Chapter 290 : The Emperor's Throne
Chapter 290: The Emperor's Throne
Someone once said,
"The Stingray Group is like a work of art made of money."
And indeed, when one looked at the spiderweb-like circular shareholding structure painstakingly woven together by economic experts from every field... the eight publicly listed subsidiaries, the ninety-six unlisted subsidiaries, and the 55,241 links connecting each of them... admiration was inevitable.
'Stingray Chromatics,' responsible for holograms and advanced visual technology development.
'Stingray Venture Capital,' which invested in innovative startups and venture companies in future technologies.
'Stingray Urbantech,' focused on smart city technology, urban infrastructure innovation, and the construction of external colony cities.
'Stingray Robotics,' the leader in military robots and autonomous combat systems.
'Stingray Electronics,' which produced a wide range of consumer electronics such as televisions, washing machines, electronic pads, and refrigerators.
'Stingray Entertainment,' which provided people with various forms of entertainment through film, art, performances, broadcasting, fashion, and more.
'Stingray Newlife Implant,' responsible for civilian Cyberware, rehabilitation equipment, and various life-care services.
And then there was the subsidiary often referred to simply as 'Headquarters.'
The company that played the most critical role in the Stingray Group's circular shareholding structure.
The company boasting the largest market capitalization within the entire group.
The company responsible for military technology and security.
In other words...
The place where the "Emperor's Throne" stood.
'Stingray Mysteric Technomodules.'
Chairman Drake Stingray reigned as the Emperor while controlling only approximately 2.5% of the entire group's shares by securing a 19% stake in Mysteric Technomodules along with shares in other subsidiaries.
“So in other words, if someone can surpass Father's 19% stake in Technomodules, they can become the Emperor.”
“Correct. Of course, that alone would not be enough, but it would certainly become a significant threat.”
Kalia's financial advisor explained.
“President Kalia currently inherited an 8% stake together with Stingray Entertainment. You have also secured another 9% by persuading the Board of Directors and minority shareholders. And...”
“Seventeen percent so far. The remaining shares are being secured through outside investors and personal funds, correct?”
“Yes. Through intermediaries, we managed to secretly purchase roughly another 3% at the original price. We did suffer some losses when the stock price surged after the news reports, but I'd say we've assembled a sufficiently strong hand.”
Chairman Stingray's 19%.
Kalia's 20%.
Although Kalia had already surpassed him in terms of shares held, the worrying part was that her 20% represented the absolute limit of everything she could possibly gather.
If the Chairman secured additional resources through outside investors or strategic partners, or leveraged nearly two centuries' worth of personal connections and other means to mount a defense, even a mere 1% advantage could easily be overturned.
Thus, for Kalia, this was less of a "rebellion" to seize the Emperor's throne...
And closer to a "demonstration."
'Father, haven't I already demonstrated enough ability and proven my qualifications?
I'm far more suitable to become the Next Chairman than my older brother, who has never proven anything.
Please acknowledge me.
This is what I can accomplish when I'm allowed to show my abilities!'
That was essentially what she wanted to say.
However, despite all these preparations...
The existence of her older brother, Aaron Stingray, remained the greatest variable.
The acquisition of additional subsidiaries, intended to either pose a genuine threat to Chairman Stingray or elevate Kalia into an equal negotiating position, was still ongoing.
Although preparations had taken several months, the scale of the operation was enormous enough to inevitably ripple through the market.
They had tried to move as secretly as possible, but the prices of subsidiary stocks had risen regardless, and Kalia's funds were slowly beginning to run dry.
Reaching the minimum target of 20% ownership was now virtually guaranteed.
Still, if possible, she wanted at least another 2%, and ideally as much as 5%.
Even recently, she had continued meeting with numerous banks and presidents of other corporations.
Kalia had watched Aaron closely, wondering whether he might launch some sort of counterattack.
Yet for several months...
He had shown no reaction whatsoever.
Even after assigning people to monitor his every move, all they found was that he continued living his daily life exactly as before.
That only made her more anxious, wondering if he was secretly plotting something.
“Phew... so, what about my brother?”
“Chairman Aaron Stingray still hasn't made any notable moves. We've repeatedly recalculated the shares he currently holds.”
“He possesses only 14%.”
Fourteen percent in total.
Far below Kalia's 20%.
One might say it was merely a 6% gap...
But when that difference amounted to hundreds of billions of Credits, it was by no means an easy one to overcome.
Her financial advisor continued explaining while wiping cold sweat from his brow.
“Of course, if the Chairman joins forces with Chairman Aaron and exercises their voting power together during the shareholders' vote, it could become somewhat troublesome. In preparation for such a possibility...”
“No.”
“You don't have to worry about that scenario.”
“It will never happen.”
Kalia answered firmly.
Chairman Stingray was absolutely not that kind of person.
He enjoyed making his own children fight each other.
Someone like him would never reach out to his eldest son simply to preserve his own position.
“Father doesn't even consider the current situation a crisis. If he truly did, he would have stopped me from acquiring subsidiaries in the first place. He absolutely has the ability to do so.”
“The fact that he didn't means only one thing.”
“'Do as much as you can.'”
“But President Kalia...”
“No.”
“Don't argue.”
“I'm absolutely certain about this.”
“Father will remain nothing more than a judge between my brother and me.”
“He'll simply watch from the sidelines.”
“And once one side's victory becomes certain, he'll raise that person's hand.”
“So instead of worrying about that, focus on figuring out how to secure even a little more equity and voting rights before the deadline.”
“...Understood.”
“There is one more matter I'd like to report.”
“Go ahead.”
“It concerns the ownership rights of Chairman Aaron Stingray's modules.”
“......?”
The sudden change in topic made Kalia tilt her head.
“Why bring that up now?”
“After a thorough investigation, we discovered that the ownership rights to the modules currently possessed by Chairman Aaron Stingray did not originally belong entirely to him.”
“Past tense?”
“Yes.”
“Last year, immediately after Chairman Aaron awoke from his hospital bed, we found records showing that he emptied his personal accounts to purchase full ownership rights to all of his modules.”
“And why are you bringing up something that happened a year ago only now?”
“You found out far too late.”
“My apologies, President.”
“Information regarding Chairman Aaron Stingray within Mysteric Technomodules is classified at the highest level.”
“Simply uncovering this much was extremely difficult.”
“You clearly have a point to make.”
“Stop dragging it out and get to the point.”
“This is an opportunity.”
Kalia frowned.
She couldn't understand what he was trying to say.
“An opportunity?”
“In other words...”
“The relationship between Stingray Mysteric Technomodules and Aaron Stingray had already been completely severed.”
“Ah...!”
Only then did Kalia understand.
The fact that Aaron had obtained ownership of his modules was certainly bad news.
To put it simply...
It was like someone who had always rented a tank finally purchasing it outright.
One of Kalia's original plans had been to acquire Technomodules and thereby strip Aaron of ownership over his modules.
Now she'd learned...
That plan had been impossible from the very beginning.
However...
Separately from that...
Aaron Stingray's connection with Technomodules had been severed early last year.
In other words...
Aaron was no longer Stingray's "Ultimate Weapon."
“Then why was it hidden until now?”
“Chairman Aaron himself possesses enormous symbolic value through his military strength alone.”
“Simply revealing that his module lease agreement had ended would severely damage the company's image.”
“So they deliberately concealed it.”
“And that's also why we only discovered it now?”
“Yes.”
The financial advisor nodded.
“If we release this information at the right timing, we should be able to temporarily drive down the stock price.”
“And then we'll be able to secure additional shares.”
It was a strategy of deliberately damaging a company's image to reduce its value before buying large quantities of its stock.
For Kalia, who wanted to secure even the slightest additional percentage of shares, it was an excellent opportunity.
'You didn't anticipate this, did you, Brother?'
It had probably been Aaron's own struggle to free himself from Headquarters' influence.
Yet ironically...
That very act had become a move benefiting Kalia instead.
Of course, it certainly wasn't because he was foolish.
After all...
Who could possibly predict what would happen an entire year later?
“So if we use this strategy, how much more can we secure?”
“According to our simulations, anywhere between 3% and 7%.”
“It's admittedly a fairly risky attempt, but...”
“That's fine.”
“Begin preparations immediately and execute it at the appropriate timing—”
“No.”
“Wait.”
Kalia stopped speaking midway.
“No.”
“Let's postpone this plan for the time being.”
“W-Why?”
“Father and my brother remaining this quiet makes me uneasy.”
“I don't want to confront them head-on.”
What she feared most was Aaron Stingray ignoring laws, rules, and everything else before simply declaring war.
Even a cornered rat would bite a cat.
So what would that beautiful monster do if cornered?
Of course...
Kalia had something she trusted.
The existence of 'that person,' whom she'd learned about while winning over Headquarters' Board of Directors.
With that power...
They could surely stand against not only Aaron Stingray, but even Chairman Stingray himself.
Even so...
Kalia was not the type to rely upon someone she had never personally met.
Even if 'that person' truly helped her...
If Aaron ever decided to take revenge on her...
She would be as good as dead.
She wanted to find a peaceful solution if at all possible.
“For now...”
“I'll try the peaceful approach.”
“What exactly do you intend to do?”
“Before bringing everything to a close...”
“I should face my brother properly.”
“For now, simply prepare everything.”
“If negotiations with my brother collapse...”
“Then we'll proceed.”
“If that is your decision, President, we shall prepare accordingly.”
The financial advisor lowered his head in acknowledgment.
Kalia immediately contacted her secretary and issued an order.
“Arrange a meeting with my brother.”