Alex works to increase his momentum and tries to test Micheal with his words.
"As you are in business too, you should know that the competitors can also bribe some of the employees to embezzle. One project is not enough for Apollo to gain footing in this industry and Dreamstar has to fend the attacks in your stead until you gain footing and even then there is no guarantee that Apollo will care about a battered and falling apart Dreamstar at that time. Not that I am accusing you to be ungrateful but every company's goal is to earn profits and Apollo will have no time for 'former' partners. Even if you promise future cooperations for when you gain footing, do you have enough say in that matter in your company to make such 'unprofitable' deals?"
Alex questions Micheal's prestige and Micheal's answer can give him some clues to make a educated guess about Micheal resources.
"There is also the fact that Apollo has no competent heads in the real estate side and the people whom you have recruited are not completely trustworthy. So they would need extra caution form our side. So, the profit distribution is not in proportion with the contribution."
Alex starts of slowly and becomes more fluent in the end. It was done deliberately to construct an image that Alex is clearly intimidated but can think clearly. If he doesn't fight for benefits, it would look like he was unreliable at crucial times and being too nervous to the point of giving up benefits is not consistent with the image of the young CEO who explosively expanded his company.
"Do you think that I do not have enough say in the company?" Micheal asks.
"Mr. Micheal, you have enough influence inside the company but it's a fact that you currently don't have any shares and any words not written in black and white are not reliable when making deals." Shelly answers this question. This action of hers makes Alex feel grateful to her. This question of Micheal is a very hard to answer one. If Alex says that he has enough influence then that would give them many advantages and loopholes to exploit and it he says that he doesn't have enough influence then it would offend him.
But if it's Shelly saying this then Micheal would seem petty to ask this question to Alex and this way she has diverted the gun from Alex and if he insists that he has a say in his company, then that would make him look like a whining brat who cannot bear to be underestimated.
Micheal suddenly calms down indicates Alex to continue. Alex does not plan to waste to waste this opportunity and strike when the iron is hot.
"We should first focus on obtaining good quality construction materials, our company has some excess materials in our warehouses and we have few connections to acquire about half of the required materials before other companies start to intervene."
"We can also use this time to contact the residents of the community for relocating. There will definitely be some resistance so we have to look of there is a respected elder figure who can influence them and persuade that figure to work with us. We also have to contact few people in that place to encourage others to cooperate. If one takes initiative then others will follow. The people we cooperate with will also give us information about others who are likely to cause trouble." Shelly continues after Alex. Alex stops her when she is about to introduce more plans.
"Mr. Micheal, I think we have shown both our sincerity and ability. In think you should put something more on the table. You have offered to take care of government issues, attracting investors for facilities and publicity. Investors of facilities will definitely come after seeing the development plans but we need atleast a letter of intent to show that they really plan to invest than just making empty promises." Alex uses this to probe Micheal and to see what he can offer.
"If it's all you can offer then we can only agree to a 80-20 split." Alex continues. He uses this opportunity to claim a profit split which seems reasonable at first glance but underestimates the work of Apollo. The task of getting the contract is very hard. But they might not know it since they are not experienced in this matter. Lawyer Mark is also active in the entertainment side rather than real estate so this is a ideal way to make Apollo contribute more and to make a guess of Micheal's knowledge in this business.
Micheal doesn't answer and looks at Mars. Mars understood his meaning.
"Since Mr.Alex has pointed out some problems, it would be insincere of us to not offer more. We can handle the other half of the required materials and Apollo will also invest in building of a school and a hospital. Mr. Micheal has some connections with the First cross hospital opening a restaurant and hotel is also fine with us." Mars has offered.
"Alright then, can you also look for some workers, we will need a lot of labour to complete this quickly. We can hire some from the local residents as well. I will contact the underworld forces there to come to a compromise. This way they will not cause trouble for us and even act as a deterrent." Alex says. He mentioned underworld to show that he has some connections with the dark side which will stop them from using some tricks when they try to take over his company.
"Mr.Alex, what do you think of the profit split now." Mars asks, this time they did not quote a share.
"I am tempted to say 60-40 but let's split 50-50 on the hopes for future cooperations." Alex puts this in a way that it would be difficult for them to bargain for more.
"Alright then." Micheal gets up,intending to end this meeting. "We will meet after the contract gets finalised." He continues.
"Happy cooperation." Alex raises his hand for a handshake. Micheal shakes his hand but doesn't say anything."Happy cooperation." Says Mars in Micheal's place before going out.
Alex looks at the back of the three and smiles faintly.
'I won this round, Marlene.'