Chapter 1209
Clyde was livid, and his face was red with anger. He gave Wesley a stern look and ordered, “Continue with the report!”
Wesley shot a disgruntled look at Liam.
Today’s high–level meeting was organized by Liam with a plan to restructure the company, reclaim some of the authority from the shareholders, and implement a merit–based competition system where workloads are distributed accordingly.
This idealistic management style would slash the income of some high–level executives who held positions but did no actual work; hence it was not widely accepted.
The same scenario happened this time, with half of the attendees in favor and the other half against. Clyde was very pleased with this outcome and said with a smirk, Liam, business is not child’s play. You need to be more realistic.”
Liam glanced at him, showing no surprise at the outcome
He calmly said, “Since so many people are against it, let’s put this issue aside. Now that everyone is here, let’s go over the books for all the industries and projects the company is involved in. The economy hasn’t been doing well these past few years, so for those subsidiaries and projects that are continuously losing money, we should shut them down or put them on hold. If we can’t increase income, we need to cut expenses.”
Upon hearing this, some people’s faces turned sour
Quantum was involved in many industries, but the only profitable ones were under Liam’s control. Orville Reed’s most profitable venture was real estate, but its income had significantly decreased in the past two years due to various reasons.
The other industries either had low income, barely broke even, or were outright losing money.
The central company had been supporting these loss–making companies with funding. As long as the central company stayed afloat, there would be profits to distribute
The funds provided to these loss–making companies were all generated from Liam’s high–income industries.
Liam bringing up this issue was a clear indication to everyone that he would no longer provide funding, basically cutting off their financial lifeline
Everyone started to protest
“Mr. Reed, many companies have been operating for over a decade. It would be such a waste to shut them down now.”
“Yeah, Mr. Reed, some industries have potential. They might start turning a profit any day now. Didn’t the medical equipment we invested in a couple of years ago start making money?”
Liam glanced at the speaker, “Mr. Parsons, have you ever seen a potential stock that hasn’t made money in over a decade? The new media industry was booming a few years ago, so why is our new media company losing money?”
The man was left speechless with an uncomfortable look on his face
Liam glanced at everyone and spoke in a low voice, “Since we’re all here, I’ll just cut to the chase. If anyone’s thinking about slacking off at work, I’m sorry, but I might have to show you the door. Quantum doesn’t feed freeloaders, and I won’t let my hard–working employees line the pockets of such
Individuals
Owen pursed his lips.
Liam’s words were too blunt. Many of the stakeholders from Clyde’s side hadn’t contributed much, but because they had been with the company for a long time, they received hefty salaries.
Then there was Liam’s team. They worked the longest hours, but because the team members were younger and held lower positions, they didn’t get the highest shares in the company
This mechanism within Quantum should have been reformed long ago, but due to years of entangled interests, it wasn’t something that could be achieved overnight.
Mr. Reed’s straightforward and strong personality might rub many people the wrong way with this statement.
This had Owen a bit worried.
He felt that Liam was handling this matter too rashly, but from the employees perspective, he could totally understand Liam’s urgency
Just a couple of days ago, a colleague from the R&D department had a heart attack due to overworking. Fortunately, other colleagues were around and
got him to the hospital in time. Although the colleague was saved, he was still in critical condition and under intensive care.
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