Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00143. Contract negotiation

Theo sat on the couch in the living room with his mom as she started to show him the offers she collected. There were eight in total and all of them were from pretty big gaming companies along with an offer from Theo’s company Vibe.

As his mom started to explain the first offer Theo asked, “Are you sure we need to go over this stuff? Can't you just pick the best one for me?”

Daniel placed the paper in her hand down and smiled at Theo before she said, “I could do that, but I think this is a good learning experience for you. After I explain all of them to you, I want you to pick the one you think is the best and afterwards you explain why you think it is.”

Theo nodded in agreement before his mom started going over all the offers. Most of them were pretty much the same, the amount they offered changed and some offered other things together with money. But it was basically close to the same amount for almost every offer except Vibe.

Vibe offered no money up front, but they did offer stock in the company. The offer was for five percent ownership of the company. The only issue was the company wasn't publicly traded, so they had no idea how much that five percent would be worth.

Once all the offers were explained to Theo his mom asked him, “So what sounds good to you?”

Theo pushed one offer to the side as he said, “They want to rename the game, so not them.”

Theo then pulled out two more and placed them on top of the other offer as he said, “These two offered the lowest amount compared to everyone else. But have the same terms as the others.”

Daniel nodded in agreement before Theo picked up the Vibe offer and said, “This one isn’t for money, but company stock. I’m not sure what that is.”

“Stock can be sold for money, but there are a few issues that go with it. You can only sell it for what people are willing to pay for it. Also the company isn’t publicly traded so it would make it harder to sell.”

Daniel took the offer and set it to the side as she said, “But if you own five percent of a private company, you will make five percent of whatever the company makes as profit. So you could potentially make a lot of money over a longer period of time.”

Theo nodded as he said, “So if they buy the game, I would still get a profit from it, whenever they sell it.”

“Exactly. But you also share in the profits of whatever else they sell and make money on.” Daniel said.

Theo went through the next couple offers before he landed on the one he liked and said, “I think this one would be best.”

“And why do you think that?”

Theo pointed at the amount of money first and said, “Well they are paying the most and don’t want to change anything. They also said they would pay more for any extra content that has been made for the game.”

Theo looked up at his mom as he said, “Me and Peter have an upgrade patch with new content about half way done.”

Daniel smiled and rubbed Theo’s head as she said, “Normally I would agree with you. That one does look like the best deal. But I did some research and talked to a few people I know.”

Daniel pulled out the Vibe’s offer and said, “While this one doesn’t offer money up front, this is the best deal. The people I talked with work in the finance sector and told me the company is estimated to be worth half a billion dollars and it’s only growing.”

“So I would have five percent of that? How much is that worth?” Theo asked.

“That would be twenty five million. Give or take.” Daniel said.

“But the offer I picked is for almost one hundred million.” Theo said as he pointed at the offer.

Daniel nodded as she said, “But Vibe is only estimated to be worth half a billion currently. The more it grows, the more money you’ll make in the long run and that doesn’t include what they would pay you from the profits it makes each year.”

“Do we really need that much money? I think in just game sales alone, we already have more money than we really need, right?” Theo asked.

Theo then looked up at his mom and said, “Plus you and dad say, money can’t buy happiness.”

Daniel smiled as she pulled Theo into a side hug and said, “You’re right, but just because we have more money then we need. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go for the best deal we can get. Plus you could use the extra money you have to help out people if you want.”

“I can? So I could buy uncle Jon and aunt Sara a house next door if I wanted?”

“Yes you could, but you do know houses are expensive. Are you sure you want to spend your money on something like that?” Daniel asked.

“But they live in that apartment right now and complain about it not being great, right? Plus they’re family. It’s only right for us to help them out.” Theo said.

Daniel hugged Theo a little tighter as she said, “You're such a sweet kid, just like your father. You know, your father and uncles have already set aside money to help Jon and Sara buy a house. But if you want to buy them one, well, I think that's a great idea. We’ll have to discuss it with your dad first. But I don’t see why not.”

“Great! That means I can also give Peter and Milly money too, right? They helped with the game, so I should split it with them.” Theo said.

Daniel rubbed Theo’s head as she said, “Of course you can.”

“Good. Then let's pick this one so I have more money to give them.” Theo said as he picked up the Vibe offer.

With the choice made, Daniel contacted Vibe and said she wanted to negotiate a contract with them. While she hadn’t worked for a while, she still kept up to date on everything she needed to law wise and was still registered as a lawyer in New York state. So when Vibe agreed to a meeting to go over the contract, Daniel went herself to represent Theo.

The location of the meeting was actually the building Theo let Adrian use in Brooklyn for his company. Daniel showed up to the meeting and was a little disappointed at first as she expected a company like Vibe to be in a nicer place and in downtown Manhattan. The building itself was close to their neighborhood and was older, along with being a little run down. As she walked up the steps to the front entrance of the building she glanced at the intercom list.

It only contained two company names, Bestman Demolition, Salvage and Construction, along with Vibe Inc. Daniel pushed the buzzer for Vibe Inc and waited for a moment before someone said from the intercom, “Yes, how can I help you?”

“I’m Daniel Mercer, I have a three o’clock appointment.”

“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Mercer. Wait just a moment and I will buzz you in. Once inside, please take the elevator to the top floor.” The voice said before the door unlocked.

The inside of the building looked just as rundown as the outside and Daniel started to rethink whether this would be a good idea or not. Why would a company that was worth half a billion dollars be in a place like this. Still, she was already here, so she would at least talk with them some and do a little more digging before she signed anything with them.

When she exited the elevator on the top floor she was surprised to find that it opened up into a large room. It was like someone just knocked down all the walls and left only the support beams for the entire floor. Whoever did it, cleaned up the place some, but the floor was just a patchwork of all the old apartments. Near the north wall of the large room were a few desks, and what looked like a scale model two men were currently talking over.

A few feet from the elevator door stood a smartly dressed fair skinned woman with sharp green eyes and ankle-length, auburn colored hair. She smiled at Daniel as she stuck out her hand and said, “Nice to meet you Mrs. Mercer. I’m Mei Terumi.”

As they shook hands Daniel said, “It’s nice to meet you Mei. But there's no need to be so formal, just call me Daniel.”

After they shook hands Mei said, “If you’ll follow me, I’ll introduce you to Ezekiel. He will be going over the contract with you.”

Daniel nodded and followed Mei to the two men talking over the model and heard the black haired man as he asked, “How is your search going for workers?”

“I have one full crew running now, but the plan is to expand it to four or five by the end of the year.” The other man said.

“Isn’t that a little too slow? Aren’t you afraid of missing the completion bonus?” The black haired man asked.

The other man shook his head as he said, “If I miss it, that's okay with me. I don’t want to rush hiring and hire the wrong people.”

As Mei and Daniel moved close to the two men, Mei said, “Sorry to interrupt, but your three o’clock appointment is here Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel glanced at the other man and said, “Sorry, I gotta take care of this. We’ll talk more about this later, Adrian.”

Adrian nodded his head before he said, “Alright, just call me when you're free.”

Adrian politely nodded towards Mei and Daniel and said, “It was good seeing you Mei. Miss.”

As Adrain walked towards the elevator Ezekiel turned towards Daniel and said, “Mrs. Mercer, thank you for coming by. I’m Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel moved forward and as they shook hands Daniel said, “Just call me Daniel, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure. If you would, I set up this area so we can go over the contract.” Ezekiel said as he pointed at one of the tables near by.

After they sat down Ezekiel said, “First let me thank you for coming by today. I know from a first impression stand point, this place doesn’t breed much confidence in the offer I made. But I don’t want to waste money fixing this building up when it will be torn down in the next few years.”

Daniel nodded as she said, “That makes me feel slightly better. But wouldn’t it be better to build downtown where you aren’t limited in height?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “For what is being planned, downtown wouldn’t work. You should take a look at the model over there on your way out to see what I’m planning to make.”

Daniel glanced at the model for a moment before she said, “Alright.”

Daniel then pulled up her briefcase and pulled out one of the thick contracts she drew up and some extra paperwork, which she handed over to Ezekiel as she said, “This is the NDA I signed and this is the counter offer I drew up, please look it over.”

Ezekiel glanced at the NDA before he started to speed read through the contract since he was surprised his mom even made a counter offer. From what they talked about at home, she was just going to accept the offer outright. After reading through it Ezekiel couldn’t help but smile to himself, his mom’s counter offer was for ten percent of the company.

Ezekiel placed down the contract as he said, “I can’t agree to this, five percent is already more than enough.”