An offer you cannot refuse

Michael had barely gotten back to his office when Jennifer came barging in.

" Michael, big news!" She was out of breath and could not speak properly.

" Calm down Jennifer. Have a seat and then tell me what the issue is."

" We got offers from nearly a dozen companies for Capos." She declared.

Michael had already expected this. The game was too enticing, any businessman could tell that the company that owned it would make massive profits. Perhaps if the offers came three days ago he might be tempted. However, he had already invested so much into the future of the game so he would not give it up.

" Jennifer you know I don't want to sell the game. Why would I let someone else benefit from my hard work?" Michael explained.

" I know Michael and you can ignore all other offers; however, one offer is from ER games. You need to treat that company with respect. They are one of the largest gaming companies in the world. Unlike other companies, they focus only on games; therefore, they have a huge presence in the market." Jennifer explained.

She hoped that Michael would understand. She knew that Michael was attached to the game because it was the company's first product. However, this was the world of business and there were certain forces that could not be crossed. If that happened then their budding company would be squashed in its infancy.

The seriousness of the situation dawned on Michael after listening to Jennifer's explanation. He had been preparing for the encounter with mega-corporations because of his wild ambitions. On his way to the top, he would have to drag down giants that had occupied their thrones for decades. However, he had just released his first product. Even though they had an extravagant office, Eminence gaming was no different than startups that operated out of garages. He was not ready to go to war with the giants yet.

Michael shook his fears and made up his mind. He knew that he could not be afraid of the future. All of these companies were started by dreamers from their garages. If he wanted to be successful, he would have to fight to the top just like them. Furthermore, he had the support of his system so who did he have to fear?

" My answer is still no. I don't intend to sell my company or my games." Michael adamantly replied. The game was encrypted to prevent others from cracking the technology. However, if they had the original files then they might be able to figure the technology out. Michael realized that he could not sell the games even if he wanted too; he could not leak technology from the system.

Jennifer sighed; she almost expected that response. From the moment she learned of Michael's ambitions, she knew that he would not bow down to anyone. Frankly, that's why she wanted to work for him. However, unlike her, Michael did not cower from the pressure of competitors; He faced them head on and decided to keep fighting.

" I understand, I will support your decision and do everything I can to protect the company. However, there will be some retaliation." Jennifer warned.

" There is no need to turn down all their offers immediately. Use a delaying tactic to buy some time. Make it look like we are trying to get the highest offer." Michael explained. Even if he decided to fight, he could use all the time he can get to make preparations.

Michael dismissed Jennifer and went to meet his traders. The traders had been learning from simulated trading accounts for the past two weeks. It was time for them to move on to live trading. After all, practice is different from the real thing. Michael knew from experience that trading with real money was a completely different experience.

He also wanted to introduce the contracts to the traders. Cindy had kept her promise and delivered the contracts after one week. Michael was not ready to sign any traders on yet; however, he wanted the traders to be familiar with the employment terms so that they will only sign the contract after knowing what to expect.

Michael walked upstairs and called his traders to the conference room.

" I hope everyone is doing well. You guys have been practicing for quite some time. All of you have shown tremendous improvements, some more than others. I want to use this opportunity to introduce the contract that will be offered to the best traders at the end of the training period.

I am giving copies early so that you guys will know what to expect. Feel free to have the contract checked by your personal lawyers." Michael explained as he passed around copies of the contract. He gave them some time to read it clearly.

As the traders started reading the contracts some of them started to frown. After a while, a small group started murmuring.

" For the past two weeks, you haven't shown up to help us learn. We had to learn by ourselves and now you offer this slave contract. Do you think we are idiots? Nobody will sign this." One of the traders went on a tirade.

Michael remembered him. Out of all the traders he hired, Rick had the highest qualifications. He had a master's degree in finance and nearly 10 years of experience in the industry. However, he did not have any trading experience and so Michael hired him with the others. It seems like Rick thinks he is better than everyone else and is trying to get special treatment.

Michael looked at the response of the other traders. It seemed like there were three factions. One group clearly sided with the angry trader. Another looked like they did not know how to respond and maintained a neutral stance. The last group was clearly opposed to the angry trader and seemed interested in the contract. The neutral faction was the largest and the two other factions were approximately the same size.

Michael needed to handle this situation in a delicate manner. He did not want to lose all his traders.