"Of course there are problems. We have mature vacuum high-speed maglev technology in our hands, so why should we use Chinese technology?" a director from Goldman Sachs exclaimed, slamming his hand on the table.
"Furthermore, I ask you, is China's technology being given to us for free? Can we obtain China's technology for free? Or are you going to pay for China's technology?" the questions followed.
"Sir, this is mature vacuum high-speed maglev pipeline technology. How could China give it to us for free?" Little Swift couldn't help but chuckle. "Of course, we have to pay for it. However, I can assure everyone here that as long as we pay for the technology, China will hand over all of it to us, and they will teach us until we understand. If that's not enough, they can even proactively dispatch a large number of personnel to assist us with construction."
"At the same time, after completion, China will be responsible for after-sales service for the next 20 years. If any various faults and problems occur during operation, China will be responsible until the end, and our company will not have to worry about these issues."
"In this way, our company will no longer need to maintain a large R&D team. We only need to have a small but excellent emergency response force to solve some minor faults and minor problems. Everything else can be handled by China, and we can save a significant amount of maintenance costs!"
"In summary, one payment for 20 years of benefits, this is an extremely cost-effective deal!" Little Swift said cheerfully.
The others were also moved by his words. When calculated this way, it did seem very cost-effective.
"Then, Mr. Little Swift, how much are you planning to spend to purchase China's technology license?" the Goldman Sachs director continued to question.
"This is an absolutely reasonable price!" Little Swift replied with a smile. "Although China initially asked for an exorbitant price of 1.2 trillion US dollars for the full technology license fee."
"But how could I possibly agree to such outrageous terms? With my persistent efforts and superb negotiation skills, China had no choice but to agree to hand over the full technology license to us for a price of only 300 billion US dollars, which also includes the after-sales maintenance fees I mentioned above. This is definitely an extremely cost-effective price!" Little Swift finished speaking, with a smile that clearly expected praise.
Unfortunately, the director from Goldman Sachs did not intend to praise Little Swift. Instead, he questioned with even greater anger, "This is simply a huge joke. The company has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the improvement and development of this technology, and now you want to buy technology from others. You are infringing upon the interests of all our shareholders, and we will not allow this to happen."
"You even propose to cut our technical team, you are a complete scoundrel, a lapdog of China!"
"Gentlemen, this is not just about purchasing technology. Gentlemen, think about it. If we purchase China's technology, we will inevitably terminate our own research and development of ultra-high-speed vacuum maglev pipelines."
"Gentlemen, countless facts have proven that falling behind in one step means falling behind in all steps. We and China now possess the same level of ultra-high-speed maglev pipeline technology, but if we abandon our own technology for China's technology, then China will use the money we pay for the technology license to develop the next generation of ultra-high-speed maglev pipeline technology."
"But we? We can only be self-satisfied with China's technology, thinking we've got a great deal, without realizing that we have completely lost the possibility of competing in the next generation of ultra-high-speed maglev pipeline technology."
"Moreover, what this fellow mentioned is 'technology license' and not 'technology,' meaning that what we are purchasing is merely the right to use China's technology, and we cannot use such technology to compete in other international markets. Wouldn't that be equivalent to handing over the entire market to China? In the future, we can only watch them build ultra-high-speed vacuum maglev pipelines in other countries, and for every one they build, they will charge a technology license fee of 300 billion US dollars. This money originally should have been ours!"
"What is even more fatal is that, as a result, we will need to purchase China's technology for every subsequent generation of vacuum ultra-high-speed maglev pipelines. We will be completely left behind by China in terms of technology. And if we lose our technological advantage, can we still have a stable future?" the Goldman Sachs representative spoke passionately, his emotions reaching an unprecedented height, as if he had completely dyed the entire conference room with the color of blood.
Many directors showed expressions of determination in their eyes.
"What you're saying is meaningless!" Little Swift said coldly after the other finished speaking. "Mr. from Goldman Sachs, you've been talking about protecting the technology we hold, but if we trace it back, isn't the vacuum high-speed maglev pipeline technology we possess also China's technology?"
The director was momentarily stunned.
Indeed, the technology of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company was provided by Goldman Sachs, and everyone in the world knew that Goldman Sachs had purchased this technology from Jiangnan Group for tens of billions of dollars years ago. In other words, this technology itself actually belonged to China, and it was developed by China.
This was like a slap in the face for Goldman Sachs, but the representative from Goldman Sachs retorted unfazed, "Regardless of whether we bought it, the company has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to thoroughly understand this technology, so this technology is ours!"
"No, in fact, we no longer possess this technology!" Little Swift said with a cold smile. "The major fire five years ago truly burned everything clean. All the technical data stored by the company turned to ashes in the fire, not even a single hard drive was left behind."
"And the technical personnel responsible for developing this technology were all dismissed by the company at the first opportunity. By the time I took over the company, only three of those technical personnel remained in the company, and they were interns who were previously responsible for odd jobs. The company actually lost this technology long ago."
"Hiss!" Everyone gasped. They truly hadn't expected this, but they also knew that it was the truth.
However, Goldman Sachs seemed to have anticipated this problem as well. So, the director said very decisively, "We purchased this technology back then, so we at Goldman Sachs still have the original backup of the technology. Additionally, before the fire broke out, the company's technical personnel were fortunate enough to leave behind a set of technical backups, which were stored in the central safe deposit box of the New York Imperial Bank under the company's name. We can retrieve these materials at any time and recruit a new batch of R&D personnel. It should only take a short time to fully restore the technology!"
"The company's technology still has a backup? How come I, as the chairman, didn't know about this? Why is there no information about this matter in the company?" Little Swift was stunned upon hearing this, and then became enraged. It seemed these people had stolen the company's technology in advance.
"Sir, you just said yourself that since all of the company's technology was destroyed in the fire, it is only natural that the information and situation regarding this safe deposit box were also destroyed in the fire!"
"Fortunately, the staff member who saved the technology later joined us at Goldman Sachs. We just received this valuable piece of information from him and immediately conveyed it to you, the chairman!" The Goldman Sachs director's words were watertight, but even a fool could see that the technology was secretly stored by Goldman Sachs behind everyone's back, and they had no intention of returning it to the company.
It was only now that Little Swift intended to introduce China's technology that Goldman Sachs felt compelled to hand over this technical data.
Of course, including Little Swift himself, no one present bothered to ask the Goldman Sachs director how he managed to back up the technology perfectly a few days before the fire broke out.
"The technology has been returned to the company, so should the company continue to use our own American technology!" the Goldman Sachs director pressed.
"Sorry, I refuse!" Little Swift waved his hand. Seeing that the other party intended to speak, he said decisively, "Enough, I'm too lazy to listen to you. I am the chairman, you have no right to dictate to me and interfere with my decisions!"
Seeing Little Swift, the Goldman Sachs representative also became angry. "Little Swift, you have no right to be so autocratic. This is the company of all of us directors here, and we have the right to make the company take the correct action! You must heed the demands of all of us directors!"
"I suggest we immediately start a vote. All directors have voting rights, and the minority must obey the majority!"
"Nonsense!" Little Swift was almost amused by this person. "I alone hold 46.8% of the shares, while all of you combined do not hold as many shares as I do. What kind of ridiculous minority obeys the majority? Come back to me for a vote when you can get more than 46.8% of the shares!"
"Mr. Little Swift, I admit that you have an advantage in terms of equity. But don't forget, the combined power behind all the directors here is the power of the entire United States. Since we have the ability to get all the company's approvals to pass, we also have the ability to make the company come to a standstill. Do you really think having more shares means you can control the entire company?"
"Believe it or not, with just one phone call, countless federal agencies will enter the company for investigation, and then you will understand what democracy and the minority obeying the majority means!" the Goldman Sachs representative's voice was filled with oppressive pressure, and even Little Swift couldn't help but falter.
"I'm going to the restroom!" At the critical moment, Little Swift chose to make a hasty exit, and as he left the conference room, he took out his terminal, clearly calling to seek instructions from Boss Huang.
As expected, ten minutes later, Little Swift returned to the conference room dejectedly and announced expressionlessly that he agreed to let all the directors vote.
According to the rules of one person one vote, and the minority obeying the majority, the decision of whose technology the company would ultimately use to build the American vacuum high-speed maglev pipelines would be made.