Chapter 27 When disaster strikes, everyone flees; Su family shareholders sell off their shares.

"Chairman Su, Xiaoming Motors has called to cancel our partnership."

"Chairman Su, several companies that had shown interest over the past while have also stopped engaging with us one after another."

"Chairman Su..."

Inside the chairman's office, one person spoke, then another. Listening to these reports, Su Qiaoer felt her head buzzing. With so many people talking at once, she didn't know who to listen to.

At this moment, Su Qiaoer picked up her phone and threw it onto the floor. The office, which had sounded like a wet market just a moment ago, instantly fell silent. The staff stared at each other, not daring to speak.

"So many people talking at once—who am I supposed to listen to? Huh? Tell me, who should I listen to?"

In truth, everyone knew that Su Qiaoer wasn't angry because they were all talking at once, but rather because she was already deeply frustrated. They all worked for the company and had heard that the board of directors had issued her an ultimatum a few days ago: if she couldn't resolve the plummeting stock price by Friday, she would be out.

They hadn't managed to control the falling stock price, and now, unexpectedly, the issue with the Solid-state Battery had emerged. It was expected that the stock price would collapse completely.

"How many companies have cancelled their partnership so far?"

Su Qiaoer took a deep breath to calm herself down, then looked at the Marketing Director standing to the side. The Marketing Director heard this, pondered for a moment, and made a rough calculation in his head.

"Chairman Su, a total of 16 companies that were already in partnership have cancelled, and 6 companies that had shown interest have terminated discussions. Altogether, we have lost 48.6 billion in revenue from this new energy battery project."

The Marketing Director hesitated for a moment, but ultimately stated the figure honestly. Hearing this, everyone present gasped; clearly, they were all stunned.

"That much?"

Su Qiaoer's voice was filled with disbelief.

"Yes, Chairman. After all, our batteries have absolutely no comparison against the Solid-state Battery. Furthermore, the other party has just announced their final pricing, which is 43% cheaper than ours, so..."

Although he didn't finish his sentence, everyone knew what he was going to say. Better quality and cheaper—if they were in the leadership of other companies, they would likely abandon Su Group as well.

More importantly, if you don't use their batteries, your new energy vehicles are inferior in quality. A single issue like battery range could get you eliminated from the market. Therefore, even with breach of contract penalties, they wouldn't continue to partner with you.

Hearing this, Su Qiaoer sighed.

"Why can a Zhengfeng Group research and develop the Solid-state Battery, while I've given you so much R&D funding, yet you have nothing to show for it? I'm asking you, what do you people actually do? Huh? What did I spend all that money on? Huh? Speak up!"

These rapid-fire questions left everyone too afraid to speak. In reality, they were all from the Marketing Department; technical research had nothing to do with them. Even if she were to question anyone, it should have been the Technical Department. However, Su Qiaoer was clearly too furious to think straight, which was why she was speaking without restraint.

"Chairman."

At this moment, the office door was pushed open, and the Finance Director walked in. Perhaps because he was too anxious, he hadn't knocked before entering. Once inside, the director sensed the oppressive atmosphere in the office and guessed that Su Qiaoer had just lost her temper.

"Speak."

Just as he was hesitating whether he should speak, Su Qiaoer raised her head and looked at the Finance Director.

"Chairman, the stock price has currently dropped by 16%. We have tried injecting more funds, but so far, there has been no effect."

The Finance Director's tone was full of helplessness.

Although they desperately wanted to stop the stock price from falling, they really had no other options left. Throwing money at it could no longer save the market's confidence in them. What else could they do? Unless they announced that they had developed room-temperature superconductors, which would solve everything, but they had no such R&D capabilities.

Hearing this, Su Qiaoer felt her temples throbbing. She knew the stock price would drop, but she hadn't expected it to fall this quickly—a drop exceeding 10% directly. This was simply a collapse...

"How much is left of the 60 billion?"

"We have already spent 21 billion, leaving 39 billion. Chairman, we suggest that we stop touching the remaining funds."

The Finance Director knew that even if they poured all the money in today, it wouldn't improve the company's stock price. Moreover, even if they stabilized it today, what about tomorrow? The day after? Next week? Under these circumstances, it would be better to honestly hold onto the money; at the very least... it would allow the company to maintain some liquidity.

Furthermore, besides liquidity, Su Group's revenue had now been cut almost in half, yet they still had massive loans, and the interest on these loans was astronomical. It was foreseeable that Su Group would be in dire need of money in the near future.

"Don't invest? Just watch the stock price drop day by day?"

Su Qiaoer was conflicted.

If she didn't invest, looking at the current stock price, she would truly be out.

"Chairman, continuing to throw money at it is really useless now... it's impossible to stop the collapse."

Hearing this, Su Qiaoer clenched her fists.

Although she knew the other party was right, hearing him say it made Su Qiaoer feel uncomfortable and annoyed. Yet, for the moment, she didn't know how to refute it.

While Su Qiaoer was dealing with this headache, two people were talking inside a director's office at Su Group.

"Old Lin... I feel like there's a storm brewing at Su Group right now... Have you heard that the company is currently going to court against Zheng Group?"

A director looked up at the person in front of him.

"I've heard. What about it?"

"I heard from a friend... although we have an advantage in this case, Zheng Group has a theory on how to win it. Furthermore... Zheng Jie has already cleared a path through the upper echelons. So, even though the trial hasn't started yet... Zheng Jie has already won this case. Think about it: the company's breach of contract penalties, plus the current situation..."

Hearing this, the man frowned deeply.

If you add this matter to these troubled times...

Su Group would likely be finished...

Therefore, he looked up at the man.

"Old Wang, you mean..."

"Let's dump the stocks. At the very least, take advantage of the fact that we can still sell them for some money."