Penny Smith was slightly startled by her husband's reply. However, immediately after, she figured out the meaning of his words.
If her grandpa and two uncles each held 20% of the company's shares, they would occupy 60% of the shares in total.
That would make them the majority shareholders of the company, and they would hold the decisive vote in any matters concerning Cross Corporation.
According to Nathan Cross's counterproposition, the shares that Sean Smith and his sons were entitled to would only equate to 30% of the company's total shares. That meant that the final decision of any company matters would still be in Penny Smith's hands.
Sean, Samuel and Paul widened their eyes and said in dissatisfaction, "You mean our nine hundred million is only worth 30% of your company's shares?"
Nathan Cross replied indifferently, "If you think this is a losing proposition for you, you don't have to force yourselves to take it up. Besides, even if you become our shareholders, you will only be common shareholders who receive dividends and would not be involved in making day-to-day decisions."
Sean Smith and his sons' original plan was to own more than half of the company's shares among the three of them and have a controlling interest in Cross Corporation. This way, it would make it easier for them to seize the company entirely.
They had not expected Nathan Cross to see through their scheme.
Even though the three men deeply resented Nathan, they hid their true feelings as they had their eyes on the Cross Group's fortune. Smiling ear to ear, they replied, "Okay, let's just do as you say then."
As such, on the very day itself, Penny Smith signed a contract with her grandpa and two uncles, stating that the three men would put in nine hundred million in total, and occupy 30% of Cross Corporation's total shares.
Nathan and Penny had dinner together with Penny's parents that evening.
One could easily tell from Leah's expression, that she was still upset over what happened in the afternoon. At the same time, her eyes were also filled with worry.
In Leah's opinion, her husband's dad had never taken care of their family nor had he ever offered to share any benefits that the rest of the Smith family enjoyed with them.
They only offered to invest after seeing the potential of the Cross Corporation and the good results which the company was achieving. They merely did not want to miss out on a slice of the pie.
Benson and Penny were aware that Leah was unhappy that the old man had taken advantage of their family. However, neither of them dared to say anything, as they did not want to risk Leah's wrath.
The father-daughter pair kept casting glances at Nathan, signaling him to placate Leah.
Recently, Leah had been growing increasingly fond of her son-in-law.
As such, he was the only one Leah was likely to listen to.
Nathan Cross was all smiles as he asked his mother-in-law, "Mom, are you feeling upset?"
The woman replied indignantly, "Your grandpa is always taking advantage of us! He wants to have a share in our company after seeing its stellar performance. Isn't it too much?"
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