Extraordinary Genius
Chapter 745 – Sixth Sense Company’s developments
Nasdaq isa stock exchange in New York but operates differently from the NYSE. The mostsignificant difference is Nasdaq uses electronic trades, while NYSE stillneeded to go through brokers.In itsearly days, Nasdaq was a platform for unlisted small companies to raise fundsand for people to trade unlisted companies’ shares. It was also the world’sfirst electronic stock market.
Nasdaqgrew at an alarming rate. Their over-the-counter trading system does notrequire brokers and dealers. Some people even felt that Nasdaq was not a realstock exchange, but a virtual stock market! But theNasdaq will become one of US major stock exchange. Nasdaq composite index alsobecame an essential indicator of the security markets.
Microsoftand Apple were listed on the Nasdaq. Of course. Trading can also be done on NYSEthrough phone or internet. But it was still not as convenient as Nasdaq.
The Sixth Sense Company will be gettinglisted on Nasdaq. This was because the requirements to get listed there werethe lowest. The conditions were much lower than NYSE, Tokyo Stock Exchange,London Stock Exchange, etc.The requirements for getting listed onNasdaq was tangible or physical a.s.sets worth more than 6 million USD, profitsof more than 1 million USD before taxes the year before, outstanding shares ofmore than 1.1 million shares, minimum of three market makers, each stock mustbe at least 5 USD and at least 400 shareholders.
All other stock exchange needed thefinancial reports for the last 3 years and must have more than 2,000shareholders. The company’s tangible a.s.sets must be worth more than 1.8 millionUSD, etc.Because of the lower requirements ofNasdaq, there were a lot of companies listed. Most of the companies were small-mediumenterprises and new startups. These small companies were able to raise fundsquickly. Nasdaq was like China’s Growth Enterprise Market.
The Sixth Sense Company had met thecriteria for both the a.s.sets and income. But they did not have enoughshareholders because they only had a few hundred longtime employees. Most j.a.panese companies will have lifetimeemployment contracts for their employees. But these contracts were only formainly j.a.panese, and companies seldom issue this contract to a foreign worker.This was a common practice in big j.a.panese enterprises. As long as the employeedid not make any grave mistake or committed any crimes, they could remain atthe company for the rest of their lives.
Also, these employees will get salaryincrements based on their age. Some companies, like Panasonic will offer uniquebenefits. For instance, a male employee got married, the company will ask thewife to resign and stay at home to take care of the house. At the same time,the husband will get a pay raise of about 50% or even more. The increment willhave to depend on the wife’s previous salary. In j.a.pan, female employees’ wageswere generally about half of the male employees at equivalent rank. j.a.panese firms took good care of theiremployees. The Sixth Sense Company had more than 5,000 employees, but only afew hundred of them were given lifetime employment contracts. This was becausethe rest of their staffs were from other countries like Europe, the US andother parts of Asia. Kameda Masao will not give such employment contracts tothese staffs.
If something happened at the company andthere was a need for retrenchment, Kameda Masao could just retrench those ordinaryemployees. The company would not need to pay out a large amount of retrenchmentfees.Kameda Masao will not tell the press aboutthis. If he told the media, the reporters would question him why can’t theother employees not under lifetime employment contracts purchase the company’sshares?
The other employees were also allowed topurchase the company’s shares. But it was limited to the middle and highermanagement staffs. Their treatment was not like j.a.pan, where even a lifetimeemployment security guard can purchase the Sixth Sense Company’s shares.Feng Yu was speechless when he learnedabout this. All of them were employed under the same company. You can just seta minimum year of service as the criteria. This way, more people will bewilling to buy the company’s shares.
But Kameda Masao explained that theiroverseas employees were mainly salespeople. Everyone knew that sales had thehighest turnovers. He cannot just issue a long-term contract to them justbecause their performance is good for the past two years. Unless the staff isthe top salesman in the company. But if the staff is the top salesman in thecompany, he will be given a management role, and he could also buy thecompany’s shares.Feng Yu could not retort Kameda Masao, asKameda Masao was more familiar with the company. Even when it comes to managinga company, Kameda Masao was much better than Feng Yu.
Feng Yu did not use his status as the mainshareholder to pressurize Kameda Masao. He just let Kameda Masao do whatever hewants. Anyway, the Sixth Sense Company was developing much faster than FengYu’s expectation. It was already the world’s biggest s.e.x toy manufacturer. Mostof the company’s profits came from their s.e.x dolls, lingerie, vibrators, andcondoms. Out of the 4 products, s.e.x dolls and lingeriehad already dominated the global market in terms of market share and sales.
The other two products’ sales and marketshare were also rising. They were closing in on the global leaders fast. As j.a.panese p.o.r.n adult videos became morepopular in the US and Europe, Kameda Mas...o...b..lieves that the sales of hisvibrators will also increase. j.a.pan’s design of such products is the mostadvanced in the world!
Condoms are the Sixth Sense Company’slatest product. Although the sales were not bad, their condoms were still notthe best in j.a.pan. Currently, Okamoto brand was still the top condom in j.a.pan. Kameda Masao had planned to use the fundraised from this listing to invest in the R&D of condoms. He aimed to beatOkamoto in j.a.pan first and then be the top condom producer in Asia, followed bythe world/
Feng Yu was not optimistic about KamedaMasao’s goal. It was still a question mark whether if he could win Okamoto.Even if he exceeds Okamoto, there are still lots of big condoms manufacturersin the world.But Feng Yu agreed that the condom marketwill increase in the next few years, and it’s a must for the company toincrease its scale and invest more into R&D after the listing.
If it weren’t for Feng Yu taking away partsof Sixth Sense Company’s profits, they would need to depend on this listing toraise funds.Feng Yu and Kameda Masao were veryconfident about this listing. This was because they had engaged the services ofa few top brokerages as their market makers!
Translator’s notes: I thought lifelong employment in j.a.panese firms hadceased. This is not a good practice and will result in many redundant staffs inthe company. Even when the company is in a crisis, they can’t retrench thesestaffs. But from the perspective of the employees, this is a good thing. Theywould have job security and does not need to worry about unemployment. However,if a lazy person like me got this contract, I will just do the minimum workevery day and wait for my pay increments every year.Growth Enterprise Market
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_Enterprise_Marketj.a.pan’s lifetime employment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_employment
