Chapter 26: A Transparent Attempt
Amanda handled everything quickly and to the best of her abilities. It was for no other reason than that Kieran had more schedules after this meeting.
During her presentation, she announced the empire's market cap had increased by twenty-five percent. Now, the market capital was 2.5 trillion dollars. That was a huge surprise to the shareholders, but they all knew who was behind this sudden rise in the empire's total market value.
Mrs Jackson.
Rumours had it that her family and the Hollands used to be partners. As a matter of fact, they started the empire together. But for some reason, Mrs Jackson withdrew her shares some years ago after working there for fifty years. By that, the empire's market capitalisation dropped to around 1.7 trillion dollars. But through the years, they got back on their feet and made it to two trillion today, because who else but the Hollands had such resilience?
But, it wasn't yet the same as when Mrs Jackson used to be there. She had almost equal shares as the CEO back then - Kieran's dad - and the time she withdrew them was when the empire first faced bankruptcy.
Now, she was back again. Buying some stocks and pushing the value to that level... Kieran felt as though he had finally met someone as wealthy as he was and for some reason, felt like she was really here for his throat.
But Amanda made something clear, pointing at the pie chart on the lit wall, "... In the industry, a sudden spike in market cap is a good thing... and also bad. If we have a look at it from a consumer's point of view, they would think the capital increasing suddenly means a significant rise in price. Assumptions, right? Absolutely, but assumptions are what we all live with and are dangerous. So, we won't want to lose more customers all in the name of pushing the empire forward."
A man wearing spectacles, a blue suit, and his beard kempt, asked from the right row,
"Are you now suggesting we scale down some shares?"
Amanda replied, "In sales terms, yes. But it's all shareholders' choices if they want to risk this when their shares and profits are in the way..."
A woman cut in, her tone strong, "I get what this is all about. You don't want Mrs Jackson owning that many shares, do you?"