Anna walked over one by one, stretched out her hand and shook hands with each of the magazine's shareholders.

"Uh...... In any case, I would like to thank your family for their contribution to the development of Oil Painting magazine......"

Some experts showed embarrassment on their faces.

But shopping malls are like battlefields.

The reaction of more shareholders at this point is not a gentleman.

Their faces were cold, and they even spoke coldly, and their words were very unpleasant.

"It's useless to flatter me, I won't change my decision to support the chairman."

"Little girl, Miss Elena, don't blame me for not speaking well, if your board seat still belongs to your aunt's agent, you will definitely make a more shrewd decision than a young man like you who doesn't know how to be flexible......"

“……”

After listening to the two ridicules of those people, the secretary Elliot's face turned blue with anger, and Anna still didn't hear it.

No matter how glaring the sneer on the face of the shareholder.

She greeted everyone very politely and praised each other's academic achievements one by one.

Even the lawyer in the corner, Anna, asked him to convey her greetings to Mr. Signac on her behalf.

"It's a little too late to pull the relationship now, the little girl's family can go to study for a few more years at this age, have a long social experience, and be locked up in an ivory tower all day long, it's not good for you."

The fat old man, Hlaifi, simply turned his head away in a clear manner.

He folded his arms and ignored Anna's outstretched hand.

At this point in time, I still want to play the emotional card.

Say she's simple?

Or is she stupid?

It's not fun to look for yourself!

"Idiot! These Yankees are just uneducated. ”

Sir Brown looked at the scene in front of him, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he cursed secretly in his heart.

Many of these old guys who sit in the office all day and do research are not as emotional intelligence as a little girl.

After the initial stunned.

Jazz had now figured out why Anna had to put such a hot face on her cold ass.

People are not here to show these people, and they are not trying to change the outcome of the shareholder vote with a few greetings.

Miss Elena's self-conscious appearance is on a show for all the readers of "Oil Painting"!

"Nothing else, she's really smart. There is the demeanor of a female politician. ”

When it comes to running a media outlet, public image is really important.

It is so unseemly for such a bunch of old men to make things difficult for a beautiful and polite little girl.

Brown's production of the minutes of the meeting was sent to every reader of Oil Painting magazine, and even arranged for clerks, as well as an audio and video recording of the whole process, for only two purposes.

Tie all the shareholders to their own ships.

As well as separating the Elena family from the magazine, and even separating Anna, a young girl, from the contributions made by the entire Elena family in the past.

The vote on whether or not to approve the Stake in Kruger Bank was only one item in the meeting log.

What other proposals await in the agenda to remove Ms. Elena from the board of directors on the grounds of dereliction of duty, making statements that damage the magazine's public image in online video interviews, and not being competent enough to hold a management position?

Sir Brown had prepared a great deal of things to prove in the eyes of the public that the Elena family was no longer fit to rule the magazine.

And a young girl like Anna is not worthy of being equated with the contribution of her elders.

Now it's all right.

Originally, everyone united to resist the power of the Yelena family and fight for the independence of the magazine.

The scene in front of him was watched by the public.

It must be more like a bunch of old men coming together to bully a little girl I feel sorry for.

It's ugly!

Sir Brown dug a hole for Anna.

As a result, she immediately began to show her weak and helpless side in the public eye, which was used to win sympathy.

Identify vulnerabilities.

Fight back quickly.

What a weak little girl is this.

is clearly a strong woman with great adaptability!

"Ahem, Ms. Elena, please return to your seat. Personally, I am grateful for your recognition of my academic achievements. As far as the president of the magazine is concerned, it is my duty to steer this long-established media outlet on the right path. ”

Sir Brown could only slightly consider his words: "As the Hlaifi shareholders have just said, this is not a personal vendetta. We just want to make Oil Painting better. ”

"Is it better to make art magazines more commercial, to be more speculative?"

The girl looked sideways at the camera in the conference room to the side.

"I prefer to call it a more youthful and modern trend. And, I repeat, this is not the occasion to discuss this matter. ”

The chairman of the board of directors impatiently interrupted Anna's speech: "The important thing now is to vote on whether to agree to the introduction of the major shareholder of the Kruger Brothers Bank. Director Elena, you have the right to vote against it. At the same time, we also have the right to suspend the Elena family's continued one-word rule. ”

"If it's really a word, where will there be a vote for a takeover like this? Under the new shareholding structure, only the shares represented by Kruger Bank and Chairman Brown are combined. That's more than 60 percent of the total shares. On the contrary, that's the real one-word hall. ”

Anna turned her head to face the shareholders in front of her.

"Gentlemen, many of you are my elders invited to join the "Oil Painting" magazine, and your academic achievements are equal to me, and you are my personal predecessors and teachers."

"My elders trust you, and I respect you."

"At this moment, the 136-year history and destiny of the oil painting magazine are in your hands. I don't want to say anything about the empty words that the ancestors of the Elena family are watching from heaven here. As a respected scholar, I believe my predecessors know better than I do what the true soul of this magazine is. Do we really have to turn our backs on our years of persistence for the sake of momentary financial gain? ”

Anna folded her hands on her knees and bowed deeply to the shareholders next to the table.

"I beg the elders, can you help me."

"Sell pity here, morally kidnap ......," Halaifi pouted.

Anna shook her head: "If you really don't want to continue to hold some of the shares of Oil Painting magazine, I am listing for sale two ranches in Australia and North America, plus all the assets I have now that can be liquidated in the short term. Within two months, it will generate approximately 120 million to 130 million euros in cash flow. You may consider selling your shares to me. ”

"I know that there is still a funding gap of tens of millions of euros between this and the acquisition proposed by the Kruger Bank, but this is more than a hundred times the price you paid for the shares from my aunt."

When the elders of the Elena family sold more than half of the magazine's shares, they considered the possibility of being taken over by outsiders.

Under the same offer,

Anna has the right of first refusal to purchase the shares.

Little did they know that a few decades later, the magazine had grown from a million-dollar magazine to hundreds of millions of euros.

Miss Elena really can't come up with that much money.

She was probably one of the richest landowners in Austria, and in sheer terms, richer than the Krugers.

But financial markets and individuals behave differently.

Bankers and landlord wives are also different.

Mr. Kruger controls Europe's oldest private bank, as well as a variety of private equity funds, and can easily use his large cash flow of more than billions of euros to forcibly buy the companies he wants.

And even those tycoons on the Forbes list, few can come up with hundreds of millions of euros.

Meantime.

It happened too suddenly.

Even with the dilution of various inheritance taxes, the total assets of the Yelena family, which passed into Anna's hands, should definitely be more than 170 million euros.

Maybe more than 500 million euros.

However, if the real estate wants to be sold in the short term, it is difficult to discount it significantly, and it also involves a series of problems such as tax calculation and cross-border fund transfer.

That's all Anna can raise.

"The Bible says, 'If there were ten righteous people in that land, the city of Sodom would not have perished,' and today there are only two or three seniors who are willing to stand behind me with the conviction in their hearts. Then the belief at the beginning of the birth of "Oil Painting" magazine - let every beautiful artwork speak for itself, let every beautiful soul speak out, will not be extinguished. ”

"I, a member of the board of directors of the magazine "Paintings", Anna Yelena, voted down the proposal of the Kruger Brothers Bank to buy the magazine."

Miss Elena no longer saw any softness in her.

With a look of determination in her eyes, she raised her left hand high.

As the girl's voice landed.

The meeting room became quiet and the pin drop could be heard, only the sound of the wind coming from the window became clearer.

Not a single person spoke.

Many people froze before Miss Anna's eloquent speech.

"A truly persistent hero, even if the wax wings on his body are destined to be dissolved by the sun, will fly into the distance without hesitation, just like Icarus."

Chairman Brown looked at Anna.

The old sir's mind inexplicably remembered that he had read a sentence in praise of the hero Icarus in Nietzsche's collection of essays in college.

Icarus, the son of the great inventor Didarus in ancient Greek mythology, had a dream of flying and flew into the sky with wings made of wax, but eventually fell to his death because the wax was baked by the sun.

Sir Brown, the ambitious banker who had personally led the takeover, was also moved by the persistent belief that flashed across Miss Elena's face at this moment.

What a good girl.

"Should I say that she is worthy of being a girl raised in a noble family?"

The rich second generation in the world has gone to the sea.

Such decisiveness and calmness are not comparable to ordinary nouveau riche.

Whether it's morality or money, Anna is within her power and gives a solution that is tempting enough.

With Sir Brown, he couldn't have done better than the girl in front of him at this time.

From the elder's standpoint, Sir Brown could have applauded Anna's brilliant speech.

He envied and admired from the bottom of his heart that Aunt Anna, who had passed away, could teach her own girl so well.

Stand in the position of the enemy.

The silver-haired gentleman glanced at the shareholders with hesitation and confusion on their faces, and in the end no one really raised their hands to respond.

He shook his head and sneered.

"Even if she were really Icarus, it would only be an effort that would fail."

One second, two seconds...... Ten seconds passed...... Half a minute passed.

Except Anna raised her arm.

There was no more second-shareholder support.

One vote against and twelve votes in favor.

On March 19, 2023, at 9:17 a.m. Vienna time, the proposal of the Kruger Brothers Bank to acquire Oil Painting magazine was approved!

This is the acquisition of one of the top three independent magazine publications in terms of value this century.

Everyone in the room had the feeling that history was being written.

It was clear to everyone that the century of the Elena family's dominance of the magazine was officially declared to be over at this moment.

It's a new era for the powerful Kruger Bank.

When the results of the vote came out of the mouth of Sir Brown, who was presiding over the meeting.

The female secretary, Eliot, couldn't bear to look at the expression on the young lady's face, and deliberately turned her head to look at the floating curtains by the window.

Anna didn't actually show much emotion on her face.

Everyone knows that she must be very tormented in her heart now.

But there was no hysterical crying.

She just pursed the corners of her mouth and signed her name on the shareholder resolution with a pen stroke, turning into a silent ice sculpture.

This makes many people feel that this young girl is strong and heartbreaking.

"Cut, what else should I do? It seems that someone's speech is not as useful as she thinks. Changing everything with a few minutes of speech, what did she think of herself, Kennedy or a mustache? ”

Hleifi is more stony-hearted.

He was also one of the shareholders who had the most to gain from the acquisition.

At a certain moment, he was really afraid that some of the soft-eared guys around him would be moved by Miss Anna's words.

Now that the overall situation is decided, there is also a boulder in the fat old man's heart.

"It seems that the surname Yelena is not worth tens of millions of euros of real money as Miss Anna imagined......"

"Alright, Hhelaifi shareholder, you can do it in moderation."

Helaifi was about to say a few more caustic sarcasm, but was interrupted by his own people.

"I'm sorry, Anna."

Sakurai was also silent and signed his name in the approval column.

Then he looked up into the girl's eyes, "The Elena family is very great, but it's really not just a matter of tens of millions of euros. Your ideas are respectable, but they are no longer in tune with this era. ”

The choice of the Elena family, or Crook Bank, is not a matter of valuation at all.

Essentially, it is choosing different rules to play.

Whether to continue to stand on the shore of the sea of money and be a lonely bystander, or to make up your mind to be a member of this table - it is a political decision.

The Kruger Bank's stake was only the first sail to be raised from the mast of the magazine's vast plan to sail to the Golden Sea.

This was followed by a drastic strengthening of in-depth cooperation with leading galleries, and the establishment of the first art fund named after Oil Painting magazine, a series of complex financial operations.

Its economic value will also be blown up by the "hot money" of the investment market like an inflated hot air balloon in the deepening commercial transformation.

Everyone present will be the beneficiary of its take-off.

Ultra-high-net-worth households worldwide hold an estimated US$2.34 trillion in art collections, which is between the combined GDP of France and Russia in the P5.

Art funds worth more than $1 billion are everywhere in Europe and the United States.

There's no reason why the Oil Painting fund can't be the next wealth myth.

As Professor Riya Sakurai said.

It's not that everyone is unwilling to give face to the Yelena family, but it's really not a difference of tens of millions of euros.

To put it more realistically and cruelly.

Uncle Osborne's letter can be full of sympathy, because he is not a shareholder of Oil Painting magazine, so he can naturally stand and talk without backache.

In the position of these shareholders, it is difficult for him to make a different choice.

At today's shareholders' meeting, so many shareholders are on the opposite side of Miss Anna, and even without Kruger Brothers, the next investment institution will take its place.

All Miss Yelena's efforts are Sisyphus pushing stones.

The ending has already been written.

"Alright."

Sir Brown smiled and picked up the teacup, scraped the wall with the bone china tea lid, took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Then move on to the next item, remove Director Anna Elena from the board seat." ”

——

The shareholders' meeting lasted until the early afternoon.

With the exception of Sir Brown's initial proposal, there was no single meeting item on which all shareholders could agree.

There is no dramatic plot with ups and downs.

Twelve shareholders were in favor and one was against, and each issue was the same result.

make a proposal,

A show of hands voted against Ms. Elena's vote.

The shareholders sign the new resolution.

It's like a film movie with a bug stuck in the projector, and it loops over and over again.

Even so, the meeting took several hours to draw to a close, due to the huge acquisition plan and share changes involving hundreds of millions of euros.

"Gentlemen, the staff of the magazine has delivered a cold working meal. However, I think it's better to get that last item out of the way, so let's go out for a meal. Maybe I can open a bottle of champagne, I know there's a good Italian restaurant nearby, and I still have an unfinished bottle of Romanée Conti 2003 there. ”

Sir Brown turned to the last page of the agenda in his hand.

"The next issue, the initiator of the proposal is Anna Elena, sorry, it may be more appropriate to say Anna Elena's shareholders now."

The chairman smiled.

Although the results of the vote were not much different from what was expected, today's shareholders' meeting did not meet Sir Brown's expectations 100 per cent.

The current law does not require directors to make mistakes, and any director on the board of directors can be removed as long as the shareholders can reach a majority unanimity.

That's how Jobs was kicked out of Apple.

Sir Brown had carefully concocted what he considered to be "the mistakes made by young Lady Elena in the course of her duties as a director".

Originally, this would be a good opportunity to attack Anna in one group.

It's not easy to find fault with a magnifying glass for someone.

However, it was probably Anna's previous declaration that caused some shareholders to feel guilty.

Regardless of Sir Brown's eyes, the enthusiasm for the discussion was not high.

Except for Hlaifi who echoed two sentences, the whole fault-finding link was over.

"Forget it."

The general trend has been achieved,

Sir Brown didn't care too much.

Next month's European Art Annual Conference is a bigger public stage, and the joint speech he prepared is quite "wonderful" anyway.

His gaze fell back to the last page of the agenda.

Brown frowned at the name "Detective Cat".

Before this shareholder meeting.

Anna only submitted the only item, which he thought would be about a reverse takeover.

The law stipulates that when any company undergoes restructuring, major mergers and acquisitions, commercial investment, etc., shareholders who vote against it can implement the exit clause.

The board of directors is required to acquire all the shares owned by the shareholder at a reasonable price.

It can be regarded as giving the losers of the high-level struggle a decent exit room.

When Jobs was expelled from Apple's board of directors, he sold all of his Apple stock, leaving only a commemorative share, and used the money to found the famous Pixar Animation Studio.

The chairman of the board of directors thought that Anna would ask for this clause to be enforced.

He had discussed with Mr. Kruger that he would like to make an additional investment to absorb all the shares in Miss Elena's hands at a price not exceeding 40 million euros.

That's no more, no less.

Miss Elena will probably sell it.

Major shareholders who have been expelled from the board of directors can easily become lambs to the slaughter, and their assets will be embezzled by all kinds of manipulations.

Sir Brown, for his part, also wanted to spend money and save trouble.

Anna is not as weak and deceitful as she seems.

Please, they also have their own legal team, with such a large stake in their hands floating outside, and all kinds of excuses for you to report to the financial regulatory department.

The substance may not be great, but it is really disgusting.

Unexpectedly, Anna did not mention the relevant conditions from beginning to end.

"Could it be that this little girl still has some unrealistic illusions about her ownership of this magazine?"

The question is,

A major shareholder who was deprived of even a seat on the board of directors.

If she has this heart, what kind of demon can she make?

At this shareholders' meeting, the only proposal initiated by her, Sir Brown also did not know what the road was.

Ms. Elena requested that Oil Painting Magazine reinstate the recommended star rating for online illustrator FiverrID: THE Detective Cat. He also proposed that the management of Oil Painting magazine publicly apologize on the magazine's official website for the mistake of blocking and deleting Detective Cat from the buyer's guide column for no reason. ”

Sir Brown read the proposal verbatim from the meeting log.

The shareholders all around them also showed bewildered facial expressions.

Detective cat?

Who is Detective Cat TMD?

(End of chapter)