At the Future Group building, Jiang Chen came to work as usual.
Two weeks had passed since the funerals of the four soldiers. At least Coro Island had returned to peace. At least the tourists who came to the island no longer felt the tense atmosphere from before. The only difference was that security near the airport and docks had been strengthened. The patrol drones stationed near the Future Building were also increased to twice the usual number. Future Heavy Industries had been recruiting. The production line in the arsenal in the Ange Island Industrial Park had been running non-stop.
Xia Shiyu walked into Jiang Chen's office and gently placed a stack of documents on the corner of the table.
"The company's financial report came out last month. Don't you want to take a look?"
"Just tell me if it's positive or negative."
"The company's total revenue last month was 4.7 billion US Dollar, down 13.7% from the previous month. If the situation doesn't improve next month, it may decline by another 4-5 points. " Xia Shiyu paused and then continued, "After all, we lost the entire Europe."
Jiang Chen picked up the financial report and looked at it.
"Do you have any good suggestions?"
"Lay off the European branch," Xia Shiyu said without hesitation.
"It may cause a brain drain." Jiang Chen didn't agree with this view.
"Senior executives and technical staff retain their normal salaries, and basic employees stay on without pay. This will reduce a lot of our expenses. I don't deny that Future Group can indeed afford to support these employees, but if we lose the European market for a long time, we must make long-term plans. We can even temporarily close the European branch, keep only one office to maintain patents and trademarks, and relocate the entire senior executives to Penglai or the Coro Island headquarters. "
Xia Shiyu's judgment was correct.
She made a judgment based on the CEO of Future Group. If the European Commission was determined to fight Future Group to the end, then Future Group would have a hard time in the European market, and there was basically no way to fight back.
There was an international precedent to follow.
In the second half of 2013, the European Commission launched a double antitrust investigation against three Hua photovoltaic companies. Even if the EU's decision lacked sufficient legal basis and violated the spirit of free trade advocated by Western countries, the sanctions were eventually implemented.
Affected by this, the three photovoltaic companies were forced to withdraw from the MIP agreement and were imposed a high tariff of 47%. After the ruling came out, the two photovoltaic companies announced that they would no longer ship from Hua to Europe and would shift their market focus to Hua, Japan, and Korea.
If the resistance came from the policy side, then there was nothing the company could do.
Since they had to leave sooner or later, it was better to just lay off hundreds of thousands of people and leave with senior executives and technical personnel.
Seeing that Jiang Chen didn't make a decision, Xia Shiyu sighed and continued.
"… At this stage, Future Biology's nutrient supply is under investigation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The results will be released in a week. From the current situation, although Tao Ming continuously held press conferences and claimed that there was no problem with the nutrient supply and even drank two bottles on the spot, the final result of the investigation may not be favorable to us. "
If it were before, Jiang Chen would's first, he would first, then would he would greet the president of the Union.
But now, he was surprisingly calm.
Chen. but now, he was.
"Issue Xin visas to the executives and technical staff, as well as relocation fees. "Xin, and those Chen.. by. by. If you don't want to be transferred, you can take two years of paid leave. "
Xin's tax rate was different from Europe with high taxes and high benefits. Even if wages remained the same, these European employees who immigrated to Xin could receive a much higher salary than working in Europe.
. Jiang Chen took a deep breath, paused for a moment, and crossed his fingers on the table.
"Except for Future Bank, all 315,000 employees of the group's subsidiaries in the EU will be laid off!"
With 315,000 employees, Future Group's monthly salary alone was close to 1 billion US Dollar. Layoffs were commonplace in the capitalist world, and Future Group wouldn't be morally reprimanded.
However, the EU countries wouldn't feel good. After all, there were 300,000 more unemployed people. Even if it was shared among the countries, it wouldn't feel good. This was the case in high-welfare countries. Unemployed people had to be supported by the government.
"As for the UK … let's wait and see for the time being," Jiang Chen continued.
The UK was no longer in the EU, and it didn't respond to the Freemasonry's attack on Future Group. However, if the UK also attacked Future Group, Jiang Chen didn't care. He already gave up on the European market.
At least until the Freemasonry collapsed, he didn't plan to return.
"Yes."
Xia Shiyu nodded and left the office.
…
The European Commission was in the midst of slaughtering Future Group. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the EU was determined to seize Jiang Chen's "home" in Europe. However, just three days before EFSA's investigation on the safety of nutrient supply was released, Future Group suddenly announced that its assets would fully withdraw from Europe and lay off 315,000 employees. Only two offices located in France and Frankberg would remain to deal with legal issues …
After receiving this news, the European Commission, which was in a meeting to discuss how to deal with Future Group, suddenly quieted down.
The commissioners looked at each other, opened their mouths, and no one said a word for a long time.
Sitting at the head of the conference table, the President of the European Commission, Juncker, pondered for a long time. He held a pen and tapped on the notebook, breaking the silence at the conference table.
"Does the discussion still need to continue?"
"… Layoffs? 320,000? Are they crazy? "The commissioner from Frankberg was in disbelief at the news.
After all, one-third of Future Group's employees were concentrated in Frankberg. If this news was true. Then just a second ago, there were another 100,000 unemployed people in Frankberg.
"It seems that they are true." The French commissioner looked at his watch, then closed the pen cover and notebook. "It seems that the meeting can end early. We won. Future Group ran away from Europe with its tail between its legs … Thank God, this business is finally over."
For a series of investigations on Future Group, he also faced a lot of pressure when he voted in favor.
The people were not as easy to fool as they looked. A series of measures taken by the European Commission were clearly tinged with strong local protectionism. Perhaps entrepreneurs were happy to see one less competitor, but in the eyes of those who had a favorable impression of Future Group, this behavior was not as popular as when they investigated Hua's photovoltaic companies.
After all, most people would not be exposed to photovoltaic equipment every day, but every day they would use Future phones and the only neural access device in the world – the Phantom helmet.
Even if this was the intention of the Freemasonry, it was the voting commissioners who needed to withstand the pressure of public opinion, as well as the government behind each member who voted in favor.
"Then the meeting is dismissed."
The commissioners from various countries left the table one after another. Although they had won, for some reason, no one had a happy expression on their faces.
When leaving the meeting, Commissioner Framon made two calls, one to the president and the other to an old friend in the Freemasonry. When he returned to Frankberg, he would be very busy …
Although it was true that he had won, Framon felt like he had been defeated.
It must be an illusion.
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