Rebirth of England.

Chapter 904 Wish you good luck
"Aren't you going to give me an explanation, John?"

As John Smith expected, he received a call from Barron, but the call came a little later than he had expected.

"I'm doing this for the advancement of the Sinclair Group, Barron."

"There's no need for us to beat around the bush. You understand the crux of the matter. The way you informed us represents your choice."

Hearing Barron's aggressive tone on the phone, John Smith couldn't help but feel upset. He said in a cold voice:
"I have no choice. You know, if Sinclair Group continues to expand, it will be restricted by the FCC, but the Vanguard Group can help me remove this obstacle."

"What a shame... Good luck, John."

Hearing the hang-up sound on the phone, John Smith shook his head and said:

"It seems that His Royal Highness the Duke is not in a very good mood..."

At this time, the person sitting opposite John was F. William McKenna III, the chairman of the Vanguard Group. He exhaled a puff of cigar smoke and said lightly:

"No one would feel good if they were faced with something like this, but there is nothing we can do about it. This is just a business operation."

"But the shareholders' meeting has been postponed to the day after tomorrow. Is that really okay?"

Seeing that John Smith was still somewhat anxious, McKenna III stood up and patted him on the shoulder:

"We have already prepared for this, haven't we? These two days are the weekend. Before the shareholders' meeting on Monday, even if IC Capital or DS Holdings wants to buy shares from the secondary market, there will be no chance."

Generally speaking, some of the company's more important decisions will be voted on through two methods: the board of directors or the shareholders' meeting.

For example, the previous fight between John Smith and his older brother David Smith over the position of board member was decided through a vote among board members - the board's decision-making method is for board members to vote, one person, one vote, and the minority obeys the majority.

This is why the number of board members is often chosen to be an odd number, to avoid tie votes.

However, major matters such as company restructuring, acquisition or sale can often be voted on at a shareholders' meeting - this is a competition to see which side gets the support of a greater proportion of shareholders.

The reason why John Smith chose to vote through the shareholders' meeting this time was also the result of consultation with McKenna III.

The board of directors of Sinclair Group originally had 11 members, but after David Smith passed away and John Smith became chairman, coupled with changes in the shareholders of Sinclair Group, they reorganized the board of directors.

Currently, the Sinclair Group has 7 board members. The Sinclair family has two board members, John Smith and his half brother. John Smith can control these two votes. Even if one director from Vanguard Group is included, they can only be sure of three votes in support, which is not a majority. IC Capital and DS Holdings each have one board member, and these two board members are definitely their "opposition". As for the other two board members, including an independent director and a director from Fidelity Investments, their attitudes are uncertain.

Therefore, John Smith chose to vote through the shareholders' meeting. He now controls 30.25% of the shares. Together with the 7% held by Vanguard Group, they have at least 37.25% of the shares.

IC Capital and DS Holdings hold a combined 30% of the shares. Since he chose to notify the other party on Saturday, he would not have enough time to buy shares on the market. This was safer.

"I have already talked to the people at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments will remain neutral in this vote, but the prerequisite is that we sign a price guarantee agreement with them for Sinclair Group's shares..."

McKenna III said:
"This also means that within the next 12 months, Fidelity Investments has the right to sell us their shares in Sinclair Group at the current share price. I promised you that I would do it. What about you? Are the other shares of the Sinclair family safe?"

John Smith understood that McKenna III was referring to the shares of the Sinclair family members who had previously sided with David Smith, including David Smith's personal shares, which were held by David Smith's widow as guardian, and the personal shares held by David Smith's two half brothers, Duncan Smith and Robert Smith.

The three of them now hold a total of 7.75% of the personal shares, the same as the personal shares held by David Smith and his half-sister.

This is what they are worried about. If Barron gets the support of these 7.75% shares, then 37.75% of the shares will be in the hands of the "opposition", which is higher than the 37.25% that they can clearly control at present!

"I already got it done yesterday. They signed an agreement with my lawyer that the shares will not be sold or entrusted in the future..."

John Smith sighed:
"I paid a price for this, and if the stock price drops later, I will also need to compensate them, and I will also pay them extra fees!"

"If that's the case, then there's no way Barron would be able to veto our proposal."

You know, these major shareholders already hold nearly 83% of the total shares in Sinclair Group. So it is impossible for Barron's 30% shareholding to purchase more than 37.25% of Sinclair Group shares from the secondary market in the short term to surpass their 7.25% shareholding.

At the shareholders' meeting, neither other small shareholders nor institutions holding a small amount of Sinclair Group shares care about who will control Sinclair Group in the future. What they care about is whether the company's performance can bring them returns.

From this perspective, if the acquisition of Forum Media Group can be completed, Sinclair Group will own more than 220 local TV stations, including many profitable sports channels. There is no need for small shareholders to object to this.

"Then I'm looking forward to the expression of the 'Investment Queen' at that time. It's a pity that her boyfriend, the Duke of England, will not attend this shareholders' meeting. I hope he can understand that this is just our business behavior..."

"Mr. McKenna, the equity incentive you mentioned earlier..."

McKenna III laughed when John Smith brought up the topic:
"Don't worry, Mr. Smith. We at Pilot Group will reward those who bring us benefits. We will sign this agreement with you after the shareholders' meeting. As the chairman of the larger Sinclair Group in the future, if the company achieves outstanding performance under your leadership, you will receive generous rewards."

(End of this chapter)