My absurd experiences in North America over the years

Thomas was still reeling from what had just been said when Li Fu pulled out a second document from his briefcase.

He must strike while the iron is hot and finalize the matter quickly.

"This is the equity adjustment plan for the investment company," Li Fu said, placing the document on the table and pushing it towards you. "I know things in Washington must be very difficult for you, but after this adjustment, they definitely won't have any excuses."

Thomas was still thinking about how to bring up this matter with Li Fu, as the equity adjustment was a prerequisite for the Forrest family to protect Li Fu.

If no adjustments are made, the enemy will always have an excuse to launch an attack, and he will be unable to protect it even if he wants to.

Making adjustments will inevitably be difficult.

Because Li Fu's shareholding is too high, and Forrest Capital's valuation now far exceeds that of private hospital groups, it will be very difficult for them to repurchase it.

Thomas was surprised and curious about how Li Fu planned to adjust the situation.

Thomas was immediately shocked within thirty seconds of opening the first page of the document; his gaze lingered on the words "gift without compensation" for a long time.

Li Fu actually wants to give 4% of the shares to Lucy and 2% to Cole, without any preconditions or additional terms. It's a simple, gratuitous gift. Even his own son would probably find it hard to be so generous.

Forrest Capital is no longer what it used to be.

Even disregarding the joint fund, the investments in real estate, technology, media, and social platforms are still quite valuable, and the industry is generally optimistic that they have the potential to reach a market capitalization of hundreds of billions in the future.

Even disregarding these expected values, a 6% stake could easily fetch over a billion dollars.

Just like that, a free gift?

Thomas looked at Li Fu with a mix of disbelief and complicated feelings. Could it be that the other party really considered the Forrest family as one of their own?

Otherwise, it would be really hard to explain why they regard money as dirt.

With this in mind, he felt ashamed of his hesitation last night about whether to protect Li Fu.

He is not the kind of cruel and cold-blooded person.

"Are you really sure?" Thomas looked at Li Fu, still feeling that it wasn't quite real.

"Without Lucy and Cole's help, I wouldn't be where I am today. I've made up my mind; it's a gift without expecting anything in return," Li Fu nodded solemnly.

Lucy already knew about this, but she was still unable to calm down, and her eyes were full of tenderness as she looked at Li Fu.

Not to mention Cole.

The donation of hundreds of millions of dollars was so decisive and calm that even Cole, who has seen the world and has the ability and opportunity to run for the next governor, couldn't keep up.

"Li, you don't need to do this..." He stepped forward and patted Li Fu on the shoulder.

He suggested that everyone work together to overcome the difficulties, or that the family trust could find a way to repurchase the shares.

But Li Fu interrupted him directly.

"This can't be considered free. Everything I have started with is that five million angel investment and your continued support. This share is what you deserve," Li Fu said sincerely.

In fact, he did not do this entirely out of necessity; he had genuine motives.

Having been given a second chance at life, he didn't value wealth that much. He could squander his current wealth as he pleased for the rest of his life, living a carefree life to the fullest.

Cole had genuinely helped him.

These shares aren't really that important.

At that moment, Thomas felt an urge to regard Li Fu as his own son. He took a deep breath and continued reading.

On the second page of the document, Li Fu planned to adjust the Forrest family trust's shareholding to 39%, plus Lucy's 4% and Cole's 2%, ultimately giving the Forrest family a total of 45% shareholding.

Li Fu himself further reduced his shareholding to 45%, which is comparable to that of the Forrest family.

Thomas took a deep breath. He never expected Li Fu to be so decisive, giving up so many shares to save face for the Forrest family.

He closed the file, then opened it again and looked at the numbers once more.

This made him feel even more ashamed.

"Li, do you know how much these shares are worth right now?" Thomas didn't continue reading, but looked at Li Fu instead.

If he were to announce now that Forrest Capital is adjusting its shareholding structure, there would be a large number of bidders, and someone would be willing to spend 3 million to buy even 1% of the shares.

If he weren't so valuable, Li Fu wouldn't have been targeted, and people wouldn't have wanted to take advantage of him.

Financial investment often focuses not on the present, but on future expectations; large sums of money can make a profit if they outpace inflation.

Moreover, even now, 1% of the shares are definitely worth 200 million.

"I know it very well, and that's why I did it."

No one understood the future value of Forrest Capital better than Li Fu; he always knew that he was building a trillion-dollar business empire.

Such a vast business empire needs a solid foundation, and the Forrest family is the most solid pillar.

Whether out of emotional reasons or to consolidate allies, he had a reason to do so.

Thomas didn't say anything more. He continued reading. Li Fu planned to retain 10% of the shares to introduce a third shareholder, making Forrest Capital's foundation more solid, and exchange the remaining 9% for 12% of the shares of the private hospital group.

"You want to exchange your shares in the private hospital?"

"Yes," Li Fu answered truthfully, "I hope the outside world can realize that I am not a foreigner using the Forrest family's name, but a partner or one of our own who will always consider things from the Forrest family's perspective."

"Do you know that this exchange is unequal?" Thomas would not easily sell the shares of the private hospital group held by his family trust.

There were no exceptions before, but that was before.

He was still worrying about how to repurchase Forrest Capital's shares yesterday. He considered raising funds, deferring payments, or borrowing from banks to repurchase them at a price lower than the market price.

But even so, it would still require at least a billion dollars, and he plans to repurchase 15%.

A 55% to 45% equity ratio can silence the enemy somewhat, and the rest can be fine-tuned later.

He never considered a share swap.

The private hospital group is the foundation of the family business, although its overall market value is less than four billion US dollars.

In other words, a 12% stake in a private hospital group is worth less than $4 million, while a 9% stake in Forrest Capital could easily find a buyer for $20 billion.

There's no way around it, the joint fund is just too profitable.

Although in theory physical assets are more valuable than financial assets, this theory does not hold true when the amounts are significantly disproportionate.

"There's no such thing as equality or inequality; we don't need to calculate it so precisely internally."

Li Fu once again gave up an enormous sum of money.

To others, this might seem like the courage to make a painful sacrifice and the generosity to regard money as dirt. However, to Thomas, who has been repeatedly impacted, it is a profound emotion.

Thomas wanted to slap himself twice; he had actually hesitated last night.

"No!" He immediately shook his head.

"dad……"

Cole and Lucy spoke at the same time, assuming their father was going to refuse Li Fu's offer to invest in the private hospital group.

Thomas waved his hand to stop them, "You're so generous, I can't be so stingy. 12% of the shares is too low, I'll increase it to 18% for you."

This is very close to the maximum share he can adjust in a short period of time. The Forrest family trust holds all the shares of the private hospital group, but adjusting more than 20% of the family trust would be very troublesome.

This is a security measure implemented when setting up the trust to prevent excessive changes in shareholdings from harming the family's foundation.

Thomas dared to do this because the 18% stake had no impact on the operation of the private hospital group, and the risk clauses could be clearly written when the swap agreement was signed.

Similarly, even if the Forrest family's shareholding in the investment company were equal to Li Fu's, he would absolutely not interfere with Li Fu's operations.

This is the level of trust they have built so far.