Musk was so angry he laughed. He was still talking business. If he hadn't listened to Lin Chen's advice and adopted a low-price strategy, adjusting Tesla's price from $80,000 to the current $40,000, Tesla would have gone bankrupt by now.
Thinking about this, he felt that Lin Chen must have been coerced into signing the equity agency agreement.
Oh, this evil capitalist country!
"Hansford, do you know what a price increase means?"
"The price increase means that half of the orders Tesla is currently receiving will have to be refunded. How big of a loss is that?"
Hansford gave a dismissive smile.
"As far as I know, Tesla only has one new production line right now, which is simply not enough to produce so many orders. In the end, many customers will still request refunds because they can't wait that long, right?"
"Getting a refund because you can't get a car and getting a refund because of a price increase are two different things, okay?"
"But the result is the same, isn't it? Moreover, the labor costs for car companies are getting higher and higher, and the longer the production cycle, the less profit the cars produced later will make. This is also irresponsible to us shareholders."
Actually, Hans Ford was also puzzled by this. He had noticed recently that the wages of Tesla's car manufacturing workers had increased significantly. It wasn't just Tesla that had this labor cost issue; Ford was experiencing the same problem.
"No, I will not agree to a price increase under any circumstances. It would be sacrificing Tesla's brand reputation!"
"In that case, Musk, although you are the largest shareholder, you only own 20% of the shares. Now let's start the vote. Those who agree to lower the price, please raise your hands."
Hansford was the first to raise his hand.
Immediately afterwards, representatives from Vanguard and BlackRock also raised their hands.
Musk frowned. Hansford, representing Lin Chen, owned eight percent of the shares, while Pioneer and BlackRock each owned seven percent.
The three parties together already hold 22% of the shares, exceeding the 20% they themselves control.
A little while later, State Street, T. Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Capital Group also raised their hands.
At this point, the total shares held by shareholders who raised their hands in agreement exceeded 51%.
This means that the proposal regarding model Y has been approved!
Musk shook his head helplessly, knowing that Hansford must have already reached an agreement with these shareholders in private.
As for what price was paid, he didn't know; it was nothing more than an exchange of interests between some capital entities.
Just when he thought things had gotten bad enough, Hansford spoke up again.
"Here is my second proposal."
Musk looked up at Hansford on the screen.
Hansford seemed to sense Musk's gaze through the screen as he smiled and said.
"Regarding the removal of Musk as CEO of Tesla, I believe he is no longer able to guarantee the interests of us shareholders and is no longer suitable to lead Tesla's development."
What followed was another round of voting.
Unsurprisingly, the proposal was passed again.
Musk stared at the screen, his eyes wide with rage. His anger clouded his judgment, and he smashed the computer monitor in front of him with a single punch.
Unfortunately, this doesn't change anything. From today onwards, Tesla's future development is no longer up to him; he's officially out of the game!
Meanwhile, Lin Chen was writing articles for some bloggers who advocated for the interests of workers.
Cars are getting more and more expensive! And bread is getting more and more expensive too!
But only our car manufacturing workers' wages have remained unchanged!
Is this fair?
Capitalists are exploiting our value, yet they only give us a bite to eat. How is this any different from the slave owners of a hundred years ago?
Therefore! We must fight for ourselves! We must struggle for ourselves!
If one person speaks too softly, we gather together!
If ten people aren't enough, then a hundred! If a hundred aren't enough, then ten thousand!
The simple and easy-to-understand language resonated deeply with the car manufacturing workers.
This is not the first time Lin Chen has written articles for these bloggers who protect the interests of workers.
Of course, along with the articles, these bloggers also received a large sum of money.
Whether these bloggers are genuinely speaking out for the workers or just creating a persona to make money, it doesn't matter to him. He just wants these American car manufacturing workers to unite and demand a wage increase!
Actually, this kind of thing is very common in all walks of life in America. Who would think that their salary is high?
It's just because my voice is too small and my strength is too weak that I keep holding back, working like a beast of burden every day, working overtime until midnight, and still having to catch the last subway.
The money you earn in a month of hard work might not even be enough to buy the bottle of red wine your boss opened last night.
Therefore, protests often break out in various industries. When the government sees this, in order to quell the unrest, it usually lets the major capitalists squeeze out a little money from their own pockets and distribute it to these workers, and that's how the matter ends.
Just then, Lin Chen's phone rang, and a text message came in.
There are only four characters on it.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you!"
Looking at the sender, Lin Chen discovered it was Hansford.
"Hey, you're pretty efficient."
He dialed Hansford's number.
"Mr. Ford, congratulations on eliminating a formidable rival."
"Haha, thank you too."
"When will we sign the transfer and acquisition agreement for this 8%?"
"Oh, no, no, Mr. Lin Chen, when did I say I wanted to acquire Tesla? I'm just acting as an agent."
"Mr. Ford, what do you mean by this?"
"It means exactly what it says. Why would I acquire this company that's about to go bankrupt? Hahaha. Besides, Mr. Lin Chen, I even helped you secure the CEO position at Tesla. You should thank me."
"Mr. Ford, are you planning to renege on your debt?"
"Mr. Lin Chen, you are mistaken. We did not reach a deal, so how can you talk about defaulting on a debt? Hahahaha."
After saying that, Hansford hung up the phone.
This was the second idea that Ford's three old board members came up with: to get something for free!
Lin Chen stared blankly at the phone that had been hung up.
He was initially a little angry, but then, inexplicably, he became the CEO of Tesla.
Three days later, Tesla released a new announcement.
For cost accounting reasons, the price of Model Y will be increased by 10%, from $40,000 to $44,000.
The announcement immediately caused an uproar.
"Wow, Tesla is disgusting, what a jerk they are."
"I'm so angry! I paid a deposit before, and now they're suddenly telling me the price is going up."
"Yes, they have no sense of contractual responsibility at all. I'm backing out."
"I knew Tesla was ripping people off before, but I thought it was just a rumor. Now I know it's true."
And those car bloggers also smelled the scent of traffic.
They started furiously criticizing Tesla.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
