Ch. 1741..1750
Life at the Top Chapter 1741
“After am done with this, we shall go a one week vacation since it’s important maintain work-life balance. When the time comes, won’t have think about anything else and just enjoy ourselves.” “Really?”
Wendy asked surprise, her face glowing with joy.
“Since when have ever lied you?”
Jasper chuckled.
“Alright! It’s deal! shall do some research about where we should go, you’d better not find excuses then.” Wendy said excitedly.
“I won’t.” Jasper said with smile.
“Ding.” The elevator door opened. Jasper and Wendy had stopped laughing and a solemn expression graced their faces.
When they walked out of the elevator, on both sides of the corridor were office spaces that were getting increasingly
crowded. Common office areas with ordinary employees had small and mid level cubicles as well as managers who had a dedicated office to themselves.
This also highlighted the reality that the number of JW’s personnel was growing and was becoming more complex by the day.
Moreover, this was the floor where the office of Jasper, the director of the company was located. If this was the case here, it was conceivable that the other floors were much more crowded.
“There weren’t that many people when I
last came here,” Jasper said in shock.
“JW is expanding fast, and we need manpower from various fields. Plus, we have good welfare, which is why we are getting more and more people to work for us.” Wendy explained.
Jasper nodded and said, “Seems like it’s time to move to a new place.”
“Greetings Mr. Laine, Ms. Schuler.”
“Mr. Laine, you’re back. Good to see you M s. Schuler.”
Wherever Jasper and Wendy walked, the employees would stand on either sides of the path and greet them respectfully.
Wendy managed to name most of the people there, yet Jasper realized that he did not know many of them.
“Hello everyone.”
Jasper could only nod at the people with a smile.
The place erupted into discussions right after he left.
Some little girls who loved to gossip got together and suppressed their excitement. They said, “Wow, was that Mr. Laine? This is the first time I got to see our boss since I joined. I heard that he isn’t even 30 yet. My goodness, he looked much more handsome than on TV and magazines.”
“Right! Mr. Laine smiled at me just now, I should’ve taken a photo of it.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to get an autographed photo from Mr. Laine?”
“What are you thinking? Do you think Mr. Laine is some random celebrity? Do you
know how much his signature costs?”
“How much is it worth? Is anyone willing t o buy it?”
“Idiot, why would Mr. Laine simply give out his signatures? He doesn’t just sign anything; don’t you know that? No wonder you only received a ‘Good’ in your on-job assessment the day before.”
“Oh my, let’s not talk about that. I am so upset, if I can’t get an ‘Excellent’ next time, my salary will be adjusted…”
Back in the office, Jasper gently rubbed his face that had gone numb due to the smile he had maintained. He then took the cup from Wendy and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling glass window and sat on the sofa. When he looked at the busy Southface River, he chuckled and said, This is my kingdom.”
“Your Majesty, which minister do you wish to meet next?” Wendy asked impatiently.
Life at the Top Chapter 1742
“Call Malcolm first, this man definitely have a lot to vent. shouldn’t let foreign man hold it in suffer,” Jasper sighed and said.
Wendy smiled briefly said, “He must longing for it. I’ll call him now.”
knock came from office door long after Wendy left.
“Come in.”
Jasper answered dreadfully while looked at accumulated work on computer with headache.
After saying that, door was angrily pushed open by an foreign man.
When looked at small aggrieved man front him, Jasper felt guilty and said, “My Chief Operating Officer, judging from your expression, seems that you are not in good mood.”
With sullen face, Malcolm walked Jasper’s table and said solemnly, “Sir, really think that have aged, and cannot fulfil my to resign.” duties anymore. Please allow me To resign.”
Jasper looked at Malcolm with empty hands and chuckled. “Resign? It’s not easy for a person in such a high position like you to resign. Shouldn’t I at least receive a resignation letter from you?”
Malcolm said angrily, “Alright, I’ll write the report now!”
After this, Malcolm turned away and was about to leave.
“Wait.”
Jasper stopped Malcolm and said helplessly, “You have hypertension and it’s best for you to not be too emotional, it’s not good for your health.
“Alright, just express your thoughts and stop talking about resigning. You know that JW and I can’t survive without you.”
This was true, and in no way was it said just to flatter the old man.
Malcolm’s experience in business management and operations saved Jasper a lot of effort.
JW was developing day by day, but no matter how fast the development was or how complicated things became, Malcolm could always handle everything in an orderly manner.
This made Jasper and Wendy’s life way easier.
If it were not Malcolm who managed the company smoothly, would Jasper be able t o disappear from time to time like how he was doing currently? Impossible.
Most importantly, Malcolm was able to understand Jasper’s intentions and could execute his decision perfectly. The fact that he could always lead JW toward the direction that Jasper was aspiring was the most important factor.
Malcolm understood what Jasper meant and sighed, “Mr. Laine, as your employee and your friend, you should have notified me earlier about the acquisition of Nokia.
“At least I could have prepared myself earlier. Yet, I actually got to know about the acquisition through the news. This really caused chaos for me and the other people in the company.
“Nokia is not a small company, but since you had already acquired it, I have no comments on that. Then again, Nokia is a large multinational group with factories and branches all over the world. To be honest, in terms of the system and management, JW cannot compare to them. An acquisition like this cannot be completed by simply buying their shares.”
Jasper nodded with a smile and kept quiet until Malcolm was done. He then said, ” Malcolm, there’s something important surrounding this matter.”
“I acquired Nokia with my personal funds. It’s completely separate from JW in terms of administration and finances.
“Hence, both companies are not related in terms of company structure and management, and there’s no need for a merger.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1743
Malcolm was temporarily stunned by Jasper’s words.
“Independent?
“No, that’s inappropriate.”
Malcolm’s words shocked Jasper. “What exactly do you mean?”
Malcolm then said, “Now that the two systems are independent of each other, might seem that there no problem, and can also prevent possible confusion in management. However, the most important thing whether you are aware that JW’s resources are actually unable to support big business like Nokia.”
Jasper chuckled and said, “I did consider this.”
With more than ten years of experience in the development of the mobile phone industry in the later generations, Jasper was not really worried about the future of Nokia.
Moreover, he was already the current boss of Nokia. As long as Nokia abandoned their old path and worked toward the direction that Apple was headed, it would be perfectly fine.
However, he obviously could not say this t o Malcolm.
Malcolm did not know Jackson’s thoughts and he continued, “If JW wants to expand properly and become a multinational company, we must bring Nokia in.
“We should use JW Investment Company a s the parent company to hold all the other businesses under it. This is a must in order to become a multinational group.
“The major benefit that Nokia can bring for JW is its global reputation.
“In terms of physical businesses, Nokia already has the ability to be recognized by people all over the world, but JW doesn’t. Therefore, the most convenient and fastest way for JW to go abroad is to utilize Nokia’s reputation and strength.
“Putting other aspects aside, Nokia already has branch offices and factories in
dozens of countries around the world and these are resources that JW does not have. How much manpower, material and financial resources can JW save by taking advantage of this? Besides, if JW solely relies on its current subsidiaries, how many more years will it take in comparison?”
Malcolm’s statement caused Jasper’s expression to turn solemn.
He had to admit that he did not consider
the bigger picture thoroughly. Despite this, Malcolm perfectly pointed out the problem that he did not take into
consideration.
When he saw Jasper’s tightly knit brows, Malcolm continued. “Boss, we can indeed avoid competition in resources by having separating both companies. However, the biggest difference between JW and the other companies is that our core resource i s not about the brands or products under u s, but yourself.
“And you definitely can’t leave Nokia alone to manage itself. That’s why we still need to take hold of whatever resources we can. The best solution is for JW to
acquire Nokia entirely and restructure the distribution of resources in our own way.
More than ten minutes later, Malcolm walked out of Jasper’s office.
On the same afternoon, a document issued by Jasper himself was delivered to all employees of all subsidiaries of JW.
Malcolm would no longer be the Chief Operating Officer of JW Investment Company and he would be promoted to Deputy Director to be in charge of assisting the Director in the company’s daily operations and management.
If this happened in other companies, such a promotion would actually be considered a demotion. Even a fool would know that the Chief Operating Officer had more power than the Deputy Director.
However, it was a different case for JW. Jasper seldom participated in the company’s daily operations and management, so Malcolm was just holding the title of ‘Deputy Director’ while executing the power of a Director.
This position was privately referred to as the position of a potential successor by everyone in JW, and it was regarded as an important position for Jasper to test his potential successors.
Life at the Top Chapter 1744
“Letting Malcolm take up this position seems like the most impossible yet most logical decision.”
On the same night, Jasper explained to Wendy about his decision on their way back to the car.
“Having a bigger company is just like having bigger forest, and there are many kinds of birds in the forest.
“The heads of the other branches might seem to be quiet, but who doesn’t want to go one step further? Especially after the release of the news of the upcoming restructuring of JW’s parent company. No matter how humble you are, you will still dream about being the next leader of this empire.
“To prevent power creep and internal friction, it’s better to give out the position early. Right now, Malcolm is our best candidate.”
Wendy nodded and said, “Because Malcolm is capable and respected by others, and most importantly, is a foreigner?”
Jasper smiled. “Not just that, he isn’t that young anymore and with the restrictions o f his nationality, it’s unlikely that we will train him to become the successor of JW. H e is also well aware of this, that’s why his perspective is the most neutral and genuine.”
Wendy said with dissatisfaction, “You are still so young, why are you thinking about finding successors?”
Jasper shook his head and explained, “It’s not about that. If JW were to not undergo restructuring, everything will remain as usual, but once we do, I must step down a s the Director of the parent company and become the Chairman of the Board. Hence there are definitely hungry eyes
already staring at the director position.”
“Actually, I wanted you to step up as the Director.”
Wendy immediately shook her head after hearing that. “I don’t want it. I already have more than enough on my plate and it’s driving me crazy. Drop the Director idea.”
“Yeah, the thing is, if you step up as Director, the Head of Financial Affairs position will have to be given away. Then again, this position is more important than the Director in my opinion.
“As long as I am here, the Director can be replaced anytime, but it’s another story for the Head of Financial Affairs. If the person taking up this position isn’t someone who I completely trust, if anything goes wrong, it’ll be too late by the time we realize.”
When she saw Jasper’s tired expression, Wendy said gently, “Alright, don’t think about it too much since you’ve already made up your mind. You’ve been busy the entire day since you stepped into the office, so have a good rest. We can leave things till tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is the last day of the lockdown order.”
Jasper frowned slightly and turned to look at the rapidly changing street view. “Time just isn’t enough.”
Back home, Dawson was still awake, as expected.
Jasper went to meet him right after they got home.
“You’re back.”
Dawson put down the documents in hand and said to Jasper.
“I am back.”
Jasper sat opposite Dawson and said.
“Good to see you, are you hungry? Do you
want supper?”
“It’s fine, I’ve already had dinner and I a m not hungry either.”
The two continued to talk about some casual topics but none of them mentioned anything about the company. Dawson did not ask Jasper about whatever he was doing outside either.
Due to this, they felt more comfortable with each other after the hour-long conversation.
They had already regarded each other as family and many things didn’t need to be said out loud. A casual chat was more than enough when they met.
The next day, Jasper rushed out of the house right after he woke up.
He did not go to the office but instead he went to meet an important person.
This person deliberately flew to Nauritius t
o meet Jasper in person.
This was the Secretary of the SBS Bank,
Tony Pratt.
“Mr. Pratt.”
Jasper met Tony in a guest room of the hotel, and he reached out to greet Tony first.
fe at the Top Chapter 1745
Tony laughed and shook Jasper’s hand hard before saying, “You little kid, it seems that you have done many things this time around.”
“I nearly trapped myself in it, have no idea how to explain all the difficulties anymore.” Jasper laughed.
“Alright, it seems like you are quite easy going. I was still afraid that you might retreat after encountering some obstacles, but I guess I’m wrong then.” Tony said satisfyingly.
“I can’t back out when have so many people supporting me.” Jasper said seriously.
“That’s good to hear.”
Tony led Jasper to the guest hall to sit down and said, “Today is the last day of the temporary lockdown order. Since the J W Foundation will be opening again tomorrow, have you prepared anything?”
“Nope.”
Jasper’s answer made Tony frown.
Jasper smiled wryly, “Mr. Pratt, both of us are smart enough to see through things, s o I’ll skip the formalities. Let me ask you Mr.Pratt, if you were in my position, what kind of preparations would you make?”
Jasper’s words caught Tony off guard.
“I’ll need to have something in my hand for me to prepare.”
Jasper showed his hands and said, “But now, I have neither money nor power, so what can I prepare?”
Tony had an annoyed expression when he heard this, “Just say it if you need money,
don’t beat around the bush.”
Jasper chuckled, “I am just trying to look for a better excuse haha.”
Tony’s expression turned solemn immediately. “Frankly speaking, I am here to fulfil your requests as per my orders. But, if the amount is too high, we won’t be able to do it, so we’ll have to negotiate.”
“Sure, how about 10 thousand billion?”
Jasper’s words stunned Tony.
“USD.”
The next thing that came out of Jasper’s mouth made Tony’s expression darken.
“Are you kidding me?”
Jasper said with a difficult expression, “M r. Pratt, you are well aware of the enemies. that I am facing right now. Wall Street is playing me for a fool this time, so honestly speaking, is that amount a lot?”
“That’s impossible.”
Tony refused without thinking, “Such a large amount of foreign exchange will inevitably affect the country’s foreign exchange reserves, and it will directly cause huge fluctuations in the international foreign exchange market. At that time, even fools will know what Somerland has done with this money. Do you think the United States officials will stand idly by in this situation?
“This is something that can cause the conflict between the two countries to escalate to another level. None of us can decide on this.”
“What about you, Mr. Pratt?”
Jasper never expected to get so much money, and was just asking.
Mr. Pratt said, “It’s not about what I think, it’s what the upper management thinks. 8000 billon Somer Dollars is the maximum amount we can provide to assist you.” Jasper frowned and kept quiet.
However, anyone would notice that Jasper thought that the amount was too small.
“Just deal with it. This decision is being negotiated hard by the bosses above me, s o don’t be too greedy.” Tony comforted him.
“What if we lose?” Jasper asked.
Tony stared at Jasper with slightly scorching eyes and replied slowly, “What do you think?”
Life at the Top Chapter 1746
“This not sure win game.”
Jasper’s expression was not pretty.
“If were easy, why would I be
this state right now?”
“JW Foundation has trillions of Somer Dollars trapped in this game, and honestly speaking, am just like the piece of meat on the chopping board, waiting be sentenced. I’d rather not do anything must win this without any support.”
Tony pointed at Jasper with his finger, “M dear friend, don’t be emotional now. Difficulties can overcome right? The period 20 or years ago was also extremely difficult for you, but you still managed to walk out of no?”
“Mr. Pratt, you don’t sound right.”
Jasper said, don’t mind being passionate and patriotic, but there are tons families resting on my shoulders and I will least have consider my employees and investors, right?”
Tony had dark expression as he asked, Then what do you want?”
Jasper looked slightly relieved, and he laughed, “I don’t need much, not even the 8000 billion Somer Dollars. only need one thing, which is command the national team.”
Tony was dumbfounded.
“There’s SBS Investment Fund under the SBS Bank, which under the national. team’s control. It’s said to be quite powerful, no?”
After hearing the second half of his sentence, Tony finally understood what meant.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Tony raised his voice, “Even don’t have access to mobilize that investment fund, and the procedures are more complicated than you think. Commanding the team? Have you lost your mind?”
“Then forget it.”
Jasper put his hands together and said, Like they say, even clever woman can’t
afford to cook without rice. How can they expect me to win when they are reluctant t o pay me the capital ? Until now, I have relied on the resources from myself and investors to fight alone, so I am already used to such a pitiful life.”
Tony had no idea if he should be angry or amused right now. “Why didn’t I realize that you were actually quite a shameless person?”
“Mr. Pratt, I am really not that
shameless.”
Jasper sighed and said sincerely, “No one knows how severe the current situation is, except for me. I can say that as soon as the market opens tomorrow, all positions invested in by JW Foundation will be exploited within half an hour. Even if the SBS Bank gives me 8000 billion, this half a n hour will probably get extended to another day or two, but it will still eventually get exploited.”
“Unless the higher ups are willing to spare at least one-third of the country’s foreign exchange reserves to me, this battle will not go our way.
“We are facing the United States and Wall Street, the world’s most powerful capital country and the most powerful capitalist team. Do you really think that I am a god o r something?
“Not trying to brag, but if someone else were in my position, he or she would have been finished a month ago.”
Tony pondered for a moment, looked at
Jasper, then said, “Give me some time.”
Jasper stood up and chuckled, “I came here too eagerly in the morning, so I haven’t had breakfast yet. As such, I’ll go down and have breakfast first.”
“Go ahead.” Tony waved his hand with a
solemn face.
Jasper then went downstairs casually.
He actually did eat breakfast, but he was also giving Tony a reason to contact his higher ups.
Tony somehow managed to escalate this issue to the big boss behind the country, and after 20 mins, he called Jasper back.
Returning to his room, Tony said with a stern expression, “The bosses have agreed to it.”
“So the bosses can be considerate toward us.” Jasper said in a joyful tone.
‘Don’t be too happy for now, there are terms imposed.”
Tony glanced at Jasper with a complicated gaze and continued, “There is only one request from them: Even if you are going t o lose, do it nicely.
“The Somers are never afraid of losing because we will still be able to get back up and win it back. What we don’t want is to lose our dignity and the determination to resist oppression.
“These are the words from the boss that are supposed to be conveyed to you. Think about it yourself.”
Jasper asked subconsciously, “Which boss
is this?”
“Who is the one that you see in the news everyday?” Tony sounded envious.
Although he was the General Secretary of the SBS Bank, it was because of Jasper that he got to communicate directly with the big boss. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it was worth being proud of.
A face that everyone recognized appeared i n Jasper’s mind, and he immediately nodded and said, “I get it now.”
“Since that person has spoken, things will be done quickly. Moreover, we know that tomorrow is the opening so it will probably just take a few minutes before the manager of the national team contacts you. You shall see what to do next then.”
Tony took Jasper to the door, hesitated for a moment, and whispered before opening the door, “Jasper Laine, the bosses are placing high hopes on you this time. There are several big bosses who are supporting you unconditionally, so you must get something done.”
“I know.” Jasper nodded and said gently. Although he sounded casual, his words
were powerful.
He returned to his office right he left
Tony’s place, thought for a while, and
picked up his phone.
“Old Master, it’s me.”
“Jasper.”
Old Master Law’s hearty laughter came over the phone, “Just say it, as long as you ask for it, the Law family will give you full support.”
Old Master Law obviously knew why Jasper was calling him for.
Jasper took a deep breath and said while trying to suppress the boiling blood in him, “Old Master, I need to break the backbone of the United States this time.”
Old Master Law laughed loudly and said, ” How ambitious. It won’t be easy though.”
“Relying solely on external factors is obviously not enough, but the economy of the United States is already problematic in and of itself.”
In Jasper’s mind, there would be a storm that would sweep across The world in
seven years’ time.
This subsequent recession would be called the biggest and most dangerous economic crisis in human history.
It was because of its emergence that the United States economy embarked on a downward path, and it had not slowed down until 2020 when Jasper was reborn.
This was known as the subprime crisis.
Life at the Top Chapter 1747
Many people were aware of the subprime mortgage crisis, but their impression of it rested only on the simple concept that the financial tsunami had caused the economy to decline, with the most famous resulting event in it being that Layman Investment Bank, one of the big four US banks, was forced to shut down.
However, Jasper knew that the actual core problem of the subprime mortgage crisis was the subprime loan credit crisis.
In order to stimulate national consumption and maintain its own strength as the world’s largest country, the United States had implemented monetary quantitative easing policies for a long time.
However, this monetary quantitative easing policy was not the same as that of Sunrise Land.
It was essentially the United States printing banknotes for domestic welfare and relief of the government’s own debt. Furthermore, this process had gone on for decades.
If it was some other country trying this, the place would have been long gone from history.
However, it was a different case for the United States. The dominance of global finance and military politics allowed the United States to build a core system, which was the USD settlement system.
Its full academic name was the Bretton Woods system, which was the core system of global USD adoption.
It would be hard to describe in detail, but the crux of it was to make the USD a global currency whilst ensuring the printing power would still be in the hands of the American Federal Reserve Central Bank.
In other words, the United States’ monetary easing policy had made all countries in the world that supported USD settlement pay for the country’s high consumption, high debt, and high welfare.
In this way, the United States had played this game for decades, and it had managed to circumvent many problems
abruptly by making people from all over
the world pay for it.
Even so, this was not foolproof.
The long-term domestic monetary easing policy resulted in an excess supply of cash in the market and within banks.
The profit-seeking nature of capital and currency caused money to inevitably find a n industry to generate profits.
When all countries in the world faced this problem, this hot money would go to two places, the stock market and real estate. The United States was no exception.
At the craziest time, which was now, as long as you were an US citizen, you would not need to do any asset and credit checks at all when you purchased a house with a loan. As long as you were daring enough t o take a loan from the bank, they would give it to you. *
Salespersons frantically promoted bank loan products to everyone for their own benefit, and in order to give investors a decent report, the bank never refused applications from these people.
As a result, the real estate industry was completely hot, in exchange for a sharp increase in the national debt ratio.
However, there was a time limit for the loans. For example, for a loan of 1 million USD, the bank had to wait 10 years before collecting the principal and interest of 1.5 million USD, netting themselves 500,000 USD in the process.
Obviously, the bank’s investors were unwilling to wait so long, so the bank packaged this batch of loans and sold it to a credit company at a price of 1.3 million USD. After the credit company bought this batch of loans, they repackaged them and put them on the market for sale.
With a cost price of 1.3 million 100,000 USD was divided into 15 shares. After the credit company earned 200,000 USD, the loan would then be distributed to
of the debt into a subscribable asset, which was the subprime loan.
in
banks and credit companies made lot of
money, but this was just like a give and take game. At the end of the day, someone would still need to pay for these profits.
When the economic growth rate of the United States declined and national income fell, real estate prices inevitably began to fall too. When the amount of the loan you had to repay exceeded the value o f the house itself, a large number overdue loans broke out.
These subprime credit loans instantly
became rubbish.
Institutions that purchased subprime loan products in droves began to blow up their positions, investors lost their money, and the entire market was full of grief.
This was the fundamental reason for the entire subprime mortgage crisis.
The subprime mortgage crisis, this financial crisis that had smashed the world’s largest financial power, the United States, definitely did not happen overnight. In fact, now was the wildest time for It.
Life at the Top Chapter 1748
‘Someone must have noticed, but who cares? As long as am not the last take over.’
The fun still continued, according to the planned timeline, and so the event would take flight years later, which would be 2008.
However, Jasper wanted to expose the person who was being pretentious and get rid of the support of the United States now.
Old Master Law was shocked after hearing these words from him.
Not everyone would have the courage to say such things.
It was certainly fine for citizen to speak casually, but the words from people who had reached the level Jasper terms of strength and status were mostly facts. Even the arrogant ones would not dare speak on anything even mildly related to breaking the financial support of the United States.
However, Old Master Law did not.
question it in detail. Instead, he just asked a simple
These seven words showed put all his support and trust in Jasper.
Jasper, who felt the affection, took a deep breath and said, “Old Master Law, all you and the Laws need to do is to try your hardest to short the subprime credit market in the United States. That’s all.”
Old Master Law was silent for a moment,
then spoke up, “Alright, I’ll ask Zachary t
o contact you.”
He did not even ask why, nor did he ask
about the probability of this turning out
successfully.
Jasper clenched his fists. With just the support and trust from Old Master Law, h e had to try his best to make a better future.
After he ended the call with Old Master Law, he made a second call.
The call was made to Gale.
The phone was answered by his chamberlain. After passing the message, Jasper had to wait a few moments before Gale came to the line.
“I really didn’t want to answer the phone
when I knew it was you calling, Sly child.”
Jasper laughed after hearing Gale’s voice. “Is this a compliment from Old Master Hurlbutt to me as a youngster?”
“Hmph, just spit it out.” Gale snorted
coldly.
“Lend me some money to spend.”
Jasper’s answer was simple and crude as h
e chuckled.
Although Jasper could not see Gale’s
expression, he could tell that it was bad.
Seeing that Gale did not say anything, Jasper could only continue. “Old Master Hurlbutt, don’t be upset. just need 800 billion.”
There was a clear sound of glasses dropping and breaking on the other end of the line.
Gale growled and said, “Jasper Laine,
what do you take me for?! Are you here to rob me?! Even if you were here to rob, you should at least take a reasonable amount o f money. Even the coffin cost is not as much as the money you asked for. You just ask for 800 billion Somer dollars the moment you open your mouth?”
Jasper was smart enough to move the phone away from his ear, then continued after Gale finished speaking. “Look at you, you get angry so easily. It’s better to control your emotions well, especially when you’re already old.”
“Old Master Hurlbutt, let’s be real. You might not have so much money but the moment you ask for it from the Chamber o f Commerce, they will definitely find their way to get the money for you.”
“If you are here for money, get lost!” ” Gale raged as he said,
Jasper shrugged his shoulders and said, ” Alright then, it’s fine if you don’t give me money. I will take down the business people from Haddock that I come across with. Besides, with the strength of JW, even if we can’t vanquish them, we can at least drive the business people from Haddock out of the four major Chambers o f Commerce. I’m pretty sure nothing is wrong with that, right?”
Life at the Top Chapter 1749
Gale was furious, and whatever Jasper said aggravated his anger to point of hyperventilation.
“Sly child, you are in sticky situation, and you still dare to threaten me?”
“When was handling Haddock Mining Group and doing business all over the country, you were just little child. How dare you threaten me?”
Jasper sighed and replied, “Respectfully Sir, you see, know seniors like you will always bring up age whenever try to discuss issues with you, and that’s what I’m always afraid of.
“Yes, perfectly understand the fact that you started earlier, and salute your ability to have succeeded in your business given the many circumstances during that period. To be honest, you are the strongest out of the Big Four chambers of commerce in our country and no one can ever compete with you, not even the other three.
“If you were ten or twenty years younger,
I would never have told you any of this.
“But the truth is, you are not any younger and I need you to be very honest with me. How big of an impact will JW have if it were to try to bring down any one of the Big Four chambers of commerce in our country?”
Jasper’s words did not come as a surprise t o Gale, and instead Gale replied with a sarcastic laugh.
“Sly child, do you really think you have a say in the business circle of our country? N o doubt JW is a big corporation, but it doesn’t have a stable foundation. How much more tribulation do you think it can handle?
“I must admit that you are capable. No one would have thought that you could build a big corporation like this in such a short period of time. Yes, the corporation i s big, but it’s just an empty structure. How much time did you really have to build a solid foundation for your company?
“You want to destroy Haddock? Sure, go ahead. Please bear in mind, when Haddock is destroyed, JW is not far from over too. don’t have much to lose-I am old and already have a foot in the grave. I f were to attack your company first, it would mean that am jealous of you. However, here you are trying to challenge me, so who will judge me even if fight back?”
This old fella…
Jasper frowned. This situation was too difficult to handle.
But well, he did build his Haddock from scratch with his own two hands. How could someone like him be defeated easily?
For the longest time, the relationship between Jasper and Gale had been ambiguous; They were neither friends nor enemies.
They took advantage of each other but their defenses were always up. They were more like two competitors-two of the strongest competitors in the business field.
There were no absolute enemies nor friends when it came to business.
In some ways, Jasper had to thank Gale for his success. Gale had never treated Jasper as his enemy, and he stayed out of Jasper’s way when JW was still growing. Back then, it would have been so easy for Gale to put all of Jasper’s efforts to dust, but he did not.
“Hey Old Master Hurlbutt, I told you not t o get all worked up. See, aren’t you being too emotional right now?”
Jasper sighed again. “I didn’t mean for the loan to be free of charge. I know it’s a big amount, but have done my calculations. Although it’s a huge sum for Haddock, it will not actually have any major implications.
“I will return the full amount. Give me half a month. I will return 100 billion, which includes an interest of more than 20 %. How does that sound? All good?”
Gale wanted to say something, but Jasper continued, “Old Master Hurlbutt, no hurry, please let me finish. Of course, I
will not ask for an 80 billion loan from
you empty-handed, I will give you something as a deposit. But can we discuss it later when the other companies join? There are a few more parties who are interested. Shall we get together in a video call to discuss more about it?”
Gale knitted his brows and said, “You are only starting to ask for outside help now? Trading starts tomorrow. Do you have enough time?”
Jasper smiled. “Some things can only be done at the very last minute, else people might change their mind if they have time to rethink. My method is to discuss and make decisions a day before and get everything started the immediately next day. There will be no time to reconsider, and it will be too late to do anything if they regret it. See? That’s how to prevent change.”
“Sly child, it would be great if you used all your complicated thinking in the right place!”
Gale hung up after he ended his sentence.
However, he did not reject the proposal
and that they were halfway there.
Now it was time to talk to the other companies after getting a green light from Gale.
Actually, the rest were no outsiders, it was simply the other people in charge of the Big Four chambers of commerce. There was the Little Prince, Lord Alvarado, a high-level executive from each of the big four commercial banks, and Tony from SBS bank. Apart from them, there was also Adele, who was very keen to join.
Gale was the most difficult to deal with and that was why Jasper talked to him first.
He had to make sure that Gale would not d o anything to sabotage the meeting.
Now that this was settled, Jasper gave an order and the virtual meeting was arranged half an hour later.
Jasper also received a call from Zachary
within that half an hour.
Life at the Top Chapter 1750
Old Master Law had conveyed his message to Zachary and Zachary had simply called to let Jasper know to call him if he needed anything.
After this, Jasper roughly explained his plan to Zachary and sent him the meeting link for him to join the meeting.
All the people in charge were already in the meeting room. All of them were prepared and seated in front of the web camera when Jasper joined.
The big four commercial banks have stricter procedures for meetings. Their meetings were attended not only by someone from the top management, but also a group of people who were responsible for recording and writing down everything said in the meeting.
They made the conference look serious and formal, and it was comparable to some of the high-profile cross-industry conferences.
Jasper glanced at Gale, who was casually drinking his tea. “Everyone, tomorrow will be the day to decide the life or death o fJW. So here I am now, trying to gather all the capital to help my company at the very last minute.”
The little prince answered flatly in the video conference, “Money is not the problem, the problem is how much you need, how you are going to spend it, and how will you pay us back.”
Jasper nodded and said, “Fair enough, this should be everyone’s concern as well.
“So I am not going to beat around the
bush and I will list out the offers now.
“Other than Haddock, I expect 50 billion. from each of the Big Three chambers of commerce.
“Little Prince and Lord Alvarado, I sincerely hope that both of you will spare 5 o billion each.
“For the Big Four commercial banks, I hope to get a 50 billion loan from each of the banks.
“SBS Bank and I have another deal, so it will be counted separately.”
Jasper looked at the screen after he was done.
“How much is Haddock going to chip in?”
“80 billion.”
Gale answered himself.
Jasper was surprised.
He had not even told him about the mortgage. Does this mean that he has agreed?
No one knew what Gale was thinking.
However, the three people in charge of the other Big Three chambers of commerce were still silent. They seemed put off after hearing the amount.
The little prince laughed and asked, ” What about the Laws?”
“The Laws are all in.”
Everyone was stunned by Zachary’s answer.
For a family like the Laws, what does ‘all i n’ actually mean?
It meant that the Laws were risking
everything they had for Jasper.
The whole family. Everything!
One would only treat their blood-related children this way.
Everyone, including Tony, turned and looked at Jasper and Zachary with an odd gaze.
The little prince’s lips twitched and he asked, “What about SBS Bank?”
Tony cleared his throat and answered, The top talents of SBS Bank will be under Jasper’s command. Legal documents regarding that have already been signed.”
Initially, the high-level executives of the big four commercial banks thought that Jasper was just being unreasonable.
However, with this statement, they knew they had no choice but to chip in the 50 billion!