mijobooks Chapter 356 Ling Yun is dismissed
Chapter 356 Ling Yun is dismissed
At exactly 9:30, Anderson cleared his throat.
"Everyone's here, let's begin."
He stood up and walked to the whiteboard. There was nothing on the whiteboard; he just stood there, facing everyone.
"There's only one topic for today's meeting." He looked at Ling Yun. "Everyone has seen the company's current situation. The stock price has plummeted from 57 to 26, and the market value has dropped by 300 billion. Investors are calling headquarters, some cursing, some crying."
He paused, then said, "We need to do something."
Ling Yun looked at him, curled her lip, and smiled disdainfully, as if watching a clown jumping around.
Anderson returned to his seat, picked up a document from in front of him, and placed it on the table.
"This proposal was jointly put forward by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HP, and Dell."
He pushed the document forward, "Remove Mr. Ling Yun from his position as CEO and have a new management team take over."
The meeting room fell silent instantly, and everyone turned to look at Ling Yun.
Ling Yun didn't move. He looked at the document but didn't reach for it. "Who signed this?"
Anderson said with some resentment, "We all signed."
Ling Yun looked at Dell, but Dell didn't speak or look at him.
Lingyun looked at the HP representative again, but the man looked away.
"Who else?"
Winston raised his hand. "I signed."
Anderson also raised his hand, "I signed too."
Ling Yun nodded.
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and wrote down a number: 40.32%.
"This is the combined shareholding of all four of you."
He wrote down another number: 32.48%.
"These are the shares held by me and the employee stock ownership platform."
Write another one, 27.2%.
"These belong to the other shareholders."
He put down his pen, turned around and looked at them. "The combined shares held by all of you are less than half of the total shares."
Anderson smiled. "Ling, that's not how it's calculated. This is a vote, not a shareholding percentage."
He stood up, walked to Ling Yun's side, picked up a pen, and wrote a formula under the three numbers.
"40.32% voted in favor, 32.48% voted against, and 27.2% abstained. Since the number of votes in favor exceeds the number of votes against, the proposal should be passed."
Ling Yun looked at him and said, "Article 17 of the company's articles of association states that removing the CEO requires a majority vote. It's not about having more votes in favor than against; if your votes in favor don't exceed 50%, the proposal cannot pass."
Anderson's smile froze for a moment. "You..."
"Have you calculated it? 40.32%, that's still 9.68% away from 50%." Ling Yun said calmly.
The meeting room fell silent again. Winston coughed. "Ling, let's vote first today, and then we'll discuss the results. The other shareholders present may not necessarily abstain. If the approval rate exceeds 50%, we can proceed. If it doesn't exceed 50%, we can initiate an online vote among the shareholders of tradable shares."
Ling Yun looked at him as if he were watching a clown performance.
Winston didn't make eye contact with Ling Yun. After finishing his sentence, he looked at the documents in front of him, as if the documents were very attractive.
Anderson returned to his seat and sat down. He was silent for a few seconds, then spoke, "Let's vote."
He looked around at everyone and said, "Those who agree to remove Lingyun from his position as CEO, please raise your hands."
Anderson raised his hand.
Winston raised his hand.
The HP representative raised his hand.
Dell hesitated for a second, then raised his hand.
Four hands raised.
Anderson looked at the others.
Dr. Leila didn't move, the French representative didn't move, and the representatives of several minority shareholders looked at each other but didn't move either.
Eric kept his head down, marking names on his notebook with his pen, without looking up.
Anderson waited a few seconds, then asked, "Is anyone else here?"
No one responded, so he lowered his hand. "Raise your hand if you disagree with the impeachment."
Ling Yun was the only one in the entire room to raise his hand.
Anderson smiled dismissively. "40.32%, in favor of removal. 32.48%, against. 27.2%, abstaining."
He looked at Ling Yun, "The results from the live poll are in. Now we'll start an online poll. Based on the current situation, retail investors probably won't support you. Ling, is there anything else you want to say?"
Ling Yun looked at him and said, "There's no need for an online vote. Even if more than 50% of the shares support removing me from the CEO position, Article 27 of the company's articles of association states that the CEO handover requires one month. During this month, I will still be the CEO."
Anderson paused, then Winston frowned. "Article 27?"
"You can look it up in Article 27."
Anderson didn't move; he stared at Ling Yun for several seconds.
"Ling, at this point, is it still necessary for you to cling to the CEO position? Wouldn't it be better to be more dignified? So many shareholders don't support you, is it still necessary for you to refuse to step down?"
"Am I not respectable? Are you? I'm just reminding you to follow the rules."
Anderson was silent for a few seconds. Then he smiled. "Okay, one month. During this month, you'll still be CEO. Sign what needs to be signed, make what needs to be decided, but we'll be watching you closely and won't give you the opportunity to harm the shareholders' interests."
He stood up. "What about a month from now? You'll still be packing your bags and leaving. We wanted to give you a dignified way out, throw you a party to thank you for your three years of hard work, but you refused to do so. So don't blame us for not giving you a dignified exit."
Ling Yun simply smiled slightly, "If I wanted to throw a farewell party, would I need you to play the good guy? You've broken the rules, so don't blame me."
Anderson walked to the door, turned back to look at him, and said, "Ling, no matter what, you've done a good job these past three years. It's a pity..."
He didn't finish speaking before pushing the door open and leaving.
Winston stood up, glanced at Ling Yun, said nothing, and followed him away.
The HP representative also stood up and left.
Dell was the last to stand up. He walked over to Ling Yun and paused.
"Ling..."
Ling Yun didn't even glance at him. Dale stood there for two seconds, then left.
The remaining people in the meeting room were Ling Yun, Dr. Leila, the French representative, and a few minority shareholder representatives.
Dr. Lyra stood up and walked to Lingyun's side.
"Mr. Ling, are you alright?"
Ling Yun nodded.
Dr. Lyra looked at him, said nothing more, and left.
The French representative also came over, shook Ling Yun's hand, and left.
The minority shareholder representatives left one after another.
In the end, only Eric remained.
He sat in the corner, head down, still holding the pen in his hand.
Ling Yun stood up and walked to the window.
Eric stood up and walked over to him.
"Ling".
"Ling, I..."
"There's nothing more to say. This was bound to happen. Just focus on your work."
Eric nodded.
Ling Yun turned around and went back to his office. He took out his phone and made a call. "How much have you bought on the dip? Hmm, start a large-scale buying spree today. Also, send out information about the short selling and analyze the current surplus of shares in the shorted stocks. These financial vultures are making me very unhappy. We need to teach them a lesson."
After hanging up the phone, Ling Yun looked at the parking lot and the departing shareholders. He smiled coldly. Those who shorted the stock would pay the price for their greed. Xingchen's stock price was about to soar. Ling Yun was waiting for them to come begging for reconciliation.