"H-hello, Your Royal Highness... It's a great honor."
Everyone shook hands with the two princes. Honestly, among the people present, Mavi was the calmest and most at ease. Meanwhile, Boss Ma from Alibaba, CEO Ma from Tencent, and others couldn't be as relaxed and chatty as he was.
Out of respect for Mavi, the two princes from the Middle East definitely greeted Boss Ma, CEO Ma, and the others warmly and pleasantly, exchanging a few polite words. They had to keep up appearances.
"Hello, are you from China? I went to China with my father before. Tiananmen and the Forbidden City are both very beautiful," the Saudi Prince said with a bright smile. What he actually wanted to say was that in the 80s, Saudi Arabia bought 35 medium-range missiles from China, costing a staggering 3.5 billion US dollars.
However, in 2001, this matter was still highly classified. It wasn't allowed to be made public until six or seven years later. So, the Saudi Prince really couldn't bring it up.
Seeing that the princes from the "Tycoon Nation" were so approachable, Boss Ma, CEO Ma, and the others, who had been a little worried, now relaxed and responded with smiles, "Your Royal Highness, you're too kind. We've always wanted to visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE..."
This was a typical moment of commercial flattery. The conversation between both sides was very harmonious. Actually, Boss Ma and the others also knew that the only reason the two princes from the Middle East were chatting with them so amiably was entirely because of Mavi. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have had this opportunity.
"Since we're getting along so well, how about we take a photo together as a souvenir?" Mavi suggested casually. A group of people had traveled a long way to attend his company's annual meeting, and as the host, he naturally couldn't neglect his guests.
"Okay, Mr. Mavi, I think that's a great idea," everyone agreed.
So, at someone's suggestion, the Saudi Prince, the Dubai Prince, along with Boss Ma, CEO Ma, and others, took a photo at the airport. And this very meaningful photo was kept by Boss Ma, CEO Ma, and others, hanging on their office walls. Even when their companies relocated later, they always took it with them.
Ten years later, Boss Ma, who had become the richest man in China, talked about this photo on a talk show. He honestly confessed to the host, "I've always hung this photo on my office wall. It's to give myself a goal to strive for."
"Then, I believe you must have achieved that goal by now?" the host asked, following up.
Boss Ma shook his head after hearing that, then replied humorously, "Precisely because I haven't been able to achieve it, this photo is still hanging on my office wall to this day."
After watching this interview, many netizens analyzed the photo and speculated. They guessed that the goal Boss Ma mentioned was likely the Russian man standing in the center of the crowd wearing sunglasses. That is, Mavi, the chairman of the Ma V Group. Only he could be the goal for China's richest man, which shows just how terrifying his financial power is...
...
Time returned to January 2002. After receiving the Saudi Prince, the Dubai Prince, and others at the airport, Mavi took everyone in a convoy to the stadium where the annual meeting was being held.
This time, the two princes didn't air transport their exclusive vehicles to Russia. Instead, they obediently went with the flow, riding in whatever cars Mavi arranged for them, showing no princely airs at all.
Upon arriving at the stadium, everyone was arranged in VIP seating. The Ma V Group's annual meeting last year was held in a five-star hotel. There weren't that many people then, so a single banquet hall was enough.
However, this year, with 7,500 employees, plus 300 business partners, and some famous Hollywood actors and popular singers, along with security personnel, nearly 8,500 people gathered together. No hotel could accommodate this many people.
So, they had no choice but to rent a professional venue to make it happen.
An hour later, Mavi, wearing a custom-made suit, walked step by step onto the stage, welcomed by the host and enthusiastic applause from the entire audience.
Through the lights from the stage, standing on the platform, Mavi could clearly feel the gazes of the 8,000-plus people below directed at him. That feeling was much hotter than last year.
Fortunately, over the past year, Mavi had experienced a lot more. So, facing the intense gazes of over 8,000 people, he could respond with a calm smile instead of feeling nervous and flustered.
As soon as Mavi took the microphone from the female host, he casually made a joke to the audience below, "Ahem! I just heard from a few executives that some employees who are usually not very active at work were extremely enthusiastic about coming to the annual meeting today. Looking at this change in attitude, could it be that you're eyeing the prizes for the annual meeting?"
As soon as he finished speaking, many employees couldn't help but smile knowingly. From their facial expressions, it was clear they were thinking, "Big boss, why are you saying such blunt truths! Yes, we've been eyeing your prizes since the end of last year!"
Seeing the reactions of the employees below, Mavi continued on stage, "Well, I won't say much else; I'm sure you're not really in the mood to listen anyway. Let me first talk about the universal participation prize for this annual meeting! Regardless of whether you win anything else in the end, every employee will receive an Amazon gift card worth $4,000."
As soon as Mavi's words fell, his immense wealth instantly made his employees excited and boil with enthusiasm.
"Wow, an Amazon gift card worth $4,000 is just a consolation prize? Our group has over 7,500 people, so doesn't that mean the consolation prizes alone will cost 30 million US dollars!? This is already more than the total value of last year's prizes!"
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"Looking at the boss's attitude, this year's group annual meeting is probably going to cost at least 100 million US dollars! I feel like I'm going crazy, I'm so looking forward to the lucky draw later!"
...
Due to the listing of two companies last year, plus the surge in the group's market value, Mavi gained enormous profits. Therefore, he naturally had to spend more money on this annual meeting to reward this group of employees who worked hard for him. After all, for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, 60 billion US dollars were planned to be spent. Spending an extra 30 million US dollars wasn't a big deal, especially when it was rewarding his own people.
This casual display of wealth by Mavi left Boss Ma from Alibaba, CEO Ma from Tencent, and others sitting below the stage sighing with emotion.
30 million US dollars is equivalent to 250 million RMB! Directly distributed to employees as a universal prize. Boss Ma and CEO Ma admitted they didn't have that kind of guts. Among the many people present, the only ones who could possibly compare to Mavi were probably the two princes from the Middle East...
However, the princes from the "Tycoon Nation" couldn't run a group company like Mavi. After all, they weren't "reborn" people and couldn't act as extravagantly as Mavi.
(End of this chapter)