Chapter 515: The General Assembly Room
Can Jidao swallow up large enterprises or control listed groups behind the scenes?
This may sound unbelievable. When will a group of Yakuza who only know how to fight and kill do something smart?
But this is not surprising in Neon. Yakuza is just a nickname for the low-level thugs.
The top management of Jidao is divided into different levels, including chairman, president, and president.
As the name suggests, this is just like the internal operations of a company, and Jidao is also running itself like a company.
Even the gangsters with a little bit of status would wear formal suits and leather shoes.
If you don’t know, you might think they are employees of a certain company.
Although they are also engaged in various shady businesses, almost all high-ranking members of the underworld hope that they can successfully whitewash themselves and become members of the so-called upper class of society.
So now that they have a certain amount of financial resources, they have begun to actively participate in various economic investment activities.
The rise of the bubble just gave them an opportunity to take advantage of. The securities and real estate industries have always been the hardest hit areas targeted by the underworld.
The violent organization behind Toyota Corporation has the shadow of Sumiyoshi-kai. Even the two people who assassinated Kazuo Nagano in front of reporters were from Shigeo Nishiguchi's subordinates.
Using two of his men to take the blame in exchange for hundreds of billions of yen, who wouldn't be tempted by such a great deal?
Of course, according to the agreement, when his men are released from prison ten years later, the team leader cannot escape.
At the same time, a large sum of compensation has been handed over to their families in advance.
This kind of thing is very common in the underworld. As long as the compensation is adequate, there are people who will do it.
But when you have money, you want power.
Huge wealth cannot bring them satisfaction, so they want to go further.
It is exciting to stir up trouble in large listed companies and have a good time drinking with the elites in the business and financial circles.
Isn't the reason why Shigeo Nishiguchi established contact with Fuji Bank in the hope of infiltrating the bank and then building an alliance of interests with senior cabinet officials?
However, the road to the top of the mountain is destined to be bumpy, and the current actions of the Sumiyoshi-kai are not very smooth.
The reason why those big shots are willing to deal with them is simply because they can do the dirty work.
In essence, the upper class has never opened their eyes to them.
Even if people are being polite now, it is mostly because of their ancestors or simply because of the current common interests.
So the ambitious Shigeo Nishiguchi began to change his mindset. He wanted to use the opportunity of controlling a listed company to formally complete his identity transformation.
The up-and-coming Shirakawa Electric undoubtedly became his target, because the other party was young enough and probably had no foundation.
This kind of little lamb-like existence is most suitable to be one's prey.
Is Shigeo Nishiguchi just wishful thinking? Will a large listed company accept his manipulation?
Not to mention that there are similar examples in Japan's history, such as the current Industrial Bank, Japan's largest private bank.
In the 1970s, Yoshio Kodama served as a senior advisor to the Industrial Bank, and behind him stood the Yamaguchi-gumi.
With his wide opening, the Japan Air Line Alliance controlled by Industrial Bank became his backyard.
It is unexpected that a violent member of the Yamaguchi-gumi could become a senior executive in the Japan Airlines Alliance.
What is even more incredible is that during a certain period of time, the Yamaguchi-gumi also obtained the operating rights of certain companies under the Japan Air Lines Alliance?
This is really outrageous. They can actually openly control a transportation company with state-owned background.
Although with the death of Kodama in the 1980s, the Yamaguchi-gumi had to withdraw from the Japanese route.
But there is no doubt that Jidao has never forgotten the taste of that peak.
Now, with the expansion of bubbles and chaos in the financial market, the ambitions of some violent gangs are also expanding unprecedentedly.
Not only the Sumiyoshi Association, but even the Yamaguchi-gumi has already taken action, and their target is the Sumitomo Bank.
But that happened in Osaka. Now in Tokyo, Sumiyoshi would like to test the weight of Shirakawa Denki first.
However, Nakamura Minoru's reminder just now made Nishiguchi Shigeo hesitate again.
As far as he knows, the founder of Shirakawa Electric is only half-Chinese, and the power behind him is negligible.
As for being on good terms with government officials? How many business people have bad relations with government officials?
Shigeo Nishiguchi believed that once he reached that step, he would be able to win over even more politicians.
Besides, even now, the Sumiyoshi-kai may not lack the so-called political umbrella behind it.
But to be on the safe side, Shigeo Nishiguchi decided to find a pathfinder first to test the reaction of Shirakawa Electric.
When it comes to the weapon used by violent gangs to target listed companies, the most powerful one is the clubhouse.
The general meeting house, to put it simply, refers to the people who do the business of "commercial shareholders' meeting".
As a product of Japan's unique national character and commercial culture, the business of the clubhouse, like the Yakuza, operates in broad daylight, but it can also be described as a bizarre existence.
What they do is just like lawyers, they specifically target listed companies and use their loopholes or weaknesses to seek personal gain.
Its origins can be traced back to the Meiji period, when the concept of joint-stock companies was introduced to Neon with the rise of the Meiji Restoration.
Since it is a joint-stock company and a listed company, there is no shortage of group shareholders.
According to the regulations of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, companies listed on the first section of the market must have at least 20,000 shareholders.
As stock market trading proceeds, these issued shares can be purchased by any shareholder.
Gradually, this became the soil for a group of shareholders who owned a certain number of shares in the joint-stock company.
They abuse their power and demand improper property or accept bribes from the company.
The interest group formed by these shareholders is the now famous Club House.
According to Japan's Commercial Law and Company Law, listed companies must hold a regular shareholders' meeting at a certain time each year.
Any shareholder who holds the statutory quota of shares has the right to attend the general meeting of shareholders.
For listed companies, especially large ones, their annual shareholder meetings are often attended by tens of thousands of people.
When there are more people, there will be all kinds of birds.
Some people with ulterior motives usually seize on the pain points of listed companies and question whether business operators need to be responsible for certain things.
Although they are just a group of insignificant small shareholders, the top executives of the company are often humiliated in front of tens of thousands of people.
The Japanese are born with the habit of saving face. If they are criticized in public or argue with others without caring about their image, it will be considered a shame and a violation of tradition.
These corporate executives absolutely disdain to argue or defend themselves with small shareholders at shareholders' meetings.
Therefore, in order to end the shareholders' meeting as quickly as possible, business operators either try to smooth things over when faced with those who make trouble.
Or they could promise benefits in private to make these small shareholders behave themselves at the shareholders' meeting.
Over time, the shareholders' meeting has become a "face-saving meeting" or "applause meeting."
And those small shareholders who have tasted the sweetness think that this is also a way to make money.
So, unintentionally, they took advantage of legal loopholes and became regular guests at the shareholders' meetings of various listed companies.
They initially called themselves "professional shareholders" and their specialty was making a lot of noise and speaking out at meetings, questioning every aspect of the company's operations.
If the company fails to respond to their problems, they will vigorously publicize the company's operational failure.
Or they may spread rumors that the leader’s character and morals are untrustworthy, thereby suppressing the stock price and causing heavy losses to the company’s operators.
Over time, the "club houses" formed by these professional shareholders have become a huge headache for listed companies.
Later, in order to avoid possible losses, most company operators would adopt an avoidance policy, that is, spend money to buy peace.
They pay a certain amount of protection fee to the General Assembly House every year to prevent them from causing trouble during the shareholders' meeting.
With such indulgence, the appetite of the General Association grew bigger and bigger, and they began to be dissatisfied with just showing their prowess at the shareholders' meeting.
They also try to deeply participate in the decision-making and operation of many companies, and are even willing to provoke fights and initiate bloodshed for this purpose.
During its hundred-year history, the Sogaiya even had a fight with the Yamaguchi-gumi.
With the development of the neon economy in the 1960s, the scale of the association house continued to expand as more and more companies went public.
They are present in real estate, communications, transportation and other industries, and the Yakuza and the Sokakuya are in perfect agreement on the need to control large companies.
The Sokakuya is responsible for controlling the shareholders, while the Yakuza are responsible for providing security for them.
With the cooperation of all parties, the association house once had a population of more than 6,000 people.
Moreover, due to the exchange of interests, many bigwigs in both the black and white worlds use the clubhouse as an intermediary channel for rent-seeking power.
No one in the business and political circles was spared, and some even said, "No company in Japan can escape the General Association House, not even a single one."
Although this is a bit exaggerated, it is enough to show the prosperous status of the club house in Neon.
And with so many years of development, do you think the General Association will only cause trouble at the shareholders' meeting?
It would be too simple to think this way. As a leader among the elite, the General Association has long developed a mature and complete "shareholders' meeting participation system".
Not only is there a detailed division of labor, but there is also a "one-stop, satisfying service".
For example, for those companies that have paid the right amount of money, the general association will send someone to the meeting to shout "I have no objection, I agree, long live!"
They use such actions to interrupt the speeches of shareholders who truly have ideas and opinions, thereby depriving ordinary individual shareholders of their rights to participate in management and ensuring that the shareholders' meeting ends as soon as possible.
Look, as long as the money is right, a tough guy can also become a bootlicker.
The Soukaiya had considered buying Shirakawa Electric before, but its stock price remained high and there were very few shares in circulation.
As a result, the head office staff who sneaked in found themselves facing mostly head office staff wearing Shirakawa Electric work clothes at the shareholders' meeting!
Looking at the densely packed head of the company's staff, even Gang Jing would have to think twice before complaining about Shirakawa Electric in person, bringing up the consequences.
Besides, with the protection of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, the general association still took each other's face into consideration and did not target Shirakawa Electric too much.
But now it’s different. With the sharp drop in stock prices, the market is flooded with more Shirakawa Electric stocks.
Moreover, there have been changes within Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, so the General Association no longer has to worry too much about the latter's influence.
This situation is definitely good for the association.
So when it came to choosing a pathfinder, Shigeo Nishiguchi first thought of the general meeting house.
If you want to control a listed company, of course you have to start with the shareholders' meeting.
