From legendary short seller to god of American capital

Chapter 319 Conspiracy and Deception

Chapter 319 Conspiracy and Deception

On the fourth day, Sachs returned to Rochester with his assistant.

Upon seeing Larry, Sachs raised his hat and smiled broadly. "Mr. Livingston, thank God, we've arranged everything you need to do."

Larry gestured for them to sit down and asked, "Have you found everything?"

“Yes, that place is on the border of Quebec and Ontario. It’s a small town, very close to Montreal. Once a cargo transit point is set up there, it would be easy to wash glass from Germany and make it Canadian,” Sachs replied.

"What about the tax rate?"

"It's only about 14.7%, with Quebec offering some preferential rates, making it five percentage points lower than Ontario. The optimal solution is that it only needs to pass through a warehouse before entering the country. German goods can then be legally and legitimately laundered as Canadian-made!"

Larry smiled with satisfaction. Although the people at Goldman Sachs were frighteningly intelligent, they were quick-witted, resourceful, and reliable.

After thinking for two seconds, Larry nodded and said, "Very good. You'll be in charge of handling the follow-up matters of this business battle there. Payments will be made according to the company's cash flow—of course, that's Eastman's responsibility."

Sachs also showed a polite smile.

"The next step is to deal with those minority shareholders. Do you have any problems with that?" Larry asked again.

"It's not a big problem, because I speak German and Yiddish," Sachs replied calmly.

Larry gave the man a deep look, a smile playing on his lips, and said, "Mr. Sachs, thank you for this trip that introduced us. When I get back to New York, I'll have a lot of big business to discuss with you."

Sachs's face was full of smiles as he readily agreed.

Larry could tell that this time he was genuinely sincere. Before meeting Sachs, Larry had never imagined that someone could be so pure in their pursuit of making money.

On the seventh day, George Whitney returned.

When dealing with Whitney, Larry adopted a completely different persona. Seeing her enter the hotel lobby, Larry jogged a few steps to greet her, grasped Whitney's hands, and sincerely said, "I truly cannot describe how guilty I feel. I originally intended for you to come here for a vacation, but instead, you've been kept in Corning for so long."

Whitney smiled, patted Larry on the shoulder, hooked his arm around his neck, and led him to a coffee booth in the hotel lobby, where he placed his suitcase on the table.

"Come on, Mr. Livingston, let me show you what I've accomplished these past few days!" Whitney said, opening her suitcase.

Inside the suitcase was a complete set of barium silicate glass, arranged in neat arrays according to different formulas.

"This is—" Larry looked at the glass, his eyes filled with surprise.

Of course, he didn't really know anything about glass, but seeing Whitney's smug expression and the glass sample, he knew things were settled.

"You could call Eastman to come here and inspect it, my God. Amos Corning II, the owner of Corning, is such a coward. When I told him that Corning could also make optical glass, he kept shaking his head, I was afraid his head would fall off his neck," Whitney exclaimed.

"So how did you convince him?"

"I told him to give it a try. I told him, 'I don't need you to surpass Zeiss right now. I just need enough stable and inexpensive glass.'" Whitney looked up at the ceiling, a hint of helplessness in her eyes. It was as if she were back to the time a few days ago when she was urging Corning.

In the ensuing conversation, Larry learned that Whitney had moved to Corning and spent three days personally overseeing the factory. She personally inspected the furnaces, laboratories, and inventory before witnessing the development of this batch of experimental, high-quality glass.

According to Corning, the refractive index of this batch of glass is close to that of Schott BK7.

Whitney immediately made the decision, "This is the one! It improves purity, controls bubbles, and stabilizes the process."

Larry turned to look at the samples in the suitcase and realized that Whitney's hard work was no joke. She had really put in the effort.

"I don't know how to thank you enough for your efforts—Mr. Whitney, your generosity leaves me speechless," Larry said sincerely.

Whitney smiled and waved her hand, "If you really want to thank me, just come to me for any big deals you make with our bank in the future."

"No problem, sir! I greatly admire your noble character and solid professional skills," Larry said with a smile.

Just then, George Eastman, who had received Larry's notification, also rushed over.

Larry gestured towards the pile of samples. Eastman first greeted Whitman, then plopped down next to the suitcase, took out his magnifying glass and some measuring tools that Larry couldn't understand, and began to examine the glass samples.

After a long inspection, Eastman looked up and smiled at the two of them, "It's not perfect, but it meets the standard—"

Larry laughed. "It's about domestic substitution! Don't expect it to be perfect right away. As long as we can bring down the cost and make it usable, that's good enough."

The three of them exchanged a smile, their faces relaxed.

That evening, Sachs approached Larry again. He showed him his shareholder register and the records.

"Mr. Livingston, I have contacted all the shareholders whose names are on the shareholder register. Of them, about 16% of the shareholders are willing to stay, and the remaining minority shareholders have almost all accepted our stock purchase offer."

Larry picked up the shareholder register and flipped through it carefully, noticing the checkmarks next to each name. But when he turned to the last page, Larry's eyes lingered on one name—the former railroad tycoon, Thomas Reed.

Sachs seized the opportunity to lean in and whispered, "He's the one who's difficult to deal with. He owns 6.7% of the shares, and he simply refuses to meet with anyone."

"Oh? Well!" Larry thought to himself, there are always some people who are just incorrigible.

Sachs continued, "—I've heard he's received special treatment from the Germans. I've also recently heard rumors among the minority shareholders that the Germans are actively contacting major shareholders in Rochester, especially those holding more than 5% of the shares."

"This—shouldn't be a big problem, right? After all, if the other shareholders are willing to sell, what can these major shareholders do?" Larry frowned. He had already sensed that Sachs' words had a hidden meaning, but he couldn't think of anything particularly significant about it.

Sachs opened his mouth slightly, but didn't speak.

Larry understood that this was a characteristic of their ethnicity, and if he handed over the money now, Larry would immediately reveal the hidden secret.

Larry wasn't bothered by the money, but the other party's expression piqued his curiosity. He looked up and thought for a moment, then a thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately realized the major hidden danger involved. "My God! We're going down the lower rungs, while the Germans are locking in the major shareholders. For one thing, a 75% voting stake is needed at the shareholders' meeting to approve the takeover! The Germans are trying to make themselves invincible!"

Seeing Larry's sudden realization, Sachs looked both surprised and regretful. After a moment's thought, he continued, "Oh, right, you're right. If we only collect the shares from the minority shareholders, along with George Eastman's stock, then we still won't be able to own more than 75%. In that case, the shareholders' meeting won't be able to make a decision to sell the company, so neither our acquisition nor the German acquisition will be feasible."

Larry nodded in agreement. "The Germans are using poison pills. They can't have what they want, and they won't let us have it either."

Seeing that Larry had already realized what was going on, Sachs decided to play the good guy and said, "You're right. If the company can't be acquired by any company for a long time, and the Germans cut off the glass supply—then this matter will be delayed indefinitely. Bausch & Lomb may also go bankrupt due to the shortage of supplies."

Larry nodded, then turned to Sachs and said, "So, what's your opinion?"

"Cooperation!" Sachs said calmly.

"Cooperation? With the Germans?" Larry asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, Mr. Livingston. With all due respect, Bausch & Lomb's value lies in its dismantling. You also saw the company's asset report in our previous investigation. It has a lot of assets. The greatest value of this acquisition isn't keeping the company running, but selling it for a good price!"

Larry's eyes lit up after hearing the first two sentences. After Sachs finished speaking, Larry looked at him and smiled.

"Go on, Mr. Sachs!"

"It's just the two of us in this room today, so I'd like to help you analyze this. Do you really care about this company? You borrowed so much money from the Morgan syndicate—was it just to fulfill Mr. George Eastman's dream? Some things, you should stop when you've reached a certain point."

For the first time, Sachs's tone became emotional, as if a longtime friend were advising him.

Larry fell into deep thought.

Seeing that Larry remained silent, Sachs continued, "I learned the truth about the shareholders' meeting from the other minority shareholders—in my opinion, the Germans wanted to limit Bausch & Lomb's growth, while George Eastman simply wanted to control the high-margin optical lens segment upstream; and you? You probably just wanted to make a quick buck. So, I think there's actually room for cooperation among the three companies."

Larry neither nodded in agreement nor shook his head in denial, but calmly continued, "Can you give me a solution?"

Sachs nodded, leaned closer, and whispered his thoughts to Larry—

Larry frowned after hearing his plan, but nodded slightly.

After thinking for a moment, Larry looked up at the window with a cold smile. "But we can't let the Germans get away with this so easily—there's a saying that you can't be friends without fighting. I need to make them feel uncomfortable before we talk about cooperation."

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