Chapter 138: A Visit

Simon Westeros's attempt to join the Motorola board of directors not only left the representative from Westeros Corporation hanging in Chicago for three days but also received a "gift" from Motorola's chairman on Christmas—a highly discussed topic over the holiday season.

Many found it hard to accept that a young upstart who had suddenly become wealthy was rampaging through the capital market, attempting to meddle in their established powers.

Amidst the silence from Westeros Corporation over the Christmas holiday, Wall Street, North American media, and the tech companies in which Westeros held shares speculated on how Simon Westeros would respond.

December 28, Monday.

As the holiday ended and the workweek resumed, Westeros Corporation's response was straightforward and harsh.

Early in the morning, on the same page of The New York Times where Motorola's chairman Robert Golvin had made his statement the previous week, there appeared a sharp retort from Westeros Corporation.

"Westeros Corporation regrets the October stock market crash, but the company has always operated within the bounds of commercial norms to secure its rightful profits, never engaging in any market manipulation. Moreover, by investing heavily after the crash, Westeros Corporation supported the entire tech sector, benefiting numerous emerging tech companies."

"We cannot accept the accusations from Motorola's chairman, Robert Golvin."

"Westeros Corporation's attempts to join the boards of its investee companies are meant to safeguard its interests as a major shareholder and to offer appropriate support and advice for these companies' growth."

"To demonstrate that Westeros Corporation has no speculative intentions, we will continue to increase our shareholdings in the 25 companies other than Motorola to over 5%, welcoming public scrutiny."

"Westeros Corporation publicly commits that for companies accepting our board membership, we will not reduce our holdings for the next three years. For those that do not, except for Motorola, Westeros will hold its shares for at least one more year."

"Lastly."

"As a response to Motorola's deliberate negligence towards its shareholder representatives and inappropriate public remarks, Westeros Corporation will divest all its shares in Motorola."

Following the publication of this statement, the media and Wall Street quickly interpreted its core message: Simon Westeros intended to sell shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Motorola while continuing to invest in other tech stocks.

This was also Simon's intent in releasing the statement early.

As a major investor capable of influencing the entire tech sector, if Westeros Corporation began to sell off large amounts of Motorola shares without warning, it could cause panic, potentially impacting the other tech companies Westeros held, triggering a chain reaction.

Now.

By stating his intentions to target only Motorola and continue to increase investments in other tech stocks, and maintaining long-term holdings, Westeros Corporation's sale of Motorola shares wouldn't cause market panic.

Immediately afterward.

As Wall Street speculated on Simon's divestiture strategy, at 9:30 AM when the New York Stock Exchange opened, a sell order of 1 million Motorola shares hit the market, a blatant dump that initially caused the entire market graph to drop.

It wasn't until the news fully spread that investors, initially fearing another crash, steadied.

Under the lead of Westeros Corporation, the market began to offload Motorola shares en masse. By the 4 PM close, Motorola's stock price had plummeted from Thursday's close of $75.50 to $62, a fall of 17.9%.

In just six and a half hours, Motorola's market value had evaporated by $1.28 billion.

Simultaneously.

By the time the evening newspapers were distributed, they reported that Westeros Corporation had registered additional shares with the SEC for the other 25 companies.

Excluding Motorola, the shares held by Westeros Corporation in these companies were worth approximately $1.3 billion. To meet the 5% reporting threshold, Westeros only needed to invest less than $13 million.

Moreover.

Prior to today, Westeros Corporation had only confirmed board seats with five companies. By the afternoon close, this number had increased to 11, with the management of the remaining companies also starting to make conciliatory calls.

Faced with a loss of over $1.2 billion in market value, Motorola naturally couldn't stay calm.

After the morning's declaration in The New York Times, Motorola had appeared quite assertive, but by noon, their attitude had completely softened. Subsequent attempts to contact them about the matter were blocked with the excuse that Simon was in meetings.

Simon was indeed in a meeting.

After weekend consultations, James Rebelde officially joined Westeros Corporation as president, having previously been the company's legal advisor.

On Monday morning, Simon was discussing the acquisition of New World Entertainment with James Rebelde and the team from Rebelde Law Firm, which would now be led by Jennifer's mother, Carol Rebelde.

In a building on 51st Street in Midtown.

The meeting lasted until 5 PM. As Simon and others were leaving the headquarters of Rebelde Law Firm, they unexpectedly ran into an ir

ate elderly man accompanied by several associates. The man, in his sixties, approached Simon with a clear increase in his anger upon seeing him.

The man was none other than Motorola's current chairman, Robert Golvin.

Facing relentless selling by Westeros Corporation, Golvin had no choice but to fly from Miami, Florida, to New York after being unable to reach Simon by phone.

Denied a meeting with Simon, he had to personally come to confront him.

Without any pleasantries, Robert Golvin, tempering his anger slightly, addressed Simon directly: "Stop selling the shares, I'll allow your representative on the board."

Simon simply shook his head and responded, "Mr. Golvin, you overestimate the appeal of a seat on Motorola's board to me. Moreover, having publicly stated my intention to divest from this company, I won't be as fickle as some."

Golvin's face twitched with irritation as he said, "If that's the case, Motorola can buy back the shares you still hold. Name your price."

Simon turned to Jennifer and asked, "Jennifer, how many Motorola shares do we still have?"

Without hesitation, Jennifer replied, "4.13 million shares."

Turning back to Golvin, who seemed even more uncomfortable upon hearing this number, Simon said, "Mr. Golvin, 4.13 million shares. If Motorola wants to buy them back, you can have them for $3 billion, rounding down a bit from last Thursday's closing price of $75.50 per share."

Golvin stared at Simon, reflexively accusing, "That's extortion."

Simon shrugged and countered, "Alternatively, you can buy them back from the open market; I assure you it will be much cheaper."

Golvin erupted again.

If it were feasible to buy back all of Westeros's shares from the open market, he wouldn't be confronting Simon today.

Transactions on the exchange are automatically matched by the system based on the bids from buyers and sellers; it's impossible to specifically buy shares from one particular entity. Westeros Corporation could simply set a sell price slightly above the lowest bid, making Motorola's attempts to absorb shares from the open market futile.

Today's turnover rate for Motorola exceeded 6%, with 5.7 million shares changing hands. Westeros Corporation had strategically placed three sell orders of 1 million shares each at various price points, yet less than 600,000 of the total 4.7 million shares had sold—precisely for this reason.

Moreover, these fewer than 600,000 shares had caused a 17.9% plunge in Motorola's stock price. Robert Golvin couldn't imagine the depths to which the stock price might sink if Westeros Corporation continued to sell off all its shares publicly.

Now.

Golvin realized that Simon Westeros was simply waiting for him to make an offer.

After clenching his teeth for a moment, Golvin conceded, "60 dollars. That's the best I can do."

Simon repeated mechanically, "75.50 dollars."

Golvin, clutching his fists involuntarily, might have pounced and beaten the young man had he been thirty years younger. Instead, he had to suppress his voice as he growled, "Don't even think about it, Westeros. You're a scoundrel, a nouveau riche, a vandal. You have no idea how hard it is for adults to make money. You just ruin other people's companies like a child."

Listening to Robert Golvin's low roar, Simon narrowed his eyes and said, "Mr. Golvin, you're wrong. I fully understand how difficult it is to build a company. That's exactly why I know how painful it will be for you when I smash all your little jars and bottles. This could have been resolved amicably, but you created this situation. And you've also made me realize something—if you all think Westeros is just a trivial young scoundrel, then I'll show you what a scoundrel can do. If you won't offer respect, I'll give you fear. See, it's that simple. If Motorola's stock price continues to plummet, I believe you, the chairman who has caused massive losses for shareholders, definitely won't be able to hold your position until the end of your term."

Golvin pointed at Simon angrily interrupting, "This is your doing!"

Simon nodded, "Correct, but they will blame you."

Golvin's body trembled slightly, and after a moment of silence, he said, "65 dollars."

Simon made a slight concession, "Alright, 70 dollars. But, Mr. Golvin, Motorola needs to come up with the money within a week. As a guarantee, by tomorrow morning before the market opens, Motorola needs to transfer $30 million to Westeros Corporation's account. If Motorola fails to meet the agreement, Westeros Corporation will not return this money."

Golvin persisted, "70 dollars is too high. 

67 dollars, and I need at least a month."

Simon was firm, "70 dollars, one week. Mr. Golvin, I'm not someone who enjoys haggling. You don't have a second choice."

Golvin insisted, "If I don't agree, continuing to sell off won't benefit anyone, and you'll also face huge losses."

"I can afford that loss," Simon shrugged nonchalantly, looking at Golvin, "But you can't. After the stock market crash, the market will be very sluggish for the next few years. It took me a day to drop Motorola's stock price to 62 dollars, but it might take you a year to get back to 75.5 dollars. So, if you refuse, I'll make sure Motorola's stock price falls for another year."

Golvin, his expression fluctuating, finally gave in, "70 dollars, deal."

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