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Baron Strucker was eager to know more specific details, such as what was the nature of the relationship between Daisy and Viper? How did they communicate? What schemes were they concocting?
However, his spies inserted within Viper's organization were too low-level to access core information. The fact that a few secretive contacts between Daisy and Viper were discovered already demonstrated considerable capability.
For Baron Strucker, this issue was even more important than some money. He knew that internal enemies were ten times more dangerous than external ones.
Viper was adept at networking and maintaining close ties with major global organizations both in the underworld and above. She was a critical public figure for Hydra nowadays. Strucker couldn't afford to clash with her, at least not over a trivial amount of money.
In the end, he instructed his subordinates to agree to Daisy's demands. The Baron decided to wait and see how things would unfold before making further decisions.
The leader moved his mouth, and the tasks passed down often meant running around for those below.
The lower level didn't know about the Viper, or the boss's concerns. They only felt that the Baron's order was baffling, but it had to be carried out. A bunch of high-ranking Hydra officials and businessmen took out their own contacts to help Daisy smoothen all aspects of the relationship.
They even sacrificed a high-ranking asset within the Department of Defense, which delayed an inspection of Hammer Industries' Armor suits, buying Hammer almost half a month to make necessary adjustments.
Three days later, Daisy signed the share exchange agreement in the conference room of Hammer Industries.
It was a complete internal share swap, not involving public shares. Under pressure from Hydra, Justin Hammer sold 5% of his own shares, and another shareholder, Typhon Group—the world's largest pharmaceutical consortium whose board was fully controlled by Hydra—ceded another 10%.
As a global pharmaceutical giant with 250,000 employees, the leaders of Typhon Group didn't understand why the board made such a decision; from their data, the two companies were not equal at all.
Yet the board members, as if collectively brainwashed, insisted that it was their unanimous decision. If you understand, then implement it, if you don't understand, still implement it.
However, the Typhon Group's board was also somewhat displeased by this seemingly stupid exchange of cars for toy cars, making them look like fools. They imposed a stringent condition on Daisy: she had to pay cash, purchasing half of the Hammer Industries' shares held by Typhon at the market rate.
With Hammer Industries having a market value of at least $20 billion, half 10% of the shares, would cost $1 billion.
Baron Strucker approved this proposal. He wanted to see how much support Viper was willing to extend to Daisy. After all, $1 billion in cash is an amount not even a senior agent like Daisy could amass in 500 years of service without corruption.
Did Daisy have $1 billion in cash? Of course not. The "hard-earned" $800 million from the construction of the helicarrier conversion hadn't even warmed up in her accounts, and the idea of parting with real cash was painful even to think about.
After much negotiation, consulting, and haggling...
The agreement ultimately involved Skye Data swapping 5% of its shares for Justin Hammer's 5% in Hammer Industries.
Then, Daisy used 35% of Skye Data's shares plus $300 million to acquire 10% of Hammer Industries which Typhon held, and an additional 3% shares of the Typhon Group.
Daisy was very interested in this conglomerate completely controlled by Hydra. She wanted to delve into the inside story of this pharmaceutical company and analyze Hydra's business layouts through the hints they left behind.
Typhon Group acts discreetly, it's market value is not as good as Stark Industries, but it also had a valuation of nearly $ 50 billion.
The exchange between Daisy and Typhon Group was akin to swapping a toy car and a pack of postcards for a real car and a house.
Rationally, Typhon Group's executives wouldn't make such a stupid deal. However, after Daisy used her hacking skills to eavesdrop on their discussions and realized the complex relationships between the parties, she offered Typhon's negotiators a sedative formula.
This formula was exquisite, a valuable addition for Typhon Group, but that wasn't the deciding factor.
The real decision-maker was that Baron Strucker noticed a heavy hint of Viper's style in the formula. He automatically filled his brain with a lot of information. What does this mean? Overture? Submission? Or maybe cooperation?
If he could align with another Hydra boss like Viper, Baron Strucker's rule would solidify. He barely hesitated before agreeing to the plan.
With her technical expertise, wealth, and his own conjectures about her backing, Daisy was fully capable of being a collaborative partner. In Baron Strucker's view, this marked the beginning of a win-win cooperation between two Hydra factions.
The leader considered the issue politically, effectively dooming his subordinates who were considering the issue economically. But they wanted to live longer and couldn't outright resist orders, so they reluctantly accepted the decision.
Daisy, with a peaceful smile, signed a stack of documents. Ultimately, she exchanged 40% of Skye Data's shares and $300 million in cash paid on the spot for 15% of Hammer Industries and 3% of Typhon Group's shares.
With additional shares purchased on the market over the past few days, she held 16.1% of Hammer Industries, 3% of Typhon Group, and 2.2% of Stark Industries, and still retained 60% of Skye Data which was not listed, and 30% of Skye Entertainment as her personal holdings.
Among these, Hammer Industries added $3 billion to her net worth, while Typhon Group contributed another $1.5 billion. This wealth was intangible; she couldn't liquidate it quickly, and if Hammer Industries collapsed, her shares would be worthless. This was the main reason why the other party was so determined; they were all in the same boat now, and she should work hard, right?
Daisy had some thoughts about Justin continuing as the operator. In her opinion, she felt the former mob strategist was better suited for the role. It was the right path for Justin to focus on market expansion. However, it wasn't the right time for a leadership change.
As for changing the group's name, it wasn't suitable to do so immediately. Daisy wanted to gauge the public's reaction to her entering the arms market, given the generally poor reputation of arms dealers.
After the representative from Typhon Group left Hammer Industries, Daisy got down to business.
"Let me see the sample contract you have with the military," she commanded, causing Justin to fetch the contract.
The other party was surprised at how roles had seemingly reversed, why did he suddenly seem to become a part-time worker? But at this time, Justin had no choice but to comply. He honestly opened the safe and handed Daisy the preliminary contract of intent signed with the military.
After quickly reviewing it, Daisy gained a general understanding.
"The military hasn't actually demanded that we produce Iron Man suits, right? As far as I know, each suit Tony makes costs over $500 million; these things are simply not mass-producible."
Justin, thinking she was about to back out, looked a bit angry. Daisy continued, "There's simply not enough time. We need to be ready for the Stark Expo in fifteen days. Are you asking me to produce 20 Iron Man suits in such a short period? Not even Howard Stark could achieve that if you brought him back."
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