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Chapter 83: Ten Million Dollars
🕑 Added 2024-11-13 18:30:14 +0000 UTCEthan felt that David Dion was joking. Supreme Creative held several long-term contract clients, and both its current strength and potential for development were highly anticipated. There was no way they would be in a hurry to accept an acquisition right now.
But David Dion didn't see it that way.
"Ten million dollars."
"What?" Neither Ethan nor David showed much expression, but Jimmy, who was listening in, was shocked.
"Ten million, US dollars, Ethan, what do you think?" David Dion smiled, and after seeing Jimmy's reaction, he became a little more confident.
Ethan, however, shrugged. "And then? Does ten million dollars buy the company?"
If that were the case, he might actually consider selling. After all, the creativity was all in his hands. As long as he dissolved the contracts with Caden and the others, setting up a new company wouldn't be a big deal.
It would be like making a million dollars out of thin air. Surely, Henry wouldn't turn down such an opportunity.
But David's next words dispelled this idea. "Of course not. I'm only interested in forty percent of the shares for ten million dollars. Also, Ethan, you must stay as CEO for three years."
David took a sip of his coffee, easing some of his fatigue before continuing. "Honestly, I've done my research on your company. All the creative work is driven by you and Jimmy, right? So, instead of the company itself, I'm more interested in you, Ethan."
"This money is my investment in you as an individual. What do you think?"
David Dion locked eyes with Ethan, seemingly trying to read his emotions.
Unfortunately, all he saw was calmness, as if ten million dollars didn't appeal to Ethan at all.
Jimmy, who had been surprised earlier, was now calm, influenced by Ethan. He kicked back, lazily playing with his phone, as if ten million dollars meant nothing to him.
This feeling was not good. David Dion felt that the situation had turned out differently from what he expected.
"Thank you for your recognition, Mr. Dion," Ethan said with a professional smile. "But for me, money is something I'll earn eventually. What's more important is whether it belongs to me."
"Looks like you're confident," David Dion tried again.
"Of course."
"Then maybe we can talk about an investment. How about ten million dollars for thirty-five percent of the shares?" David Dion pushed further.
"Sorry, if you're just here to discuss this, then our conversation ends here."
David Dion, not giving up, looked at Jimmy. "Are you really so stingy with your shares? With money, you could expand. I won't interfere with your operations, just take the profits."
But no matter what he said, he couldn't change Ethan's mind. After all, things were no longer in a desperate situation.
It was Henry's one million dollars that helped Ethan through a rough patch, and that's when they gave him shares in return. Now, with the company flourishing, there was no need for additional investments.
Besides, if investments were made, how would they spend the money? Expanding the team would only make the company bloated and inefficient. They couldn't possibly spend eight million dollars on a national advertising campaign.
It wasn't the right time yet. Ethan needed to wait until he found more advertising strategies to further strengthen the company.
So, Ethan refused decisively, and David Dion left disappointed.
After he left, Jimmy couldn't help but express his amazement. "Ten million dollars! I never thought someone would come waving that much money to acquire us, and we turned it down! Oh my god, that's insane! If my mom knew, she'd probably faint. She's never even earned one percent of that."
"But we'll earn more than ten million dollars in the future," Ethan smiled and took a sip of tea. "But I'm curious, why would the president of Hengmei Advertising want to acquire us?"
"I think it's strange too. Recently, they seem to have had no presence in advertising campaigns."
"That's why you should check it out. Oh, and have Lilina notify IPG that the president of Hengmei Advertising is here. It's strange, they seem very interested in whether we have behind-the-scenes investors or teams."
Previously, IPG had asked Lilina a lot of questions, focusing especially on whether strangers often appeared in the company or whether Ethan and Jimmy had contacts with other companies.
Ethan deduced that IPG might suspect they had hidden backers, perhaps because their small team kept producing creative work, which raised doubts.
That's why Lilina had spread some misinformation. Now that the president of Hengmei Advertising was here, it was even better. They could tell IPG directly, leading them to continue bumping into walls in their confusion.
Two hours later, IPG's creative director, Sig, received a message from Figus.
"David Dion! It really is him!" Sig snorted, confirming his guess. Although Lilina hadn't named him directly, her description of his body and appearance perfectly matched David Dion.
Plus, the fact that he had been in the office talking to Ethan for a long time, and was sent out by both Ethan and Jimmy afterward, all pointed to him being the hidden investor behind Ethan.
"Great, with so much evidence, all we need to do is something simple now," Sig said, tapping his desk. "Figus, go talk to the other president of Hengmei Advertising, then investigate their current client list. We need to take a few bites from them while we have the chance!"
"Got it! Sig!" Figus replied with a smile.
"By the way, has Okaley confirmed their advertising agency yet?"
"Not yet, they said it would take another week."
"Such a hassle, I don't know what they're thinking," Sig sighed. "Alright, go ahead."
A few days later, news of a fallout between the two presidents of Hengmei Advertising quietly spread throughout the advertising industry.
"I heard they almost fought in the meeting room over the company's actual control," Jimmy said with a smug expression as he told Ethan the news.
"Didn't the board of directors help? Why did it escalate like that?"
"They helped, but it didn't matter. I heard their supporters are evenly matched, so they had to rely on themselves."
"Looks like a show's about to start."
"That's right, they've divided the company into two parts. I heard they're going to let performance speak for itself."
At the same time, Sig also received news from Okaley, but it was different from what he had expected. This time, Supreme Creative was still the preferred choice.
"Damn it! Why is this happening?" Sig called Ross into his office and scolded him. "Useless! Why didn't the ad copy you polished beat Supreme Creative!"
Ross didn't dare respond, standing silently as his boss scolded him.
Sig, seeing his pitiful state, felt powerless. He closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and after a long pause, said, "I'm giving your position to Milton. Ross, you're demoted."
"I… please give me another chance!" Ross immediately begged.
But Sig had already made up his mind. "No discussion. Ross, I've given you chances before! Now, get out of my office!"
At Sig's furious shout, Ross left the office, his head down. As his subordinates looked at him, he felt the weight of their ridicule.
Their eyes made him feel utterly humiliated, so he lowered his head and avoided their gazes, grabbed his suit, and hurriedly escaped back to his office.
