Hollywood Zenith

Chapter 524 Annual Meeting-2

" S-sir?"

" Relax, I am just messing with you." Samuel chuckled, looking at Andrew's perplexing face.

Seeing Samuel laugh made him take a sigh of relief; he was safe, he thought, but Samuel turned it around again.

" You know I don't mind it, right?"

" I don't know what you are talking about, sir." Andrew acted oblivious.

" I said, I don't mind if you date in office. It's good that you and Marilyn finally settled on it. It's one of the reasons why I put you two together."

" that, sir-" Both went silent, and Marilyn immediately turned red. They didn't think their boss would care about it. It's not like they were hiding it, but they definitely kept restraining themselves in public.

Few of their co-workers already knew about it, but those who worked in different offices were shocked. Marilyn could be said to have many admirers, and they constantly tried to win her over the year.

Why shouldn't they? She was beautiful and young, but her most impressive attribute was she didn't treat anyone differently even though she was in a much higher position. It was definitely surprising for them to learn that she was swooped up by someone like Andrew.

lightsnοvεl.cοm Andrew, who was responsible for the employee's safety, barely showed any emotions. He had been laser-focused on his work and hardly showed any interest in the opposite sex. It's not he was not handsome, but it was an acquired taste; some find him rugged and like a walking robot, while others thought he was cool and admired his stoicism.

How they got together was a complete mystery for everyone.

" I will say it again: I don't mind office romance if it's not hampering your work. This past year, everyone had to work a lot of overtime to meet company demands, which I admire a lot, but it's not a good thing to sacrifice your personal life for it. I will announce an extra week's holiday; go follow in their footsteps!"

" Sir!"

" Boss!"

Everyone laughed, and some even congratulated the couple, but few of them were sad knowing that their goddess got taken! 'Only if' surrounded their minds as they played out different scenarios in their head, but in the end, they saw that she was happy. It was better to let go, right?

" Alright, alright, calm down everyone. The meeting is not over!" Andrew exclaimed. He wanted them to stop discussing his love life, for god's sake!

" Seth? What do you have for me?" Samuel also thought it was enough playing around and asked Seth Kotwan, his technical man, for his reports.

" Our search engine and video streaming service are doing good, but we are having trouble getting advertisers to invest. Many skeleton sites are popping up trying to mimic our platform, but they are only weak imitations. Our algorithm is still far superior to anything in the market right now, but I don't know how long it will last." Seth was pessimistic about it.

" It's fine to try to move well-known creators or directly poach them if needed. With enough traffic, they would have to pay ten times the price when we eventually become successful!"

" Yes, boss."

" Anything else?"

" Yes, sir, it was the right move to acquire Android all those years ago. Even though Apple is gaining market share like crazy, many companies like our open-source approach to OS. I have received a wide variety of contracts to let them use our stock version on their new phones. Many of them are from Asian countries."

" Do as you see fit. We are not losing much because we have shares in Apple, too. Whatever way the market sways, we will make a profit." Samuel didn't care much about the smartphone market. No matter what he did now, he would only reap the rewards in the future. It was clear to him from the beginning, even before he started investing in tech industries.

" We could ramp up our support for Android because it's directly controlled by us."

" It's fine; healthy competition is always good for business. What about our social media sites?"

" They are doing better than expected. We do have large shares in many of them and actively control most of them, but I have left the work to the founders. I felt it was best if they had the creative freedom to do what they wanted within our specified framework. But there seems to be a problem." Seth hesitated for a second.

" What is it?"

" It's the government; they asked us to 'cooperate.' I didn't give them a solid answer, but other shareholders showed strong support for helping them."

" Reject them. If there is any resistance, notify me immediately."

" Alright, boss." 

Samuel knew it was about time; with the explosive growth of social media, it was clear that it could be used as a massive surveillance network by the government. Even if their intention was noble, he couldn't risk his business over fraudulent ideas.

" Alastair? What happened with the ZY recording acquisition? There is also the WMG deal. Did they give any response?"

" We have successfully integrated the recording studio with the help of Russell, the ex-employee of Glory group. Their work never halted even during the trials, and for fear of retaliation, Roderick and his family completely washed their hands from the music business after you left for LA."

" Good. Did you hear from Adele?"

" No, but Russell did mention it when we met. She is doing fine, and her album is mostly complete except for the last two songs."

" Good; inform him that I will be visiting the studio in a few days."

" Okay, boss."

Samuel didn't forget his promise to do a feature on her debut album. It would be under a pseudonym, but he was certain she didn't need any famous singer's fame to achieve success. Her voice was magical, and they only needed a proper marketing team to make the album a smash hit!

Suddenly, someone knocked on the office door; Samuel was sure he had told the people outside not to disturb him during the meeting, which meant there was an emergency?

" Come in."

Two people entered the meeting room, Park Myung-Dae and Benjiro, two people Samuel didn't expect to see. They should be across the globe right now, so why were they here suddenly? Park especially didn't look well for some reason.