After finishing speaking, there was another round of deafening applause, and then everyone stood up and congratulated Xiao Qiang.
This left many ordinary employees outside the meeting room looking at each other, wondering what these leaders were so excited about.
Xiao Qiang also stood up to thank everyone one by one, feeling a bit uneasy. She wasn’t sure if Gu Bai’s appointment was a good or bad thing for her. Speaking of benefits, she had now become the highest level in the newly split subsidiary, and Gu Bai finally granted her the independent investment rights she had always dreamed of. But on the downside...
With the company’s corporatization, was her position being transferred out of the head office, effectively being marginalized?
Xiao Qiang had witnessed the company’s growth step by step. Following this path, Black Swan Group had a hopeful future of becoming a billion or even trillion-yuan capital giant.
Watching Xiao Qiang’s expression, Gu Bai had already guessed her thoughts and smiled faintly.
Because the matter to be announced next would give her a satisfactory answer.
"Next is the second item of the meeting.
I hereby announce my resignation from the position of General Manager of the company. Starting today, the position of General Manager of Black Swan Capital will be taken over by the current Director of the Investment Management Department, Mr. Shao."
Before Gu Bai could finish his sentence, Mr. Shao hurriedly said, "President Gu, this is inappropriate!"
Gu Bai gently waved his hand, signaling him to wait before speaking, and continued to announce, "The Black Swan Group is establishing a Board of Directors, currently with a temporary quota of five directors. The directors will be myself, General Manager Mr. Shao, General Manager of Black Swan Film and Television, General Manager of Black Swan Artist Agency Xiao Qiang, and Financial Director Yi Fangqin. The other director will be the Director of the Chairman’s Office.
As for the position of Chairman, it will be elected internally at the next board meeting."
If corporatization seemed normal to everyone, establishing a Board of Directors was quite unusual.
The entire company was owned by Gu Bai alone, was there really a need to establish a board?
"The main reason for establishing a board of directors is that I plan to initiate an equity incentive plan. I will allocate 5% of the group’s shares for equity incentives, and a complete plan will be provided by the board afterward."
Once Gu Bai finished speaking, all the executives began to discuss among themselves.
They understood that the current value of the Black Swan Group exceeded 10 billion, so 5% equity was a substantial 500 million. Not to mention, the company would continue to develop afterwards, representing very tangible benefits.
The trip to Kyoto made Gu Bai realize that the disadvantages of monopolizing were greater than the benefits.
If you don’t distribute some benefits, who is willing to sincerely work for you?
Besides, although 5% of the shares were given, it wasn’t stated that they would be distributed now. When the time came for the company to go public, they just needed to pay to claim them. Gu Bai currently had no plans for listing; who wouldn’t know how to draw a big picture?
"Alright, I’ve said all I needed to. You can discuss these matters in private. Next, let’s have each department report on their work status."
After Gu Bai spoke, the discussions gradually ceased.
Mr. Shao then stood up.
"Currently, all projects participated in by the Investment Management Department are proceeding steadily, and negotiations with Panda TV have reached a critical stage. It is expected that the investment in Panda TV will commence shortly."
For the next hour and a half, it was all departmental reports, and Gu Bai listened attentively to their briefings.
If you don’t count carefully, you wouldn’t know, but upon calculating, he realized he had spent so much money.
The acquisition of Wajijiwa Entertainment cost a total of 235 million.
Black Swan Entertainment cost 350 million.
The collaboration on theater chains with Yao Lai Group incurred an expenditure of 2.5 billion.
The film investment department alone spent 400 million on the "Fuyao" project, with several more large-scale film productions collectively costing 200 million.
Furthermore, a nightclub project with a 400 million investment is currently in preparation.
That is to say, from the 10 billion funding he injected, apart from the 1 billion spent on the charitable foundation, nearly half had already been used up.
However, there were also benefits. Black Swan Group had formally expanded its operations and entered a period of rapid development.
After all internal departments had finished their reports, a man in his thirties stood up.
"President Gu, I am Zhuang Kexin, in charge of the charity fund."
Gu Bai glanced at him and nodded slightly.
This Zhuang Kexin was personally approved by him to join the company. As the person in charge of the charity fund project, the entire 1 billion funding was under his management. If it weren’t someone he trusted, Gu Bai would not feel secure handing over the charity fund to him.
"I recall that a month ago, you were instructed to conduct a field investigation in Xuyong County, right? And you were given a rigid target to allocate the 50 million fund to those in need within a month. Don’t just make a big splash with little effect; where is your sound? I granted you such significant authority, and this is how you repay me?"
The charity fund project had been implemented for almost a month, yet his "Redemption of the Kidney Eater" mission showed no signs of progress, which was boiling inside him for some time.
Hearing the evidently angry tone in Gu Bai’s voice, the entire meeting room instantly fell silent.
Zhuang Kexin also recognized the anger in Gu Bai’s voice, but as the project manager, he couldn’t react like an ostrich as others might. He had to brace himself and respond, "President Gu, our entire foundation has been strictly following your instructions. We identified a total of 21 schools in need of donations in Xuyong County and surrounding areas during the investigation..."
"So what answer did you provide me? Just finding those in need of donations? What have you specifically implemented?"
"Initially, I considered that our foundation didn’t have much fame yet, so I planned to collaborate with local charitable organizations to facilitate better charitable donations. However..."
"After collaborating with the local charitable organization, various issues emerged, and since this fund was reported to the local government, we couldn’t use it privately, leading to a delay in the donation project."
Gu Bai coldly laughed and clapped his hands.
"Remarkable! Truly remarkable! A charity fund with a scale of one billion got stalled by 50 million in a local county-level charitable organization. What else can you, Zhuang Kexin, do? Did you ruin your brain during your previous charity work?"
Zhuang Kexin’s face turned slightly red, and he dared not speak.
Gu Bai picked up the file before him and threw it at him.
"Answer me, yes or no!"
"I’m sorry, President Gu!"
Gu Bai stood up with a cold face: "Your apologies are not due to me; they’re owed to those who require aid! Initially, I expected that since school had not long started back then, you could immediately assist those children. Is this the answer you give me?
From now on, you are dismissed, and I will take full responsibility over the charity foundation. Regarding the 50 million charitable funds stuck, if everything is alright, that’s fine, but if even a penny is missing, you should prepare for jail."
Upon hearing Gu Bai’s words, Zhuang Kexin genuinely panicked.
He expected Gu Bai to be angry but didn’t anticipate such a massive outburst.
Although he could, with a clear conscience, say he hadn’t embezzled a penny, he couldn’t guarantee that the Xuyong County charitable organization wasn’t corrupt. If anything were genuinely found amiss, he wouldn’t necessarily face imprisonment, but his career would be utterly ruined.
"Enough, there’s no need for further discussion. Write a report detailing everything you did in Xuyong County this time and submit it to the Legal Department."
With that, Gu Bai turned and left directly.
Back in the General Manager’s office, Gu Bai quietly sat in his chair, lighting a cigarette.
One cannot deny that even engaging in purely charitable acts is quite challenging. One might ensure they stay untainted by societal norms, yet they cannot guarantee the same for others.
However, for the sake of his Redemption of the Kidney Eater. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
And for the wishes of the old man Qian Gen Sheng.
The charity project must continue.
Faced with so many main tasks pending completion, Gu Bai decided to choose the simplest task to be completed first.