I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property-Chapter 329 - 327 Hey, everyone’s here

The boardroom at Qualcomm Electronics was buzzing as shareholders gathered to review the work summary of the previous year.

Beyond the state-owned portion, the remaining shares of Qualcomm Electronics were split among 12 major shareholders, with the chairman holding 8.74% of the stock, making him the individual with the highest private ownership in the company.

The second-largest shareholder controlled 7.88% of the shares, granting these two shareholders the most influential voices at Qualcomm Electronics.

The chairman, named Mobai, was a quintessential American who made his fortune in the cable business and now had assets nearing ten billion.

The second largest shareholder was a Kaibong native named Ye Zhizetian, who graduated from Kyoto University in Kaibong. Since his university days, he had been a prominent figure and had single-handedly founded a chip design company.

Mobai and Ye Zhizetian met at an international conference, where Ye Zhizetian had given an industry-sharing presentation that resonated profoundly with Mobai’s own forward-thinking ideas!

Afterward, both sold their shares in their companies to form a partnership that created Qualcomm Electronics. With decades of development, the company had reached its current standing. Within the company, Mobai and Ye Zhizetian commanded immense respect, and even the state sometimes deferred to their opinions and judgments.

"This year, due to the gloabl pandemic, our production growth rate has slightly slowed down. However, compared to the same period last year, there is still a 5% increase, and this is the result of the hard work of all shareholders and our entire company!" said Mobai, smartly dressed, as he chaired the shareholder meeting.

"Chairman, after we gave up on a part of the Huaxia market, today’s orders might be reduced significantly!" a shareholder mentioned.

"Hmph!" Mobai snorted coldly. "Silicon Moonlight is truly ignorant. To pass up making money for the sake of clinging to sentimental values is absurd!"

Indeed, a significant portion of their business had previously been connected to Huaxia through Silicon Moonlight, and it could be said that a large majority of their orders came from the Huaxia people. The rupture in the partnership with Silicon Moonlight indeed had a huge impact on them.

"But it doesn’t matter. We’ve supported a new packaging and testing factory in our neighbor, the country of Indus. Their labor costs are lower than Huaxia’s, and although their demand is only half of Huaxia’s, our company is still working hard to explore new partnerships. This year’s turnover won’t see much change."

Mobai’s words were undoubtedly a powerful morale booster for the shareholders. What they were more concerned about was whether their own interests would be harmed. To whom their Crystal Chips were sold was of little concern to them.

"Chairman, I’ve heard some rumors from our employees recently, and I think it’s necessary to mention them!" another shareholder suddenly said.

"What rumors?"

"Lately, the companies in Silicon Valley Town, for some reason, have significantly raised their employees’ salaries, and this has had a considerable impact on the morale of our workers!"

"Hahaha," Mobai laughed dismissively, "Indeed, as our town’s industry chain grows larger and the welfare of workers improves, it’s not a problem to increase benefits."

"How about this? Starting from next month, we’ll adjust all worker wages universally, increasing them by 5%–8% based on their performance assessments."

Such an increment was entirely sustainable for Qualcomm Electronics.

"Chairman," the shareholder hesitated, "You know, I often deal with nearby businesses and have good relationships with some company bosses. I confirmed with them this morning that these rumors are not unfounded, and the extent of their wage increase might differ greatly from what you imagine."

"How so? How much can these companies, with such thin profits, possibly increase their employees’ wages?"

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"Mr. Mobai, the information I’ve received states that starting two days ago, over 500 companies in Silicon Valley Town raised their wages... by 100%, and it’s a blanket increase!"

"What?" Mobai gasped in shock. He had always focused on strategic corporate matters and never bothered with such trivialities, but hearing this number made him take a sharp breath.

A 100% wage increase for employees, covering everyone – could those companies still make a profit? Could their margins support such a massive salary hike?

"What’s going on?" Mobai asked.

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"They’ve signed NDAs and couldn’t disclose specifics to me, but they told me that a big player has come to Silicon Valley Town and has invested tens of billions of US Dollars in these over 500 companies!"

"Tens of billions of US Dollars?" This time, Mobai could not remain composed.

"The state of the company’s employees is very poor now, and their enthusiasm for work has reduced a great deal. Yesterday, there even were some operational mistakes in two workshops that have never occurred before. For our company, this is definitely not good news!"

"Mr. Mobai, why don’t we also increase the employees’ wages according to this ratio?" a shareholder suggested.

"Mr. Borsal, our headquarters has 8,000 employees, and the monthly payroll is over 50 million US dollars. If we double it, we’ll be adding an extra 50 million US dollars in costs each month, which comes to 6 billion US dollars a year. That means our shareholders’ dividends will be reduced by 6 billion US dollars. Are you willing to accept that?"

"This..."

For the dozens of shareholders present, a loss of 6 billion US dollars meant an average reduction of 50 million US dollars each; this could even be considered a colossal loss!

"Someone wants to disrupt the whole Silicon Valley town’s industry, even targeting us at Qualcomm Electronics!" After some thought, Yajizieta came up with an analysis.

"Who could it be?" Mobai asked, "An investment of tens of billions of US dollars, it must not be an ordinary person who can accomplish this!"

Suddenly, both of them thought of the same person. They looked at each other and finally exclaimed in unison.

"Zhang Menglong!"

Zhang Menglong’s appearance in America a few days ago had caused a lot of unease among many people, but no one knew what he was really here for.

However, Mobai and Yajizieta could sense something.

Employee strikes, fire safety issues, tax problems—behind all these events were the shadows of their Qualcomm Electronics, aiming to force Zhang Menglong to give up his so-called independent research and development and continue cooperating with their Western countries.

But Zhang Menglong’s approach was completely out of their realm of understanding.

Employee strikes? He simply fired all the striking employees!

Fire hazards? He directly shut down operations for repairs and even constructed a special fire brigade right in front of the company!

Tax evasion? He drove straight to the tax bureau on a live broadcast, cleared all the taxes in one go, and even voluntarily accepted a penalty five times the fine!

This kind of operation simply made them want to stand up and shout ’666’ in unison.

Originally, they thought Zhang Menglong would have some sort of counterattack, but as of a few days ago, besides handling these issues, he hadn’t made any responsive actions.

But now they realized that what was inevitable would still come!

Spending lavishly, investing in hundreds of companies for free and causing those companies to raise wages, thereby catalyzing unrest among Qualcomm Electronics’ employees—this was Zhang Menglong’s revenge!

"Chairman, we can’t just remain passive, can we?"

"Yes, if employee morale continues to decline, I fear problems will arise!"

"Thump, thump, thump!" At that moment, a knocking sound came from outside the conference room.

"Who is it!" Mobai gave a look to his assistant.

His assistant opened the door, but none of the shareholders seated recognized the person standing outside.

"Hey! Everyone’s here?" Borenas made himself at home as he walked over to the board of directors’ seats, casually pulled out an empty chair, "Carry on, don’t mind me, I’ll talk about my matter after you’re finished."