Although Feng Yu have tens of millions RMB, but China was too big. He had a lot of money, but he could not afford to buy all the shares, not even 1%. It was not yet 1990s but there were already tens of thousands of joint-stock companies, and many of them had issued stocks. There were already tens of dozens of companies that issued shares countrywide.
Li Shiqiang frowned. We will keep the earnings, and you will pay for the losses? Who will do such things? Even if you were very confident, you should not be doing this.
Feng Yu took out a stack of contract after he continued: “Whatever you all said earlier will take effect after signing this contract!”
Wu Zhigang and the staffs read the contract. The length of the contract was 20 years. This length was considered almost half of their working life. Also, it states that if they jump ship or resigned, they would have to compensate 3 times the previous year annual income. This was too ruthless!
These people had only worked for Feng Yu for slightly more than a year and their average annual income for last year was about 10,000 RMB. 3 times compensation would amount to 30,000 RMB!
“I will bring all of you along to make money and will teach all of you how to make money, how to negotiate business. If this is a factory, all of you have to call me Shi Fu (teacher)! I will continue to bring all of you to make money and ensured that all of your income will rise every year and your salaries will be higher than those in the Machinery Company, or any companies in China. But after I trained all of you, I cannot allow you to leave and join others and used the things I taught you to compete with me. All of you have the option to sign this contract. If you sign it, I will take care of you. However, if you decided not to sign it, it’s fine. You can leave now.”
Feng Yu does not dare to claim that Wu Zhigang and the rest were the best talents, but their way of thinking and doing things was much better than an average person. Also, they had learned some of the sales techniques at Tai Hua Trading. As such, Feng Yu wanted to tie them down with a contract.
Before anyone could react, Wu Zhigang signed his name on the contract without any hesitation. The others immediately followed. Even the 2 newly joined financial staffs also signed the contract. A 20-year contract was the equivalent to the “iron rice bowl” jobs in state-owned enterprises. Manager Feng also promised that they would be getting retirement and pensions too. Just like those working in the state-owned enterprises.
Feng Yu dared to make these promises was because in 1992, China introduced social security and in 1996, it became compulsory for all companies to implement it. Social security was only a small sum of money, and Feng Yu does not mind at all.
Feng Yu nodded in satisfaction when he saw everyone signed the contracts: “Don’t think that the length of the contract is only 20 years. I promised every one of you that after 20 years, all of you will be millionaires and even shareholders of the company. That’s the same as being one of the bosses! Now, tell me how much you are willing to fork out? I will not say much. In 2 years’ time, the money you take out today will at least doubled twice!”
Wu Zhigang and the rest eyes widen. Doubled twice? That means 10,000 will become 40,000 in 2 years? This was much faster than going to work.
“I can take out 15,000 RMB!”
“I will use 20,000 RMB!”
“I can take our 18,000 RMB!”
……
Everyone was shouting out the amount they wanted to invest. Even the 2 new joiners also took out 5,000 RMB each. Even if they do not have 5,000 RMB now, they could get a loan from friends and relatives. The most they will give them interest.
The 2 newly staff were in-charged of Tai Hua Trading finances, and they knew how much money Tai Hua Trading had. The total amount collected from the staffs were not even considered small change when compared to the funds in Tai Hua Trading accounts. That’s why they do not think that Feng Yu will cheat them of their measly amount!
“Fine. From tomorrow onwards, all of you will be going in pairs to different banks to buy shares. Remember, buy everything you can! Your money can be used to purchase whatever shares from our company next week. All the shares certificates will be kept together in the safe. Dazhou, Xiaoliu, inform ICBC to prepare cash. I want the maximum amount of cash they can prepare!”
Wu Zhigang and the rest went back to their work. In the meeting room, only Li Shiqiang and Wen Dongjun were left.
“Brother-in-law, how much funds can your logistics company take out without affecting the operations? Use all your spare funds to buy shares!”
Li Shiqiang asked worryingly: “it doesn’t matter which shares to buy? What if there’s a loss? Shouldn’t we should use half the funds to buy first?”
When he had no money, Li Shiqiang was bold. But when he was rich, he starts to become cautious. He does not want to lose the money he painstakingly earned.
“Brother-in-law, trust me. Everything’s fine. The news had reported that the lending rates and deposit rates had fallen. This meant that the government is encouraging us to spend more. There’s not much to earn from Treasury Bonds, and now, it’s the era of stocks. The government is encouraging this!”
Li Shiqiang thought back on this brother-in-law’s miracles and gritted his teeth: “Fine. The logistics company can take out about 1.5 million RMB. The Motor Factory will be settling a payment at the end of the month and taking out this money will not affect the operations.”
Li Shiqiang made up his mind. He decided to use all his available funds. Now the logistics company does not have many expenses except for operational costs.
Feng Yu frowned. Only 1.5 million RMB? When can brother-in-law build a hospital for his sister? Hmmm, later he must drag his brother-in-law to the bank.
“Fine. You should ask your staff to inform the bank to prepare the money.”
There was still no securities companies in Bing City, and the shares were the same as Treasury Bonds. They were sold by the banks. If you want to buy stocks, you need to go and buy it over the counter. If you're going to sell your shares, you need to sell through the bank. The trading of shares was not allowed to be conducted privately.
Of course, there was another way to sell the shares, which was through the bank’s subsidiaries, retail outlets, and securities companies.
The last place to sell the shares was the company that had issued the shares.
Transacting at the banks was easy. But if it was the securities companies or other places, the transactions will be using cash. It’s more cost effective to buy and sell in cash. In this era, the buying and selling of shares were not done electronically. It was still using paper certificates. The shares were in the form of 50-yuan, 100 yuan, and 200 yuan denominations. 1 yuan was equivalent to 100 shares.
The issuing of shares was still in the pilot phase, and there were not many regulations. It was messy, and there were not a lot of people buying them. Also, the Bank’s securities counter was not using the electronic screen used in the later years. It was using a blackboard. The prices of the shares and transactions were written in chalk. Most of the shares transacted were in single digits.
Why was there only people buying shares and no one was selling them? It was because people who bought the shares treated them as fix deposits. Most of these people were the ones who had traded Treasury Bonds. They held the shares in their hands, and there were very few that sold their shares. Some months there was not even one person selling shares.
……
Early next morning, when CCB just opened its doors, there were 2 young men at the securities counter.
“Good morning. How can I help you? You are purchasing Treasury Bonds?”
The Treasury Bonds were still very popular, and usually, people who went to the securities counter were buying Treasury Bonds.
Feng Yu asked: “How many types of shares are available and how much is the total?”
The bank staff was shocked. After a few seconds, he rolled his eyes. How much is the total? What? You are going to buy everything? The total is at least over a million. Can you afford it?
“There’s a total of 8 types of shares, and the total is about 2 million RMB. You want to buy shares? How many hundreds are you buying?”
Feng Yu laughed: “Only 2 million RMB? So little? I want everything!”
Everyone in the bank, including all the staff and customers, turned and looked at Feng Yu. What did that kid say? He wants everything?