After Abel’s spokesperson announced the acquisition offer for American Express.

Abel's acquisition of Express Company has officially evolved into a hostile takeover!

Black Knight!

Barbarians outside the door!

Kenneth Chenault privately convened an internal gathering to support him, but he was disappointed.

But now that Abel has made his attitude clear.

In addition to the five major institutions that have made peace with Abel.

It is impossible for other shareholders to remain unresponsive.

For the sake of one's own vital interests, for the sake of maximizing profits.

A real shareholders' meeting will be held on November 8th.

The vast majority of shareholders holding more than 0.1% of the shares sent people or representatives to participate.

Even if no one was sent to send representatives, American Express Company was prepared for a conference call for them.

That is, use the phone mode to join the meeting from a distance.

Those five institutions also participated in this shareholders' meeting.

The verbal agreement they had with Abel was nothing more than a verbal agreement.

If you really want to put it into practice, everything is just in vain until you see the benefits.

At the shareholders' meeting, all members of the current board of directors of American Express attended, and senior executives were gathered.

Kenneth Chenault knew this was his last chance.

Mr. CEO was particularly emphatic, "Everyone, I hope all shareholders can stay rational. Even if the stock is sold, the purchase price of US$25 is not the final price. Believe me, our stock price has reached a maximum of US$160."

New York City, Manhattan.

35th floor, Tower 2, World Financial Center.

This is American Express's headquarters in New York.

In the huge conference room, more than a hundred board members, shareholders, and shareholder representatives gathered together.

Kenneth Chenault spoke eagerly:

"Dear shareholders, although accepting Abel Smith's "hostile takeover" can make short-term profits, it is contrary to the long-term development of the company."

"After the downturn of the past few years, American Express has made a lot of preparations. Our global economic business has established a series of human capital, advanced customer service networks, debt relationships, etc., which are closely related to strategic stability. If these arrangements are

Interrupted by short-term profit motives will definitely affect the overall development efficiency."

"And our overseas business has always been profitable. The funds we stored overseas can completely make up for the losses at home. Just to avoid being robbed by the tax bureau, this part of the funds has never come back."

"Our better future is ahead. The board of directors and the company's senior executives are confident that we can create significant added value for shareholders in the future and welcome the next stage of profitable growth together!"

Kenneth Chenault persuaded the major shareholders with earnest words.

He had to do it.

Abel launched a general tender offer on November 6, and Kenneth happened to be in Seattle that day.

He immediately rushed back to New York and wanted to hold a private meeting with those shareholders who originally supported him.

But Kenneth was let go, and he knew the seriousness of the matter.

On the same day, he initiated the shareholders' meeting in the name of CEO and with the support of the board of directors.

This time, those shareholders could not refuse, because not participating would be regarded as giving up their voting rights.

Except for Abel, who initiated a comprehensive tender offer, could not attend this shareholders' meeting due to relevant acquisition laws.

All the other shareholders came, and those who didn't came meant that they voluntarily gave up their voting rights.

The problem was that it took Kenneth two days to convene the shareholders' meeting.

In two days, many changes have taken place in the market.

In the past two days, many holding institutions have begun to sell their American Express shares.

And these sold stocks are like being thrown into a black hole in the universe, and are wiped out as soon as they appear.

This black hole may be Abe Smith's acquisition team, which holds a huge amount of cash.

It may also be ordinary investors who want to fish in troubled waters, or investment institutions who want to make some money.

When this happens, many people will get excited.

Because at this time, American Express's stock has become the most popular stock on the U.S. stock market.

Yesterday it had risen to US$25 per share, and after the market opened today it is now US$28 per share.

Although Abel Smith has not yet raised his general tender offer price.

But the entire market believes that this is only a matter of time.

Of course it would be better to raise more stocks at this time.

Facing the eager Kenneth Chenault, Jim Walton, who holds 1.5% of the shares, spoke up.

"Kenneth, what are your plans?"

This Jim Walton is one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Supermarket.

After Wal-Mart Supermarket went public, the Walton family has lost most of its control over the Wal-Mart Group.

But this has brought them a lot of wealth. All of Sam Walton's children are billionaires, and they are all in the top 20 in the Forbes American list.

Before Abel appeared, if their brothers and sisters were added to this list as the Walton family, they would undoubtedly be the richest family in the world.

After getting rich, the Walton family, like other wealthy families, made additional investments.

As a high-quality Dow Jones Industrial Index stock, American Express is one of Jim Walton's main investment directions.

Jim Walton has always been one of Kenneth Chenault's supporters.

Seeing Jim Walton speak, Kenneth quickly said:

"According to the rules of the U.S. capital market, I think we can launch a "poison pill plan" to counterattack. A large number of targeted issuances of new shares will dilute the proportion of shares held by the other party, thereby increasing the capital costs and final benefits required for acquisitions!"

As soon as Kenneth Chenault finished speaking, there was a wave of doubts and objections.

"This plan won't work." Jim Walton was the first to question.

"Once the poison pill counterattack is launched, American Express's rating will be lowered and the stock price will plummet. We will not bear such losses!"

"I object!"

"I object to this plan!"

"Kenneth, calm down. This kind of plan is not good for anyone!"

"."

All major shareholders, or representatives of major shareholders, as well as shareholders who participated in the meeting via conference call, clearly rejected Kenneth Chenault's idea.

Kenneth knew that the most effective means of counterattack had been completely abolished by shareholders.

Benefit!

Sure enough, in the eyes of these investors.

Their respective interests are the most important, and they don't care who helps them control the company.

Moreover, they don't have much respect for themselves as CEOs.

Listen to the strong opposition from shareholders.

Kenneth Chenault and the board members made eye contact with each other and saw deep concern in each other's eyes.

It's over.

He will be used as a scapegoat.

"Kenneth, you should talk about other plans. I believe you have a better plan to fight back. If it is feasible, we will support you."

Fisher Asset Management Group shareholder representative said.

As soon as these words came out, the originally noisy discussion fell silent.

The shareholders all looked at Kenneth Chenault at the head of the conference room.

Each one is waiting thoughtfully for the other party's better plan to see if it can maximize the interests of their shareholders.

The most vicious method was rejected, and another method was to resign the management en masse and destroy the company. Kenneth Chenault knew that these people would probably not support it.

Anyway, just don’t let their interests be harmed.

In desperation, Kenneth Chenault had no choice but to say:

"Well, first of all, I'm going to get on the phone with Abe Smith and raise objections to his offer and raise the offer."

"Then there are other means to mobilize funds, plan stock buybacks to increase the stock price, and significantly increase the performance target for fiscal year 2002, hoping to make Abel Smith quit in spite of the difficulties."
To be continued...