Chapter 693: Li Yi’s Family Background!

Stellar Corporation. Conference Room!

After standing up, Chief Financial Officer Zhao Xinlan immediately produced a document and stated clearly, “According to our finance department’s calculations, the dividends to be distributed to shareholders and investors this time consist primarily of profits from long and short positions on gold. The total dividend amount reaches 28.961 billion Hong Kong dollars…”

“Whoa!”

Before Zhao Xinlan had even finished speaking, gasps of astonishment echoed throughout the conference room.

Apart from “outsiders” like Jiang Xue, Chen Chuhong, and Ye Lingyun, the other executives all wore expressions of shock.

Although they had all known that the company had made a substantial profit recently and that the dividend to shareholders and investors would be an astronomical figure, they never imagined the dividend amount would be as high as 28.9 billion.

For a moment, the conference room was filled with a buzzing hum, and exclamations of astonishment rang out nonstop:

“No way! Is this for real? Over 20 billion in dividends? That’s terrifying!”

“Did the finance department make a mistake? Is the company really going to hand out that much money to investors?”

“It shouldn’t be a mistake. Manager Zhao is a very responsible person, and with so many colleagues in the finance department, how could they have gotten it wrong…”

Listening to the senior executives in the conference room voicing their shock one after another, Li Yi couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth turn up slightly.

If a mere 20 billion yuan could shock these executives this much, just imagine if they found out the company’s profits for the past six months had reached over 40 billion yuan—they’d probably faint from the shock.

That’s right—Stellar Corporation’s net profit for the past six months was indeed over 40 billion yuan, 44.5 billion to be exact.

And that was merely the return from two gold investments—it didn’t even include the over 7 billion Hong Kong dollars held at Citibank.

At the end of July, Star Company went long on gold, raking in a massive 6.82 billion Hong Kong dollars in that single trade.

In November, they began shorting gold. This time, they went even further, using leverage to rake in a staggering $4.81 billion.

Calculated at the current exchange rate of 7.86 HKD to 1 USD, that amounts to a whopping 37.8 billion HKD.

When combined with Star Company’s profits from other business operations, the company’s total profits reached a staggering 44.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The reason the publicly reported figure is HK$28.9 billion is that Li Yi instructed Zhao Xinlan to exclude certain investment gains—such as the funds already distributed to Huang Lixing, Li Futiao, and the government—and, of course, the commissions Li Yi had already taken.

Originally, the Finance Department had intended to include these funds as well, which would have made the company’s financial statements look even better.

Moreover, if the company were to distribute over 40 billion in dividends all at once, it would create an even bigger sensation.

However, Li Yi vetoed this proposal. In his view, there was little difference between 20 billion and 40 billion; both would create a sensation and achieve the desired publicity.

Consequently, under his direction, the amount allocated for dividends was immediately reduced by one-third.

Even so, it still sent shockwaves through the company’s senior management!

Compared to the shock of the executives, the expressions on Jiang Xue and Ye Lingyun’s faces could no longer be described as merely “surprised”—the mother and daughter were completely dumbfounded.

They had thought that Li Yi’s ability to make tens or even hundreds of millions of yuan at a time in mainland China was already astonishing enough.

But they never could have imagined that his business operations here in Hong Kong were on such a massive scale—measured directly in tens of billions—which completely exceeded their wildest expectations.

“Ding, ding, ding!!!”

Li Yi tapped the conference table lightly. Hearing this soft yet firm sound, the room gradually fell silent.

“Manager Zhao, please continue!”

“Yes!”

Zhao Xinlan continued, “Over the past few days, our finance department has calculated the dividend accounts for all 8,000-plus investors and the two shareholders. All dividend funds have been fully deposited, and the dividends can be distributed at any time—though the exact timing still needs to be confirmed by the two bosses!”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Huang Lixing interjected, “Brother Li Yi, I’m just a rough-and-tumble guy like me—I don’t know anything about business. You decide this one!”

Instead of immediately announcing the dividend date, Li Yi glanced at Lan Xinming beside him and asked, “When will the project over at Paomadao be completed?”

No. 17 Happy Valley has a very impressive name—Starlight Tower. This 39-story skyscraper, located in the heart of Happy Valley, is the headquarters that Li Yi selected for the company.

This property was originally one of the seven real estate projects owned by the Li family. By the time Star Company took it over, the project was nearly complete.

Consequently, Li Yi decided to convert the project into the company’s headquarters building and commissioned a dedicated interior design plan. Judging by the timeline, the interior work was nearly complete.

Lan Xinming immediately stood up and said, “I was just about to report this to you—the project over there has been completed!”

“Has it been inspected yet?”

“The day before yesterday afternoon, I organized a team of technicians along with Manager Xu from the Real Estate Project Department to conduct the inspection!”

Lan Xinming continued, “The vast majority of the project fully meets the design requirements. Although there are a few minor flaws, they do not affect usability. I’ve already instructed the Engineering Department to make the necessary corrections, and it won’t take more than a few days to get everything sorted out!”

“So, does that mean the company headquarters can move?” Li Yi asked.

“Yes, anytime!” Lan Xinming replied confidently.

“In that case, you guys should look into it and figure out when would be the best time to move over!” Li Yi said.

“Relocating the company headquarters is a major undertaking; we’ll need at least a week to prepare!” Lan Xinming replied.

“That’s too long. I’m giving you three days. In three days, I want to see all employees reporting to work at Star Tower. Can you do that?” Li Yi said in a stern voice.

Lan Xinming knew Li Yi’s temperament well. Without hesitation, he replied loudly, “We can!”

It wasn’t that Li Yi wanted to be so forceful; it was simply that his third older sister was getting married on the 18th day of the 12th lunar month, which meant there were only about ten days left.

Considering he’d need to return a few days early to help out, Li Yi’s time in Hong Kong would be no more than a week—so there was no way he could ask them to move in just one week’s time.

“Very good!”

Li Yi continued, “While the Administration Department handles the headquarters relocation, the Investment and Finance Departments must coordinate with the Public Relations Department to launch a comprehensive publicity campaign regarding our 10 billion yuan dividend.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And the Office Department—immediately call all of the company’s clients and have them come to the new headquarters in four days to collect their dividends!”

Li Yi continued, “Remember, on the official dividend distribution day, we must invite as many media reporters as possible!”

“Yes…”

Afterward, Li Yi discussed the upcoming arrangements with the company’s senior executives. Only after everything had been settled did he adjourn the meeting.

After the meeting concluded, Li Yi took Jiang Xue and his mother-in-law to his office, while Huang Lixing took Chen Chuhong to his office.

Even though the meeting was over, Jiang Xue still seemed dazed; she remained silent the entire time after entering the room.

“What’s wrong? Are you scared?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“Hmm! That’s hundreds of billions! How could that not be scary?” Jiang Xue said.

“That’s not all my money—it’s going to be shared with others!” Li Yi said with a smile.

Hearing this, Jiang Xue’s expression relaxed slightly, and she asked, “So how much of that money will you get?”

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “I’ve looked at the financial statements. Out of this HK$28.9 billion in dividends, HK$10.7 billion is to be distributed to other investors, and the remaining HK$18.2 billion is the company’s net profit.”

“And since Starry Sky is jointly owned by me and Old Huang—with me holding a 70% stake—I’ll get 12.74 billion Hong Kong dollars!”

“Whoa, so that means you’re already a billionaire now?” Jiang Xue said, her eyes wide.

“Probably more than that!”

“More than that?”

“Yeah. Besides these dividends, the company still has an ongoing investment. Once that’s wrapped up, we’ll have at least another four or five billion Hong Kong dollars coming in, including principal and interest.”

Li Yi continued, “On top of that, I’ve already received over 500 million US dollars in commissions, which is nearly 4 billion Hong Kong dollars!”

“On top of that, I’ve invested in several companies in New York. Even without factoring in profits, the capital I’ve put in alone exceeds 1 billion US dollars. Plus, I’ve invested in a large-scale logistics center and numerous real estate projects on Hong Kong Island, so our family’s total assets are roughly 30 billion Hong Kong dollars!”

Hearing Li Yi’s words, Jiang Xue and Ye Lingyun were completely dumbfounded…

…….