How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

The construction of the race track will probably take about eight months, and it's expected to be officially put into use in the second half of next year.

According to calculations, the Yangcheng International Race Track should be able to make a profit of over 700 million a year."

Gu Heng was listening to Lin Hansheng's words while idly flipping through the documents in front of him.

This estimate is based on the Shanghai International Circuit. 700 million a year is not too much, but not too little either...

But Gu Heng didn't care...

His investment in this project was never about making money. How much he made was of little difference to him...

"But!"

Following Lin Hansheng's but, the eyes of everyone in the room were on the head of the table.

"We, the Yangcheng municipal department, have had several major meetings regarding the revenue issue and have come up with a condition.

That is, all the profits from the five companies at the International Racetrack must not be taken away. Taxes must be paid to Yangcheng, creating a Yangcheng International Race Track Joint Fund, which will be co-monitored by the Yangcheng municipal government and the five companies.

The purpose of this fund is to invest in the municipal construction of Yangcheng, with the investment shares being proportional to the race track shareholdings!"

As soon as the words were spoken, all eyes, except for Gu Heng's, incredulously turned to Lin Hansheng...

Even Gu Heng, who didn't care about the profits, was stunned by these harsh demands.

All profits had to stay, taxes still had to be paid locally, and the profits had to be reinvested into municipal construction in Yangcheng. Wasn't this essentially asking the five companies to pool 10 billion to work for the Sheep City Municipal Engineering?

Gu Heng couldn't believe that Fu Songyang, Lu Yuan, and the CEO of Xiaopeng Automobile, He Xiaopeng, would agree.

Sure enough...

As Lin Hansheng turned his questioning gaze to the crowd, He Xiaopeng spoke up directly, "I do not agree with this proposal."
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Lin Hansheng: "Mr. He, please tell us your view."

"Although Xiaopeng Automobile is a listed company, 3 billion in funds is still a significant amount for us. According to Director Lin, if this investment can't produce a profit, or if the profit can't contribute to the company's development, it will inevitably affect our financial reports and have very serious consequences for us.

Moreover, our company's board of directors absolutely cannot accept this mode of cooperation.

While I am very willing to support the municipal construction of Yangcheng, as the chairman of the company, I need to be responsible for the thousands of employees in our company."

He Xiaopeng was forthright, with no intention of being diplomatic.

These terms were almost tantamount to a coercive contract...

Perhaps the project's completion would greatly enhance Xiaopeng Automobile's reputation in the industry, but he couldn't afford this loss.

Director Lin showed no change in expression after hearing He Xiaopeng's words and instead turned his gaze to Gu Heng: "Chairman Gu, you are the second biggest investor in this project. I would like to know your opinion on this condition."

Being directly addressed, Gu Heng also spoke up unflinchingly.

"As Director Lin just mentioned, the project's net profit a year is about seven or eight hundred million. Dividing it down, our IDE Capital would earn about 200 million a year.

To put it less pleasantly, 200 million is peanuts to us. The company can simply implement some cost-saving measures on other projects and save these 200 million, so I am not very concerned about this profit."

Hearing Gu Heng's words, even Fu Songyang and Lu Yuan frowned...

Gu Heng didn't care about 200 million, they knew that.

But just because he didn't care, it didn't mean others didn't.

Now, from Gu Heng's response, was he going to agree to Lin Hansheng's terms?

But then...

Suddenly, Gu Heng changed tack.

"However, Director Lin, I would like to ask you, if we go by this condition, can this still be called an investment?"

Lin Hansheng: "..."

"If Sheep City Municipal Engineering needs donations, there could be a public corporate fundraising, right? As a Chinese corporation, we at IDE Capital are more than willing to contribute to the construction of Yangcheng. Just before coming here, I donated 1.4 billion to my alma mater, Peking University."

"To put it bluntly, we are just a bunch of businessmen. Don't all our companies make various investments for the sake of profits? If Yangcheng Municipal has new projects that need investment and the conditions are right, I believe none of the five companies present would refuse.

But it certainly shouldn't be by introducing these nonsensical terms. To speak frankly, what's the difference between this and bullying customers?"

He Xiaopeng's stance was firm which was good, but his word choice was still relatively restrained...

But with Gu Heng's words, it was like he'd flipped the table during the conversation...

It was very possible that this meeting would break down...

But Gu Heng didn't care in the slightest.

He had met many bigwigs by now and wasn't at all intimidated speaking with Director Lin.

As for the project breaking down, Gu Heng cared even less...

The system reward threshold had been resolved, and there was no rush to invest. If the investment could be successful, then that was the best outcome, but if not, it didn't matter. With so much cash flow at his disposal, was he afraid of not finding investment opportunities?