FB: Chapter 22 – Buildings And Investment

I looked at the finished apartment building. The contractors and workers had come through big time. Finishing on time and on budget. The budget was inflated but finishing it on time was far more important in my mind. The ground was frozen at the moment, but construction was still continuing with the remaining buildings.

We had signed a tentative agreement to build 9 more apartment blocks to be completed half a year from now, then 30 after that, and then 80. I would have to have the money a year from now, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

“We are going to be moving capsules tomorrow,” Anthony said while looking over the construction with me. The cold wind blew through the construction site with a flurry of snow.

“Well, let’s take a look,” I said, and we went into the capsule complex. There were five floors and one basement with an extra tall ceiling. Each floor had twenty rooms lining either side of the hallway with their own bathroom. There were two large elevators at one end of the hallway next to the main entrance, with a stairway on either side of the rectangular building.

Each room had a large doorway to get in along with an anti-vibration pad for the capsule to rest on. There was a window as well with blackout curtains and a small cot to the side. The capsules weren’t the long-term ones with medical nanites, so people would not be sleeping in them.

The basement had a workout room, kitchen area, laundry, dining area, and lounge area that would be shared between all the residents in the building. The kitchen could make food, but it would have a lot of high quality pre-made meals ready to be heated up. There would also be a storage where cleaning fluid would be restocked for people to pick up.

The rooms were quite small, but they were private and the walls were thick to block out sound. The same with the windows which were recessed to prevent rain from easily hitting them.

“We have 80 capsules ready to go?” I asked Anthony.

“Yes, with more on their way. With 60 of those already in use,” he said.

“My family is signing up as well along with several of my brother’s friends. That would be another 20 on my end,” I said. Bethany had moved out of my home after paying me back and then some. I didn’t mind or make a fuss. She didn’t like the guild contract I had offered her. She had found her own way to do things and I was happy for her. I was glad that we had parted on good terms and still left text messages for each other. It felt nice to reconnect with a past friend.

“I do have another 200 people lined up,” Anthony said.

“That many?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes. Many of them are a bit more violent,” he said.

“Well, there are security cameras built into all the hallways and public areas. I trust they know not to make trouble here?” I asked.

“There won’t be. If there is trouble then they are gone,” he said, and I nodded in relief at that. I didn’t know if he meant fired from their job or tossed in a ditch somewhere and I didn’t care to ask. I couldn’t control everything, and I had enough worries without thinking about future problems that hadn’t even happened yet.

“Good. I don’t have time to babysit idiots or handle trouble. I noticed you have a trailer set up on site as our temporary office?” I asked.

“Yes, separate from the construction. To manage the properties. Once we have a proper building we can move the staff out of trailers,” he said.

“Well, construction is going quite well on the rest of the buildings. The main issue is going to be funds for all the remaining capsules. Your investors are lined up?” I asked.

“They are watching closely, but I am playing things close to the chest for now. Once you make your move in game, then we can have that meeting. Always good to have more leverage on our side,” he replied.

“Ten billion, might be a bit low at that point,” I said with a bit of contemplation.

“No one else is purchasing as many capsules as we are. I looked into it. There are concerns,” he said.

“Right now, no one is buying them up. We need to maintain our aggressive posture. The price is dropping since the platinum list has been fully cleared out and we need to keep our quota as high as possible,” I said, referencing capsule purchases.

“Then we need that investment money,” he replied.

“I won’t lower the valuation at all and will leave that part to you. I need to be focused entirely in game going forward, since things are going to move very quickly very soon,” I said.

“I wasn’t planning on lowering it, but there will be more pressure to put up a larger percentage of our corporation,” Anthony said.

“Can we even use more money?” I asked.

“The problem is real world cash flow. We don’t want to be moving a lot of currency out of the game,” Anthony said.

“Currency in game will drop in comparison to the dollar regardless. If we do raise ten billion, how long can we operate?” I asked.

“For everything, we are looking at two hundred million per year in operational expenditure not capital expenditure. Also, the investors will be looking at returns,” Anthony said.

“Copper will eventually go down to being equal to a penny, so a silver per dollar. And we will be asking people to raise ten thousand copper per day. Even if the exchange rate drops to a penny, we will still be earning approximately 26,500 dollars per person per year, after operational expenses which you pegged around 10,000 dollars per person per year. We will have a cash flow of half a billion dollars just from the guild members,” I replied. This stuff was my bread and butter from before with my background in accounting.

“And we will have invested around twelve billion dollars by that point. And I know you mentioned keeping as much currency in game, so there will be no dividends,” Anthony replied.

“You aren’t taking into account the high performers and people earning more over time. Also, that was the worst-case scenario with copper being equal to a penny. There are more ways to earn money in game. If people don’t want to invest, that is their problem, but we don’t need outside investors. Our ramp up time will just be slower,” I explained.

“If you had to put a timeline on paying out dividends, what would you say and how much?” Anthony asked.

“It isn’t simple. With 20,000 people we would be considered a top large guild. But would be an ant to the future super guilds with over 1,000,000 people. If we want to grow, we can’t pay dividends. I would phrase this as a long term investment plan. If people are looking to turn around their cash quickly, I will just buy out their shares myself after a three year period for ten times their buy-in,” I countered.

“You would be able to afford that? We are talking a hundred billion dollars,” he said while looking at me intently. I just grinned at him. He was underestimating what nations, and top companies would be willing to pay to get a larger slice of the pie.

“Hmm, it should be doable, but it would be very annoying. Items, doing some mercenary work, there are countless options. No resale of their shares until after that initial three year period, or at least make it difficult,” I replied.

Anthony shook his head. “You are awfully confident about the future.”

“Yes, I am. I am confident about navigating the complex waters inside Exponential. Any trouble from the political angle?” I asked.

“The local town has bent over backwards for our corporation with long term tax breaks, so has the state. At the next legislative session, which is in three weeks, they will put the tax breaks into place for us. Which is timed for just before the Tournament of Champions,” he said. Good, it was better to get the political stuff got sorted before politicians started asking annoying questions once we became successful.

“We need someone to keep an eye on the federal legislation as well.”

“Any particular issue you are concerned about?” Anthony asked me with an appraising look.

“Taxes and nationalization of portions of our company. Hmm, if we could take over the prison system, that would be useful. We could use a large chunk of our investment to house people at 50,000 per year. They save money, we make money, and we get money from their work in game while developing a fighting force. That would open up real world money line and would hopefully insulate us from any laws in the future. It would also give us a strong fighting force,” I suggested.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start on such a project. I would have to hire people to look into it. Which would be another expense,” he replied.

“It would be worth looking into. We have a tremendous amount of land in the area. Our initial hundred or so capsule complexes will take up a tenth of what we have available?” I asked.

“I have been scooping up even more land around the area. Most people were more than happy to sell their homes and land for a bit above market value. I will look into building a capsule prison. But will probably have to build it first. Might be easier to partner with an existing company,” he suggested.

“We want the prisoners as our cheap workforce. And for the most competent, we can screen them out and have them moved to other areas like combat,” I replied.

“Hmm, some people would definitely be interested in such an idea. We might need more security if we go that route,” he replied.

“Secure Solutions is large enough to scale up with us. And I would insist on a third party company for providing onsite security here as well. That can be augmented by anyone you want, but that is something I am not budging on,” I replied sternly. Anthony nodded at this.

“Then the only thing to do is wait and see if your claims live up to everything you have said,” Anthony replied.

“I am betting on myself,” I said with confidence. Already my plans in game were at the point that I would soon enact them and my constant grinding in the Murk Swamp would come to a close.