Darian sat back down on his chair in a now empty conference room as he quietly started at the ceiling lights.
He had inherited 20 million from his uncle after his death and an additional 10 or so million has been earned over the last 7 years as dividends from his stake in Synder Enterprises, so he was able to afford the buyout price, but barely.
As a matter of fact, the 27.5 million buyout price was a premium rate that should be a bit higher than the corporation's true value, and Darian definitely felt the pinch of paying it, however, he had no choice, as this was the only way he could envision keeping his family legacy intact.
At the thought of the evaluation presented by the previous board, Darian roused himself from his contemplations and reached out to the report. This was by all intents and purposes, a detailed 700 page document detailing all of Synder Enterprises holdings, operations and revenues.
This was the document the board was using to determine which businesses to sell for parts and which were a bust and should be reorganized for bankruptcy. Now that Darian was the sole owner of Synder Enterprises, he needed to use this document to figure out what his next steps should be.
As soon as Darian started reading the executive summary on the first page, he felt a twinge of pain in his temples as if a vein had burst causing him to wince and close his eyes as he waited for the pain to subside.
As soon as the pain lessened, he let out a small sigh as he pushed on his temple before slowly opening his eyes to look back at the report. As soon as he did, he was flabbergasted by what was in front of his eyes.
There were dozens of lines extending from the pages of the report to the space in front of him forming markups ranging from numbers and charts and even spelling errors. Darian immediately felt his heart rate shoot up as he lunged backwards from his chair while tossing the papers away from him.
As soon as papers left his hand, the redlines and the floating writings slowly disappeared. Darian stared at the space in front of him with genuine fear at what he just saw. It was the fear of his mind unraveling in front of his eyes.
The sound of his chair hitting the ground alerted his executive assistant who rushed in to see Darian staring at the air with utter horror on his face:
"Sir. Is everything ok?"
Darian was roused out of his shock by the voice as he turned to the assistant standing at the entrance to the conference room, he immediately started speaking in an urgent tone with the fear still clear in his eyes:
"Ethel, call Dr. Sheal immediately, tell him it is an emergency. Actually, i'll just head to his office."
Darian immediately started walking towards the exit quickly before pausing and speaking to Ethel again:
"Also, bring the evaluation report on the table."
Ethel stared at him confused before nodding her head and rushing to pick up the now tossed evaluation report. Darian was staring at her the entire time to see if those apparitions would appear to her as well. When he didn't see any reaction from her, his worries about his condition deepened as he proceeded to hasten out of the conference.
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Two and a half hours later, Darian stood at the entrance of a building with a large letter reading Sheal Clinic above him. His assistant, Ethel,stood beside him with a worried look on her face as the disheveled Darian stood there without saying a thing.
After more than two hours of scans and neural examination, his doctor couldn't find anything. After talking to Darian about what he saw, he concluded that this was most likely a stress induced psychosis and gave him some anti-anxiety medication and told him to rest for a few day.
Darian was sure that this was not stress induced as he had been similarly stressed for years now and today wasn't any different, rather, he felt that this was something entirely worse. He turned to Ethel who was still carrying the bundle of documents and spoke:
"Can i see the report again Ethel?"
Ethel hesitated for a second before giving him the report. As soon as Darian touched the report again, he saw the redlines and figures pop out of the report and started floating in front of him. Darian was not as started as the previous time, so he simply stared at the figures while speaking to Ethel:
"Still can see anything Ethel?"
"Uhm, no sir."
Ethel wasn't clear what Darian was talking about as he's asked her the same thing three times already, however, she was starting to worry that there was something really wrong. Not paying any attention to Ethel's clearly visible concern, Darian calmed himself before scrutinizing the red figures.
Darian observed that there were so many red lines extending from all over the report, with the lines from whichever page he was turned to ended with figures, charts or numbers. Turning away from that page erased the content of the previous lines and replaced them with lines and figures extending to the new page. It was a complex web of interconnected lines that seemed almost out of a game.
Darian wasn't sure what he was seeing, or even why, but he was now flipping more to the curious side of things than the fearful side. She took a closer look at one of the numbers, a figure indicating $114 - $180. Following the line to the corresponding portion on the actual report Darian saw the excerpt read:
~ ….the reduced demand of the Synder Milling Company, indicates that the potential profit of their flagship construction grade lumber is approximately $23 per thousand board feet ….~
Darian immediately frowned at this sentence. Synder Milling Company is one of the corporation's least profitable businesses with the most labor intensive demands and has been seeing a sharp decline in profitability.
It wasn't clear what the redlines were trying to tell him as he wasn't familiar with the milling company operations. However, his first instinct was that the report was wrong. It seems the calculated potential profit per thousand board feet of their construction lumber was much lower than the range.
Darian concluded that this was either an error in the actual report or something was so drastically wrong. Reaching a few sentences below, Darian saw that the potential profit for the construction grade number was cited as $123. Seeing that this was solidly within the range given by the redlines, he was pleasantly surprised.
For whatever reason, these redlines are able to spot inaccuracies and mistakes in reports. Thinking up to this point, Darain was once again confused. The redlines gave a range $114 - $180, while the actual report says $123, indicating that there were still a $57 dollar profit margin, could it be that these redlines don't just spot errors and inaccuracies, but rather provide exact margins
At this point in his deliberation, Darain remembered a famous quote from the founder of their house, Joseph Synder. It was said that Joseph was always able to maximize the profit margins of all his products and businesses, either through shear luck or brute force. Whenever he was asked about this amazing ability of his, he would smile and always respond with the same phrase:
"Its just instincts"
This has become somewhat of a running joke in the family that Joseph Synder's instincts must have been that of the god of wealth, because how else would he have accomplished all that he did. Darian now suspected that Joseph saw the same things he did. This was simply a conjecture, but one that would explain a lot.
Having answered some of the questions that were plaguing him, Darian lowered the report in his hand and took a deep breath to calm himself. This ability or instinct or whatever he might call it, gave him hope.
Hope that maybe he can stabilize Synder Enterprises. Regardless, he would use everything in his power to secure his family's legacy and proof to those that daunted him and his family, that they are here to say.
He then turned to Ethel and spoke in a much calmer tone:
"Thank you so much Ethel for today, I don't know what I would have done without you."
Ethel didn't know what to say at the sudden mood switch, but before she could respond, Darain continued speaking as he walked towards the carpark:
"Schedule a meeting first thing in the morning tomorrow for all executives level employees. This is a mandatory meeting. Also, schedule a meeting with our accounting, legal and human resources teams today."
Ethel still wasn't sure what was happening, but she still pulled out a small black book and started taking notes as she walked behind him briskly while also speaking:
"Any specific topic you want me to share sir?"
Darain thought for a second before shaking his head and speaking:
"No need. Just tell them to be there."
Ethel simply nodded and continued walking behind him in a dark tinted luxury SUV parked nearby.