A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

Chapter 1446 A New Proposal

The warm breeze of spring slowly melted away the winter snow. The winter had been filled with nothing but coldness for a certain individual. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

The KING Group had gone through a troublesome winter. But now was the time to change all of that. However, the group's prospects were not as lively as the spring.

Right after the Spring Festival, the first thing Darren set out to do when he came back to the company was to hold a meeting, because he needed a report of the company's performance for the last quarter so that he could know where to focus his efforts. And at the same time, he had an important announcement to make. On the day of the meeting, the conference room was almost full of people. Everyone was happily conversing about their holidays.

When Darren walked into the meeting room, all the senior executives and shareholders quickly sat down on their respective chairs.

"Mr. Xu..." The lively atmosphere suddenly dissipated and the room finally settled down. No one dared to say a word. It was so quiet that if one were to breathe heavily, he would be heard in the room.

Darren raised his head when his name was called. Then, he glanced over everyone's face. The senior executives and shareholders present who had just had smiles on their faces suddenly became serious.

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's start the meeting, shall we?" Darren slowly walked to the seat at the head of the table and continued, "The last year has passed. How was the Spring Festival for everyone?"

His sudden pleasantries surprised everyone. Some of them felt like they could finally breathe again, and some even laughed, albeit nervously.

"It seems that everyone had a good time. I wish all of you a wonderful new year," Darren said without a sign of disdain on his face or tone. It was a pleasant surprise to everyone there. Suddenly, his tone changed to a serious one when he said, "But now that the Spring Festival has passed, our KING Group is facing a brutal undertaking, as if it has to go through another cold winter."

Darren's statement sent shivers down all of the senior executives and shareholders' backs. The smile on their faces gradually froze.

It was true, a lot of the shareholders and senior executives present knew that the company was facing a huge obstacle. At the thought of this, everyone's amiable mood was completely gone. Everyone sat straight and had serious expressions on their faces.

Darren then said, "If we can't come up with a solution, I think the company will inevitably face a horrific storm. Everyone should be mentally prepared. I'm serious." Darren emphasized each word he uttered.

And everyone there became more serious. Some of them even had cold sweat on their foreheads. Everyone knew that the more peril the group faced, the more dangerous it would be for them, especially for the shareholders, since they had invested a lot of money into the company.

Moreover, the KING Group was hindered in so many ways, so it was impossible for the group to use their power as a means to better themselves. If the company didn't stabilize soon enough, everyone knew that Darren would be the raging storm he spoke of.

Meanwhile, Jacob's company had become a major player in the industry after just a few years. His company's value was staggeringly high. The HT Group was very efficient in growing exponentially in every industry that they tried to venture in. They quickly racked up achievements left and right.

The fact that the HT Group's subsidiaries were stronger than the KING Group was the greatest hurdle to face. They were all more powerful, more popular, and a bigger influence in any industry. They were at the top of the game. And the HT Group would not stop its expansion any time soon. This caused the

people working at KING Group to feel distressed and threatened. Even Darren could feel a sense of urgency. If Jacob's company continued to expand more and more, Darren would face a lot more problems. He thought that if the KING Group couldn't make any sort of growth soon, then a slow death was imminently waiting for them. It was truly a terrible scenario.

The stronger Jacob's company was, the more frightening it was to push forward.

"I want to make an announcement. In order to face the future crisis, our group must also learn to adapt.

Cost cutting won't be sufficient this time. Unfortunately, we have to give up some of our past projects and ventures. We need to concentrate more funds and energy to readjust the group's subsidiaries and res-establish a strong industrial layout."

Darren's harsh words made everyone around him take a deep breath. Upon realizing how it would affect each one of them, the whole conference room was in an uproar. Moreover, the plans to change had come so suddenly that they were caught off guard.

Although the company was indeed facing some challenges, Darren's wish to shape the company in a different form seemed too unreal. After all, a company's transformation was not a small task.

"Mr. Xu, what you're saying now seems too extreme. Doing something like that would be an enormous undertaking. Although the company is facing problems right now, I don't think it's that big of a deal. We can recover from this crisis. So why should we transform?" one of the shareholders gave his opinion.

"Exactly! The risk of transforming our company is not something you nor or I nor anyone else here can estimate. And it also needs a large sum of money. I honestly believe it's better if we just stay the same," another shareholder voiced out their thoughts.

"I don't think transforming the company should be our priority.

But if that's what you really want, boss, you need to tell us how we are going to do it and what direction you would like the company to take." "Yes, we need to know your plan." "Mr. Xu, what are you doing to prepare for this?" "Mr. Xu, if we go ahead with this plan, what kind of risks are we expecting?" "I'm sure none of us are willing to shell out money from our pockets if the plan entails too much risk of failure." There was a great deal of commotion around the room.

In just a few minutes, all of the shareholders raised countless questions about their worries regarding Darren's plan.

Even after seeing everyone's reaction, Darren was still determined to push through. Since he had proposed to turn a comprehensive industrial company into an exclusively operated one, he must have the confidence and drive to go on.

To try and address everyone's doubts, Darren handed a flash drive to Harlan and said in a low voice, "This transformation is very abrupt for you, but I hope you can trust me."

After he said that, Harlan opened a presentation from the flash drive which was connected to a projector. What came into view was some food packaging designs and a brief introduction to the food industry.

'Does Darren really want us to enter the food industry?'

Harlan thought to himself since this was also the first time that he was seeing the presentation. He had thought about what direction Darren would like for the company to take, but he had not expected that he would choose this route.

The fact that the KING Group had already shut down some of their subsidiaries completely showed Darren's determination. Darren had already considered that other industries were too risky right now and would cost too much money.

So, he had withdrawn their capital and given up some of the group's subsidiaries. That would provide the KING Group with a bit of money to pay their debts. Even though the KING Group had a grand reputation, it had incurred quite a debt through the years. The KING Group had subsidiaries in a variety of industries, industries that cost them a lot of money. And most of the money had been borrowed from banks.

It was clear to everyone at that point that the purpose of this meeting was to determine the future of the KING Group. In the past, the KING Group had been a comprehensive industrial company. And it had even gone so far as to make the materials it needed by itself.

One of the senior executives solemnly uttered, "Mr. Xu, the group is already involved in the food industry. There's no need to completely transform it to a food company. In this way, we don't need to give up the foundation that we've worked hard for. Moreover, we won't lose those clients from our current affairs." His words rang true to everyone. A lot of the executives in there understood his objections, and some even sided with him.

Darren didn't bother to answer. He wanted to continue, so he gave Harlan a hint with his eyes to continue playing the presentation.

Even if the presentation contained logical reasons, the senior executives and shareholders only captured one important point. "The employees of the group who are not qualified enough will be fired. At the same time, we will seek out and recruit people who have more outstanding talents in relevant fields."

This meant that all the employees and even some senior executives in the company were going to be replaced.

The announcements of today's meeting was a shocking revelation one after another. The senior executives and shareholders quickly raised their opinions and objections.

Darren, who had remained silent for quite a long time, finally opened his mouth. "A multi-industry company requires a huge investment. If it fails, the loss of money and impact would be huge. Therefore, our company cannot bear any form of risk going forward. Our only choice is to transform into a single-industry company."

As soon as Darren finished his words, all the shareholders and senior executives, who had been riled up by Darren's decision, quickly shut their mouths. His profound reasoning made everyone completely speechless.