Next Man, Better Plan novel Chapter 145

Stephanie asked curiously, “Why was he laughing at you?”

“You should ask yourself that. What were you and your friend bad-mouthing me about over dinner?”

Stephanie frowned, thinking back carefully before a blush of embarrassment crept across her face.

Jonathan turned to look at her, his eyes intense. “Stephanie, were you doubting my… capabilities?”

Stephanie’s face turned bright red.

It was all Cecilia’s fault for spouting such nonsense. And to think someone overheard—how mortifying.

Stephanie quickly explained, “It was just an offhand comment. We were mainly talking about the Meridian Consortium acquisition.”

“Oh?”

Since the topic had come up, Stephanie decided to get straight to the point.

“Do you really want Meridian Consortium? Ironhold Investment Group and Meridian have some overlapping business. If I hand the company over to you, are you planning to merge them?”

The most effective way to eliminate a competitor was to crush it in its infancy. Over the years, Ironhold Investment Group’s subsidiaries had snatched a lot of business from Meridian Consortium, making them rivals.

This was why so many large corporations were keen on acquisitions.

An acquisition turns two companies into one, creating a perfect market monopoly.

Jonathan suddenly smiled. “If it’s an acquisition, merging the business operations would be the most logical step, wouldn’t it?”

He was right. After all, with two companies under the same enterprise having overlapping services, any sensible boss would integrate resources to maximize profits.

Stephanie bit her lip.

Businesspeople always put profit first, so Jonathan’s approach wasn’t wrong. But perhaps their positions had been fundamentally different from the start.

But… Meridian Consortium was her father’s life’s work. She couldn’t stand by and watch such a large company disappear and be rebranded under another name simply because she had mismanaged it.

Whether it was her words that pleased him, Jonathan’s lips suddenly curled into a smile.

“What’s yours is mine? Alright, then. I’ll have my people integrate Ironhold Investment Group’s business lines and merge them into Meridian Consortium.”

Stephanie was visibly stunned. “What do you mean?”

Jonathan thought to himself that since she’d already said what’s yours is mine, he, as a man, couldn’t be stingy. It was time to show some reciprocity.

“I’m adding business lines to Meridian Consortium. Are you happy?”

Did Jonathan mean he was planning to give Ironhold Investment Group’s business to Meridian Consortium?

But wasn’t he the acquirer?

She had only ever heard of the big fish eating the little fish.

Who had ever heard of a big fish willingly offering itself up to be eaten by a small one?