January 7, 1982, the 13th day of the 12th lunar month, Thursday!
Early in the morning, the area in front of Starry Sky Building at 17 Happy Valley Road in the heart of Hong Kong Island was already packed with people.
Among them were clients of Star Investment Company and reporters from various media outlets, but the majority were ordinary people who had come simply to watch the spectacle.
This morning, Star Investment was set to distribute 29 billion in dividends to over 8,000 investors and two shareholders—an unprecedented event since the founding of Hong Kong Island.
With such a grand event, any resident with free time wanted to come and see the excitement!
Naturally, the media wouldn’t miss out on such a hot story either; whether invited or not, they had all arrived early.
Due to the massive crowd, the Hong Kong-British government, concerned about potential disturbances, had deployed police early to maintain order.
As a result, although the crowd was large, order was generally well maintained!
At 8:30 a.m., as the doors of Star Tower opened, a team of security guards arrived at the building’s entrance.
The security guards then used a megaphone to instruct Star Company’s clients to line up immediately for registration, after which they would enter the company in groups of fifty to settle their dividends.
Soon, a long line formed outside the entrance to Star Company!
At 8:30 a.m., a motorcade of three vehicles arrived at the foot of Star Tower.
When the car doors opened, a Chinese man in his fifties stepped out and, surrounded by bodyguards, walked into Star Tower.
Upon seeing him, ordinary citizens in the crowd gasped in surprise: “It’s Mr. Li Futao of the Li family…”
Meanwhile, the reporters frantically pressed the shutters of their cameras, snapping away nonstop!
And this was just the beginning. Over the next half hour, local business tycoons arrived one after another.
Soon, people were astonished to discover that eighty percent of Hong Kong Island’s wealthy Chinese elite had turned up—meaning the vast majority of these tycoons had business dealings with Li Yi and Starry Sky Corporation.
Even more astonishing was that most of these tycoons had come in person—for example, Li Futao, the “Ship Chartering King,” and “Superman” Li—and even Old Master Huo had made the trip himself.
The few who did not attend in person had sent their family heirs instead.
This alone was enough to show that these people had a deep and close relationship with Li Yi!
Just as the citizens thought the guests had mostly arrived, a massive motorcade appeared on the main street in the distance.
From a distance, the convoy consisted of over a dozen luxury sedans, led by none other than a Mercedes-Benz.
The lavish motorcade soon arrived at the foot of the Star Tower. As the doors opened, Li Yi and Huang Lixing stepped out of their respective luxury cars.
As Li Yi and Huang Lixing appeared, the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers, while the investors waiting in line to enter applauded them enthusiastically.
For a moment, thunderous applause echoed endlessly at the entrance of Star Investment.
Li Yi didn’t put on airs; after getting out of the car, he kept waving to the crowd.
He knew the importance of public appeal and couldn’t afford to squander it by acting arrogant.
Sure enough, as Li Yi waved, the cheers and applause grew even louder.
Upstairs in the VIP lounge of Star Investment, a group of Chinese business tycoons were sipping tea and chatting, waiting for Li Yi’s arrival.
Suddenly, hearing the thunderous applause and deafening cheers of “banbanhaobang” erupting from below, they all rushed to the windows to see what was happening.
When they saw that the crowd was actually applauding Li Yi and Huang Lixing, they were all secretly shocked.
They never would have imagined that Li Yi, having been in Hong Kong for barely half a year, had already gained such prestige among the general public.
For a moment, everyone’s moods and thoughts varied…
……….
At exactly 9:00 a.m., the dividend distribution officially began!
Although Starry Sky had gone all out with publicity leading up to the dividend distribution—constantly rolling out jaw-dropping gimmicks that had the media and newspapers scrambling to cover the story—
However, once the actual dividend distribution began, Star Company kept the proceedings surprisingly low-key.
The company’s finance director, Zhao Xinlan, simply stepped forward to briefly read the dividend plan and outline the points to note during settlement, as well as how to resolve any disputes regarding the results.
Once these matters were addressed, Star Company began distributing dividends to investors with remarkable efficiency!
To distribute the funds to investors as quickly and efficiently as possible, all 32 members of Star Company’s finance department were mobilized, and 10 regular service counters were opened simultaneously to process dividend settlements for investors.
Of course, this did not include Li Yi, Li Futiao, and others; dedicated staff were assigned to handle the dividend settlements for these top executives.
In the VIP lounge, Finance Director Zhao Xinlan and Deputy Director He Tiansheng personally stepped in to settle the company’s dividends for shareholders Li Yi and Huang Lixing.
Zhao Xinlan took two pre-prepared documents from a folder and handed them to Li Yi and Huang Lixing.
At the same time, Zhao Xinlan said with a serious expression, “Gentlemen, according to our finance department’s calculations, the company’s net profit is 21.6 billion. After deducting applicable taxes and fees, the dividend payout to shareholders amounts to 18.286 billion Hong Kong dollars.”
“Based on the company’s share distribution, Mr. Li holds a 70% stake and is entitled to 12.8002 billion Hong Kong dollars, while Mr. Huang holds a 30% stake and is entitled to 5.4858 billion!”
“If you both have no objections to this profit distribution, please simply sign this document, and the dividend funds will then be transferred to the accounts you’ve designated with the company!”
Li Yi picked up the document, glanced over it, and, finding nothing amiss, promptly signed his name on it.
Huang Lixing, standing beside him, was even more decisive—he signed without even glancing at the document.
Once both men had signed, Zhao Xinlan collected the two documents and said, “The funds are expected to be credited to your accounts by 10 a.m. tomorrow. Please be sure to check your accounts!”
While Li Yi and Huang Lixing were receiving their shareholder dividends, Li Futiao, He Dongying, Bao Chuanwang, Li Chaoren, and others had also completed their settlements and received their dividends.
After the settlements were finalized, everyone returned to the VIP lounge upstairs.
As soon as these bigwigs met, they began asking their close friends about each other’s dividend returns.
Li Hengji of Li’s Real Estate sipped his coffee and asked He Dongying, who was sitting next to him, “Old He, I recall your family invested 100 million. I imagine you’ll be getting a dividend of around 300 million this time, right?”
He Dongying smiled first, then replied, “Our He family invested far more than 100 million. Including the additional funds we injected later, we’ve invested a total of 300 million Hong Kong dollars!”
“300 million Hong Kong dollars? Doesn’t that mean your family will be getting over 900 million this time?” Li Hengji asked, looking stunned.
“Hehe, this time we received 940 million!” He Dongying said triumphantly.
They had truly made a killing on this investment; and that 940 million in dividends didn’t even include their principal.
As far as he knew, the principal they had previously invested was held by Starry Company in US dollars at Citibank; at the current exchange rate, it had already appreciated by 75%.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, in six months’ time, they would be able to settle another four or five hundred million Hong Kong dollars in principal and interest.
With such a high return on investment, not even robbing a bank could bring in money this fast.
Just then, He Dongying spotted Li Futao walking out of the finance office with a smile on his face. He immediately waved him over and said, “Old Li, over here!”
Once Li Futao approached, He Dongying couldn’t wait to ask, “I know your Li family has also injected additional funds. Tell me, how much did you get this time?”
Li Futao didn’t beat around the bush. He smiled and said, “Not much—just over 2.4 billion, not quite 2.5 billion!”
He Dongying: @#￥%……
Li Hengji: @#￥%……
Aside from these Chinese business tycoons, today’s celebration also belonged to the ordinary investors.
Although the returns varied depending on the timing of their investments and the terms of their contracts,
But even those with the smallest dividends received a staggering 50% return, and there were plenty who achieved ultra-high returns of double, triple, or even quadruple their investment.
After receiving their dividends, the entire Star Tower was filled with excited, cheering investors, and those still waiting in line were swept up in the excitement, joining in the cheers.
For a moment, the entire Star Tower, inside and out, was filled with deafening cheers…
……..