about it before… F*ck, if it was to acquire Nokia…”
Greg suddenly fell in front of Jasper and said with bright eyes, “Then, will Blau Mobiles be the world’s largest mobile phone brand?”
Jasper pushed the guy away and said angrily, “It’s not that simple. A company like Nokia can never be acquired with money, and I have to deal with things unrelated to this matter during this period. Even so, we should explore this further.”
Before long, Jasper left the hotel with Greg.
Finland had a unique geographical location. The climate here was divided into cold winters and not so-cold winters throughout the year. Summer simply did not exist.
There might occasionally be a short period of spring, but most of the time, they would be left in the cold. Jasper was not used to the weather. He tightened his coat and took Greg to the Nokia headquarters.
Unlike other global multinational corporations, the Nokia headquarters in Finland was very small and there was no endless high-rise building that would make people look up. Looking at it now, there seemed to not even be a gate, as only a stone monument was placed in the middle of the square, which was engraved with Nokia’s logo.
This was more like an exaggerated park area rather than an office. The environment in this park was pleasant, but there were not many buildings standing over 6 stories tall. Most of the buildings in the whole city were less than 6 stories tall.
This was completely different from the domestic pursuit of high-level development back home.
“Tch, tch, this area is more than 100 acres, right?” Greg said in envy next to Jasper.
“Do you want it?”
Jasper glanced at Greg.
“Go back and build one yourself.”
“If that’s the case, how much are you going to invest in me?” Greg‘s eyes lit up.
“F*ck off! Not even a dime. Blau Mobiles is now profitable, but you still want to ask for the group for money?”
Greg was keenly aware of the changes in Jasper’s words, and he was pleasantly surprised. “Are you going to finally restructure the group?”
“It’ll happen sooner or later. The internal agreement has almost been reached, but the documents have not been officially issued and made public. After a few months, I think. We’ll change the system when the time is right.”
After thinking about it, Jasper decided to talk a little more with Greg. He walked into Nokia’s compound and said, “The group restructuring is mainly aimed at its business and its direct subsidiaries, such as your Blau Mobiles. Basically, they were not included in the scope during our early stage planning.”
“That is to say, you and I will still do our own things. Strictly speaking, Blau Mobiles has nothing to do with JW Capital. The only connection is that I am the primary investor.”
“You can think of it as though Blau Mobiles is another company I founded privately.”
Greg nodded and said, “I understand. There is also an electronics manufacturing company in JW. If Blau Mobiles goes in, I’m afraid there will be a problem.”
“What are you thinking about?”
Jasper glared at Greg. “It’s not as complicated as you think. I just want to separate the two systems. If I wanted to merge them, I could get it done with just one sentence. If I decided on that, then you could just compete with the person in charge of the electronics company for the job, whoever has the stronger ability will eventually become the president of the business group.”
“However, better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. Think of it as gesture of goodwill that I left the head of the dog for you.”
Greg said cheerfully, “I understand. If Nokia is acquired, it should belong to Blau Mobiles, right?”
“We’ll split it.”
Jasper gave Greg three words without much promise.
Once Blau Mobiles absorbed Nokia, then Blau Mobiles’ strength would instantly swell to an exaggerated point. Whether Greg could manage it was something that they had to determine, as Blau Mobiles’ current management system would undoubtedly be unable to control Nokia.
What’s more, Jasper always had to consider JW Capital. It was just a matter of choice between the left pocket or right pocket for him, but when it came to the company, who in JW Capital would not want to take a bite of this piece of cake?
As a superior, uneven resource allocation was taboo. One should not worry about scarcity, but rather about uneven distribution. If this matter was not well handled, huge problems would occur.
Jasper’s answer caused Greg’s face to fall.
He thought that Jasper called him here specifically to offer him some great benefits. Unfortunately, the truth was not that straightforward.
However, Greg did not care.
“You gave me all of this. So I’ll do whatever you arrange and will have no complaints, but you can’t let Blau Mobiles suffer.”
Upon hearing Greg’s words, Jasper smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
See, when there were more people under your hand, factions would naturally be formed. It was natural to compete for benefits and resource. This was a simple truth that even the noble and virtuous Greg could not avoid. After all, had he not just shown this?
While they were talking, they arrived at the office building.
“Hello, I want to see Mr. Reynoldson.” Jasper walked to the front desk and said to the beautiful receptionist with a smile on his face.
Life at the Top Chapter 1658
The receptionist was a beautiful girl from Finland. Her amber eyes looked at the young man from the east curiously and asked, “Do you have an appointment?”
Jasper said, “No appointment, but please tell him JW Capital is here. He will meet me.”
The receptionist hesitated for a while and then said, “I will convey the message for you. Please wait a moment.”
After a while, the receptionist respectfully said to Jasper, “Please wait a moment, someone from the president’s office will take you up immediately.”
Jasper nodded and said, “I am willing to wait a little longer if that means I can admire a lady as beautiful as you.”
The fair face of the receptionist turned red, but she did not dare to say anything.
In just a few minutes, a group of people hurried out of the elevator.
The leader was a swift middle-aged man with blond hair. He wore an exquisite suit and walked straight toward Jasper with an outstretched hand. “Hello, I’m Benji, Mr. Reynoldson’s executive assistant. He is in a meeting and can’t come to meet you personally. Please follow me upstairs.”
Jasper shook hands with the other party, nodded, and followed him into the elevator with the group of people. The receptionist stared at Jasper blankly. Although she did not know who Jasper was, after she had just reported JW Capital’s name, she could hear Benji’s tone becoming surprised and excited.
However, she was also acutely aware that she might have just been in contact with someone mysterious and powerful.
Inside the elevator, Benji cautiously probed, “I am curious as to why Mr. Laine personally rushed over to Finland.”
“You know, Somerland’s domestic market is very large, and there is a big void in the mobile phone industry. This market needs exceptional products and there is no doubt that among all the mobile phone brands in the world, only Nokia is worthy of my partnership.”
Jasper’s words brought a smile to Benji’s face, and he said, “Yes, Mr. Laine, you are indeed a businessman with a good vision. There is no brand of mobile phone in this world that can match Nokia.”
Not only did Benji think so, but the people who followed him also showed immense pride as they wore expressions similar to his.
Jasper saw this. However, he smiled and said nothing.
In his previous life, Nokia fell to the dust at the peak of its glory. It seemed that it was definitely not just because of Apple’s strength.
Nokia was proud. They were so proud that they once thought that mobile phones produced by others were rubbish, and only their own products were any good. When it came to mobile phone operating systems, what were Android and iOS? Symbian was invincible.
If everyone in a company shared this mindset, then it was not far from being finished.
Jasper and Greg sat down after they followed Benji to a reception room. Since Nokia’s president, Reynoldson, was in a meeting, Benji, who was only an executive assistant, was not qualified to talk to Jasper directly.
One should pick on someone their own size, so Benji naturally set his sights on Greg.
He naturally thought that Greg was a subordinate brought along by Jasper, and only after chatting did he realize that Greg was the president of Blau Mobiles.
“I have heard of Blau Mobiles. Most of the models you produce are designed to imitate Nokia.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1659
Benji’s words made Greg quite embarrassed.
They had no choice. Before devouring Fliegen, Blau Mobiles hardly had any independent research and development capabilities. Their original market was also acquired by counterfeiting and selling some of Nokia’s best selling models at low prices.
“The lack of independent research and development capabilities is indeed a shortcoming of Blau Mobiles, but we have acquired Fliegen a few months ago and the next new mobile phone will be launched soon. When that time comes, we will completely climb out of Nokia’s shadow.”
Greg’s words made Benji shake his head and said, “Mr. Costa, it’s not that I look down on you. In fact, your sentence is very problematic. There is no mobile phone in the world that can climb out of Nokia’s shadow. Everyone is copying us.”
“After all, only by introducing some elements that Nokia popularized, such as the camera bar layout and button distribution, will consumers recognize the phone.”
Greg raised his eyebrows, feeling slightly enraged.
“Perhaps what you said has some truth, but the elements you mentioned are not originally from Nokia. They had already appeared a long time ago.”
“But Nokia is the one who developed and promoted it, right?” Benji said triumphantly.
Greg snorted, looking unhappy.
Jasper was also happy to see Greg getting defeated as he sat next to the latter.
This guy had swallowed Fliegen back then and Jasper had heard a few times that he was starting to get arrogant. It was not a bad thing to use this opportunity to make Greg understand that Blau Mobiles was still weak.
Just as the two of them were talking, the door of the reception room was pushed open.
An old man with silver hair wearing a suit with an old pocket watch hanging around his neckline walked in. He had a slight blush on his face and he looked hale and hearty.
“Laine, I have already seen you in many financial magazines, but I didn’t expect that you would come to Finland at this critical time.”
Reynoldson‘s tone and attitude were quite polite. When he walked into the room, he proactively reached out his hand and said to Jasper with a smile on his face.
Jasper also stood up. He held Reynoldson‘s hand and smiled, “Mr. Reynoldson is the hero who brought Nokia its current glory. I actually wanted to meet Mr. Reynoldson a long time ago. Why don’t we take advantage of this opportunity and have a chat?”
Reynoldson laughed, and after leading Jasper to sit down, he said, “I wonder Why you have come to Nokia, Mr. Laine. Could it be that you just wanted us to be acquainted?”
Jasper waved his hand and smiled. He answered, “Of course, there are more important things, such as… Helping Mr. Reynoldson resolve the conflict between your management and shareholders?”
As soon as he said this, Benji’s expression changed drastically.
Meanwhile, the smile on Reynoldson’s face gradually disappeared. He looked at Jasper and said slowly, “I don‘t quite understand what you mean.”
“As one of the most outstanding top professional managers, I think you should have understood my plan the first time I said it, Mr. Reynoldson. I am an outsider, so how could I solve the conflict between Nokia’s management with the shareholders? of course, it is by acquiring Nokia.”
Reynoldson snorted. Then, he said unhappily, “Laine, I think you will be disappointed this time. First of all, there is no conflict between management and shareholders. Secondly, Nokia has never considered being acquired by anyone or any company!”
Life at the Top Chapter 1660
Jasper saw Reynoldson’s coldness and discomfort. He was not surprised by this at all.
As his fingers tapped against the desktop, Jasper said, “Mr. Reynoldson, if Nokia and the shareholders have no conflicts, then why has the Symbian V4.1 operating system not been updated after so long?”
“As far as I know, there is a huge difference in opinions between the management and shareholders regarding the update of this system.”
“Mr. Reynoldson, you advocate making the system more inclusive, and you are even considering opening part of the interface or even part of the source code so that more Symbian operating system developers can participate and develop more functional mobile applications.
“At this point, you are more inclined to move toward the Android system that is still very weak but already has a certain user base.”
“However, the shareholders don’t agree. Your shareholders insist that the closed Symbian operating system is Nokia’s property, a stance they have held for many years.”
“They believe that the Symbian operating system is still the most used mobile phone operating system in the world, and that Nokia does not need to make any changes not bring any unnecessary risks.”
Jasper’s words caused Reynoldson’s face to darken more and more.
It was not that Jasper was simply blurting this out.
It was because every word Jasper said directly referred to the conflict happening at the very core of Nokia. These were all Nokia’s top secrets. He simply could not figure out how Jasper, a man from Somerland who had been fighting with the capitalists on the United States Dow Jones Index and Sunrise Land exchange rate two days ago, knew these secrets.
“Mr. Laine, although I don’t know where you got the information from, you must have misunderstood. The management does share some conceptual disagreements with shareholders, but this difference will be bound to occur in any large company. This is not the first time we have faced this situation in Nokia. We will have ways to solve it and it is not as serious as you have said.”
Jasper laughed when he saw that Reynoldson was still being stubborn.
In fact, there were two ideal opportunities to acquire Nokia.
The first opportunity was four or five years ago. At that time, Nokia was still an ordinary telecom operator in Finland. Nokia, which made a fortune in the telecom industry, invested in everything. At its peak, it also dabbled in the steel industry.
However, it was precisely because of these blind investments that Nokia once fell into a desperate situation and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
It was Reynoldson’s appearance that saved Nokia.
On the other hand, the second best time was now.
The first time was too early, not to mention that Jasper had not been reincarnated back then, so it was naturally impossible.
However, Jasper knew that the conflict between Nokia‘s management and shareholders had reached an irreconcilable point.
In the end, this matter ended with Reynoldson’s compromise. After all, the shareholders were the actual controllers of this company. No matter how strong the management was, if the shareholders fell out with them, Reynoldson would not be able to win against them.
This was precisely the thing that caused Reynoldson to resign. After which, Nokia was gone forever after being beaten by Android and Apple.
“Did I make the problem out to be too serious, or is Nokia already in danger? Mr. Reynoldson, you know the answer very well in your heart.”
Jasper’s words caused Reynoldson to stand up.
“Mr. Laine, I have two more meetings to attend. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave.”
Jasper narrowed his eyes to look at Reynoldson and then stood up.