Jasper’s words caused all of Jack’s drowsiness to instantly vanish.
He snapped to attention, immediately awake.
“What’s going on, Mr. Laine? I did not receive any reports,” Jack said as he put on a coat. He rushed into his study without putting on his slippers.
Jasper suppressed the burning rage within him and spoke in a heavy voice.
“Some people have been secretly collecting shares since last week. It’s possible they have been doing so for even longer. They have pushed the stock price up by 8%. So, what does this mean?
“This means that they have accumulated a large number of shares. If they aren’t worried about being discovered, they single-handedly have the ability to cause Sena’s share price to rise or absolutely plummet.
“Once they start doing that, the retail investors will definitely sell their shares in order to protect their investment due to the continuous fluctuations. This will happen regardless of if the price rises or falls to its limit.
“At this moment, if they accept any orders, the number of shares under their control will increase greatly. If they don’t, Sena’s share price will collapse. Do I still need to explain all this to you?”
After registering Jasper’s words, Jack, who was waiting for his computer to turn on, broke out into a cold sweat.
He understood why Jasper was behaving so sternly right now. Thus, he gulped and replied, “Sorry, Mr. Laine. We were being negligent.”
“You guys have been way too complacent lately. Do you think that you can sit back and relax now that you’re the top Internet company in the country?”
Although Jasper’s tone was not heavy, his words were harsh.
“I deserve to be penalized, Mr. Laine,” Jack said.
“It’s not the time to talk about punishments now. Ask the person in charge of this area to wake up and come up with a countermeasure right now.
“If I’m not satisfied with your plan, I don’t mind firing the entire department!”
Jack smiled bitterly as he heard the beep of Jasper hanging up the call.
Right then, Jack’s wife, who had gotten up as well, came in with a cup of hot tea. It was the blend that Jack usually enjoyed. She placed the cup beside Jack and said in a gentle voice, “What’s wrong? Did you get scolded by Mr. Laine?”
Jack sighed and said, “I don’t blame him. Everyone at the company is at fault, including me. Too many people have been blinded by the glory of our successful listing. We shouldn’t have acted that way.
“Alright, you should go rest. I don’t think I’ll get any sleep tonight,” Jack said as he patted his wife’s hand.
…
Nauritus City, Southface River Tower.
“You’re unexpectedly fierce when you scold people,” Celine told Jasper.
Jasper massaged his temples and said in exasperation, “It’s understandable if the people from Sena didn’t notice this problem, but I’m displeased at the fact that everyone, Jack included, has been blinded by the wealth and glory of the company’s listing!
“Do you know what half of Sena’s executives were up to some time ago? They were either throwing celebratory parties or accepting interviews from financial magazines. What nonsense!
“Dane Warren, the founder of Sena that I had previously kicked out, turned out to behave the best out everyone in the senior management team. He reaped the most profits amongst all the executives with all the shares that he owned. Nevertheless, he was down-to-earth and managed to operate most of the company’s business on his own.”
Celine shook her head. “This usually happens once a company expands. All sorts of birds tend to flock into a large forest. Those employees have worked hard for so many years. Now that the company has been listed and is making a large sum of profits, their bonuses have increased greatly as well. It’s natural for them to become conceited,” she said in an understanding tone.
“Such fickle-minded people. In that case, I’ll pour a bucket of cold water over their heads. Only those who return to their senses can remain. Those who can’t recover from their current states should all leave the company,” Jasper said in an even tone.
“What do you intend to do about this?” Celine asked as she pointed to the computer screen.
“I have no idea,” Jasper heaved a sigh while he shook his head.
“We don’t know the identity nor goals of our opponent. The only thing we can do now is to keep track of their activity.
“We need to raise funds and wait for our opponent to take action. Once they hammer the market, we need to spend a large sum of money to get a hold of their shares. Otherwise, the share price will collapse. If that happens, Sena will suffer a major loss. We won’t be able to recover from the damage even after a whole year. Now, everything depends on the number of shares that they own and what they intend to do with it.”
“Look here!” Celine exclaimed suddenly as she rotated Jasper’s computer monitor. She inched closer to Jasper and got up to grab ahold of the mouse.
She had to lean across Jasper’s body to do so.
Jasper watched as Celine slowly approached him. When Celine moved the mouse and began to retrieve the data on the screen, strands of her hair tickled Jasper’s face in a mischievous manner.
His face itched, but his heart craved for her even more.
The fragrance of her perfume lingered about his sense as strands of her hair brushed against his skin. It felt like she was teasing him slowly and trying to test his limits.
However, Celine did not notice all these details this time around. She did not even realize that the distance between both of them was very inappropriate at that moment.
After displaying the data on the screen, Celine sat back down on her seat.
“Generally speaking, the larger the trading volume, the higher the share price will be. After all, the price will naturally go up if there’s a consistent amount of trading.
“Although Sena’s trading volume has continually increased since last week, the share price has remained stable.
“This person is a master. His methods are extremely confusing.
“However, the data won’t lie. Linking all of these clues together, I’m almost certain that the person behind all this definitely isn’t trying to earn a fortune by manipulating Sena’s share price…
“This person is aiming to take over Sena completely by absorbing a large number of shares!”
