Inside Scoop page 1

FINANCE, HOPE AND CHARITY?

by Jezz

With sincere apologies to William Shakespeare for the crime about to be committed against The Merchant of Venice Act III Scene I...

Hath not a Fin eyes (or equivalent)? Hath not a Fin hands (or equivalent), organs (or equivalent), dimensions, senses, affections, passions (or equivalent); fed on the same internet, the same server, hurt with the same crashes, subject to the same demi-goddess whims, heal'd by the same pizza, swamp'd and buoy'd by the same economic tides as a Manufacturer is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If we fly into the sun, do we not die? And if you divvy badly, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Manufacturer buys a bay of TQuarks, what is his aim? Profit! If a Fin buys a share in your company, what should his reward be by Manufacturer example? Why, profit. The economics you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

So for some reason you think that the Financier who buys your shares should simply hand them back when you are ready to reap the rewards. Type <RANKS> and I'm fairly certain that the rank of Philanthropist hasn't been added yet. Now that's not to say that there aren't any philanthropic financiers. Of course there are! They buy your shares with the expressed intention of allowing you to have them back at Manufacturer, so that you can get the most profit possible from your company. Just because those kindly people exist doesn't mean that all financiers should be treated like non-profit organizations, or that those who also seek profit aren't kind.

I just can't stress enough that you should be reading the manual and becoming familiar with the commands you need for each level well before you get there. If you haven't read the manual by this time then Fedding read it now! It's easier than Shakespeare.

When a Fin buys shares in your company he is investing in your potential to make groats for your company so that his SHARE of the profit at the end will be worth the wait. You all thought waiting for futures to pay off was hard? Well a Financier usually has to wait at least seven or eight weeks for any real return on his investment. The amount of that investment depends on the share price you established in your Initial Public Offering. Your business plan should help you set a price that fits your company. The higher your share price the more working capital you will have to buy factories and get them working right away. But keep in mind that you'll have to issue dividends commensurate with that share price when you reach Manufacturer to stop your shareholders from becoming disaffected.

If you bought warehouses as a merchant and filled them with commodities, you'll start off with more personal shares and be able to sell the commodities at Industrialist to give you more working capital. This will allow you to issue shares at a lower price which will be easier on your treasury when dividends become important. Remember that your factories won't perform any better if your share price is high. You'll just be able to get them going quicker. If your *business plan (* see things you should have done but probably didn't) indicates that you will be promoting to Founder as soon as your seven cycles are up, then a share price of 1500ig will buy you seven factories the first day and more as your running factories start bringing in the groats. However, if you intend to take a slower tack then a lower share price will save you in the long haul. The Financiers invest less and therefore a lower dividend will keep them happy. The more dividends you issue the higher your share price will go and so forth. If you start off too high you might find yourself locked into a vicious little cycle. If your shareholders sell their shares and you buy them, your share price will drop which will make the remaining shareholders rather unhappy and you'll have to issue more dividends to rally them. If you're on the fast track then waiting to reclaim your shares till just before you promote to Financier might be a reasonable strategy.

The best strategy, however, is to have the people who invest in your company on your side. It's in the Financiers' best interest to help you accumulate a healthy treasury. Why not try asking them for advice once in a while and be respectful about the way you talk to them? Shakespeare's Shylock demanded his pound of flesh largely because he had been badly treated and insulted by Antonio. Work with your Financiers, talk to them one at a time rather than posting a note on the board to all shareholders. If you were a Financier would you be more likely to respond to a post that said something like "Yourname, I would appreciate a meeting with you to discuss a business proposition. Please contact me when you are available." or one that reads "All shareholders in my company whoever you are, I want my shares back".

Oh and for any Financiers who might still be reading... communicate with your factory owners. That is unless you are truly evil and intend to bleed the company dry, or just happen to be Arlene.

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