Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

"Because of the broken capital chain, production could not continue, and orders were rejected by the suppliers, we were caught in a vicious cycle on the verge of bankruptcy."

"And what caused this situation?" the brigadier general asked again.

"Because more than 70% of Rhine Life's shareholders announced their withdrawal of shares, a large amount of Rhine Life's funds were withdrawn," Director Henry replied.

The brigadier general nodded in satisfaction and said, "That's the crux of the matter."

He spread his hands: "As we all know, Rhine Life is a large private company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and London Stock Exchange. Someone withdrew their equity and sold their shares, causing Rhine Life's stock price to collapse and its cash flow to break down. But this also means that now is the best opportunity, isn't it?"

Suddenly realizing something, Director Henry looked at the soldier in front of him in shock:

"what do you mean?"

“We will provide the funds, and you, Henry, will go to the stock exchange to buy at the bottom. Rhine Life is currently in bankruptcy crisis, and its stock price has plummeted to worthless. We only need to spend a small amount of money to easily acquire a sufficient share from the 70% of shares that are now vacant. There will be no need for a shareholders’ meeting; we don’t care for that kind of democracy.”

The brigadier general wore a smug smile and declared, "In the future, there can only be one sun in the sky, and Rhine Lab can only have one sun!"

"So, Mr. Henry, what's your decision?"

"I...."

Henry was about to agree when his phone suddenly rang. He gave the brigadier general an apologetic look, took out his phone, and glanced at the name on the screen.

"Menes? Why is she calling me now?"

He murmured something under his breath. He glanced at the brigadier general. The brigadier general was in a good mood, about to accomplish something crucial to the future development of military technology and force, and casually asked:

"Which one?"

“Menes, Director General of Rhine Labs.”

"Go ahead and accept it. If she's trustworthy, tell her the good news. Rhine Lab will be very busy in the future." The brigadier waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care.

Henry then answered the phone.

“Hey, Menes....."

"Mr. Director, something terrible has happened!"

Menezes's surprised and anxious shouts came through the microphone.

Henry gave a wry smile. Of course he knew something big had happened. Rhine Life was on the verge of bankruptcy, and he had been fired by the board of directors for poor management. How could this not be a big deal?

But I didn't expect her to only find out now? Shouldn't this have been announced at the shareholders' meeting according to procedure? Or did the political shareholders think they had the majority, so they were too lazy to even go through the proper procedures and just voted internally and then dissolved the company by raising their hands?

That's really breaking the rules!

Fortunately, Rhine Life is about to be saved. Menes is a trustworthy person and a new shareholder of Rhine Life, so this news can be told to her.

Composing himself, Henry replied in a calm tone, as if even a mountain collapsing before him:

"What's the rush? What happened? Is it that Rhine Life's cash flow has dried up, leading to the company's impending bankruptcy? Or is it that I was fired, causing chaos at the top? Or is it that the technology expo can't be held and no one is there to put out the fire?"

“Uh…” Menes on the other end of the microphone choked for a moment, thought for a while, and replied, “Everything you said is true.”

Henry: "......"

Damn it, why is everything in Colombia always so bad?!

Henry was embarrassed for a couple of seconds by his bad luck, but thankfully, he had some good news that could solve everything.

"Listen to me, Miss, don't panic. I've already thought of a solution."

"Oh, are you already prepared to reject the acquisition?"

"Of course, there's no problem I can't solve... Wait, what did you say?"

Henry's squinting eyes snapped open, his mind went blank, and he shouted,

"Repeat what you said? What acquisition?"

Acquisition?

Upon hearing this word, the brigadier general across the table couldn't hold back any longer. He stood up, snatched Henry's phone, and turned it on speakerphone.

On the other end of the phone, Menezes sounded somewhat helpless:

"Just now, someone claiming to be an employee of the New York Stock Exchange arrived at the company and announced that a Victorian company called 'Victoria General Medical' has acquired 70% of Rhine Life's shares on both the Londinium Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, initiating the acquisition process..."

Victoria? Henry was stunned. Rhine Life hadn't done any business with Victoria yet, and they hadn't even established relationships with those financial giants in Victoria. How could a Victoria company suddenly appear and acquire Rhine Life at this critical juncture?

The brigadier was also bewildered. How did this get involved with Victoria? How did those old nobles suddenly get involved in this kind of business conspiracy?

But the observant Henry immediately noticed the room for maneuver:

"Wait, you mean they only bought 70%, right? According to Colombian law, only 80% or more of the shares can be subject to a compulsory takeover. 70% can only be a mutually agreed-upon controlling stake. An acquisition cannot be made without mutual approval and a shareholders' meeting. You should refuse their request for now..."

"I am only a commander-in-chief; I don't have that authority."

Menes interrupted in a low voice.

Henry touched his face. Right, right, right. The people in charge of Rhine Life now are probably those people in the political arena. They probably won't approve of the acquisition. They're not stupid. How could they let an outsider get away with it?

"The board of directors has all left."

The brigadier looked up at the sky speechlessly. Damn it, those people in the political arena didn't even know to leave a backup plan. They just retreated like that?

Oh, it seems the military also exploited this loophole. If the political establishment had a backup plan, the military wouldn't have been able to take advantage of Rhine Lab through this loophole.

That's fine.

Director Henry quickly asked:

"So, who are the people at the shareholders' meeting who haven't withdrawn their shares yet? Let him help us veto that!"

The young lady was holding the shareholder list she had just received and hadn't even had a chance to warm it up yet. She flipped through the pages of those who had marked their withdrawal of shares, and finally her gaze fell on a blonde figure.

"It's Mr. Wayne. He still holds 15 percent of the shares, making him the largest shareholder among those who haven't withdrawn their shares at the current shareholders' meeting."

“Then ask him to help us reject Victoria’s acquisition. Rhine Life will reward us handsomely if it works out!” Henry said quickly.

Chapter 47 This is all I should do

Columbia, New York State, New York Financial Exchange.

The street where the financial exchange is located has a very special name, a name that makes Wayne start checking whether there are enough lampposts on the street just by hearing it—Wall Street.

However, the Wall Street here is many times weaker than the Wall Street on Earth in Wayne's previous life. Not only is it not as prosperous as the legends, where billboards falling down on the streets kill nine out of ten people who are bankers and the other one is a lawyer, but it is also much smaller in scale.

This is probably because Victoria still holds economic hegemony.

It must be said that the social realities of Terra are incredibly advantageous for a country like Victoria. The fact that it is a country composed of fragmented, mobile cities, and that the infected people, who replace the exploited lower classes in the social sewers, make Victoria as stable as a rock.

And world wars like the two that destroyed the British Empire are unlikely to break out on Terra. After all, the monarchs of nations aren't... well, not all fools. They don't believe that a world war, no matter what, will weaken a nation's military strength, and that weakened military strength will give the exploited infected an opportunity to revolt. To avoid such a situation that could destabilize the entire world order, a large-scale world war is almost impossible to break out.

In other words, unless Victoria does something stupid, it's almost impossible for her to see the sunset.

Especially after the leaders were changed to Wayne, a progressive, and Vina, who was becoming progressive.

The New York Stock Exchange is much smaller than Lontinim, but that doesn't stop Wayne from doing what he wants here; after all, though small, it has everything he needs.

After learning about the changes at Rhine Labs from Senator Chianti, Wayne and Kelsey immediately took their private aircraft to New York State, intending to work with Lentinium to buy up all of Rhine Labs' shares before anyone else.

He had initially worried about whether the money would be enough, because Rhine Life was still a large company; even a weakened giant is bigger than a horse. It would be awkward if he didn't have enough funds. After all, according to regulations, the acquisition and transfer of shares on each financial exchange could only reach a maximum of 40%, precisely to prevent one person from buying 50% of the shares and achieving absolute control. According to the assigned tasks, Wayne would purchase 30% on the New York Stock Exchange under the name of Victoria General Medical, while Lentinium would purchase the remaining 40%.

But clearly, his vision was too narrow. Those in Colombian politics obviously wanted to prevent Rhine Life from securing loans from bankers by guaranteeing the remaining 30% of its shares, so they deliberately suppressed Rhine Life's stock price. Now, Rhine Life's stock, which had been soaring just days before, has plummeted to rock bottom.

In short, it can be bought.

Satisfied, Wayne emerged from the exchange's back office and gave an OK sign to Kal'tsit, who was keeping watch at the front desk to prevent the politicians from losing their temper and launching a sneak attack.

"nailed it?"

"Kal'tsit asked."

“Of course.” Wayne patted his pocket. Although he was still nominally a minority shareholder with only 15% of the shares, he was actually the absolute controlling shareholder of Rhine Life with 85% of the shares (70% purchased plus his own 15%).

There can only be one sun in the sky, and Rhine Lab can only have one sun. Emperor ko no Wayne!

Kal'tsit's lips also curved into a slight smile, clearly indicating her happiness.

Compared to the blows dealt to him by Loken Tank Laboratory and his student Loken Williams, Rhine Lab's act of selling Oripathy inhibitors cheaply (which was indeed cheap by product quality standards) was clearly more likely to win her favor.

She wasn't a cold-blooded person; she simply recognized reality and thus scoffed at unrealistic ideas. But she paid the highest respect to every idealist who earnestly pursued their great ideals.

Rhine Life may not reach the level of selflessness that Theresa did, but they, a group of young people with dreams, have already done their best at their age and in their position.

Such a company and a group of scientists with dreams should not have fallen into the clutches of the Colombian Federal Congress. Nothing is more heartbreaking than watching dreams shattered, thrown to the ground, trampled into the dust, and having to humbly accept that this is reality. Rather than watching them head down the path of idealism, it would be better to find them a new master. In Victoria, under Wayne's leadership, perhaps idealists can still find a place.

Theresa probably thought the same way, which is why she was willing to stay by Wayne's side.

Kal'tsit thought silently, when suddenly a question popped into her mind.

—And what about me? Why should I...?

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Kal'tsit shook her head abruptly, banishing the bizarre and rebellious thoughts from her mind. She looked up and found Wayne staring at her. A blush crept across her face.

"What are you?"

"Look at you..."

Wien's mind flashed back to the grip strength test he almost got hit with at Hamer's house. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to utter the word "what" and instead said:

"Look at the red-faced cat."

"I blushed?" Kal'tsit was surprised and looked a little nervous.

Wayne glanced at her and nodded:

"Now that you're famous, why?"

Kal'tsit glared at him:

"I'm happy."

Why are you happy?

"Of course it's because you completed Theresa's mission. What else could you be happy about? What are you thinking?"

Wayne shrugged noncommittally. Who knows why the old lynx suddenly got angry, his face flushed red. He was probably going through menopause.

But this feeling is really good. Wayne revels in the looks of disbelief from those around him, finding a strange sense of satisfaction in being the only one sober in a world of fools. Is buying Rhine Life Insurance at this time really a case of being a rich fool?

It's too small; it limits your perspective!