Ace of the Dragon Division

– Estee Lauder Headquarters –

The marketing directors and the CEO were sitting in a conference room watching a video, it was about the Mandala Lab’s new product launch.

After the video finished,

the CEO pressed pause and crossed his hands on the conference table. He looked at the department managers sitting at the sides and asked.

“Anything you guys want to say? I feel that our market is seriously threatened by Mandala’s new product.”

The Planning Director said, “President, I don’t think it is as amazing as what we saw in the video. First of all, this video was edited so maybe they hired someone to do it or it wasn’t even live broadcast but recorded. Maybe the effect of the product isn’t good at all.”

CEO: “And what if it is real?”

Before the Planning Director answered, the R&D representative said, “If these effects are true, it would be a fatal blow to us, but there’s no need to have unnecessary worries. Maybe they’re going for a high-end market, which won’t affect ours.”

CEO: “Do you think we’re low end? Our product pricing is top three in the world cosmetic industry, and it’s already considered to be in the top luxury ranks. Marketing Director, what do you think.”

The Marketing Director said seriously, “If the effects of Mandala’s product are real, then first of all, we have to wait for their price offering. If it is similar to our price range, then I’m afraid that we will face a situation where all the products will be adjusted to a reduced price. Otherwise, we will lose against Mandala’s new product.”

The R&D department head: “I think it is unnecessary to worry about that now. First of all, Mandala’s product hasn’t been officially released yet. It is not known actually how effective it is, and even if the effect is really good, our market won’t face much of a loss because we will have brightening creams, toner, and other popular products that do not conflict with them.”

CEO: “But there will still be an impact to our stock prices, right?”

Everyone nodded. “That’s for sure, but the impact is not expected to be too big. We should wait until Mandala sets a price for their new product.”

– Meanwhile –

– F Nation, Lancome headquarters –

All of the company’s top executives were having a meeting, and a marketing director rushed into the conference room and said while out of breath, “President, take a look at Mandala’s new product launch video.”

“What’s the matter? Where are your basic manners, rushing in here?”

“Please watch the video first. The new product released by the Mandala Lab is for skin care! It may be a direct competitor to our “genetic cells” black bottle product!”

The president and the other executives were baffled as the marketing director quickly projected his phone via Bluetooth to the big screen and opened the Mandala Lab product launch video.

In the video, the effects of the serum on three different types of skin condition were clearly shown.

After watching it, one of the executives asked directly, “Is this video real? Are you sure it’s not a prank made via CGI?”

“The source of the video is from the Mandala Lab’s website, there’s no mistaking it.” The marketing director said, “Skin restoration, they pushed the skincare industry forward by at least a few decades! At least for our little black bottle of genetic cell technology, we have lost completely!”

He didn’t need to say anything further and every one of the executives looked serious as they knew how harsh the situation was.

“This isn’t real, is it? How in the world is it possible to have this kind of skin repair technology? It must be CGI, I don’t believe their product is this good and revolutionary.”

The Marketing Director: “Let me remind you all, Mandala had previously developed anti-cancer drugs, and a 20mL bottle was once sold for 3 billion dollars. That is enough to show that they have a remarkable breakthrough in the field of biotechnology, and this time they have specialized in the field of dermatology and cell biology. It shouldn’t be surprising that they have the technology to make a better product than us.”

One of the directors wondered and asked. “President Page, why didn’t you acquire Mandal si

The other directors also expressed some anger as they said in hindsight, “Yeah, what were the

market research and venture capital departments doing? If we acquired Mandala, we would definitely be ahead of our old rival, Estee Lauder, and be in the leading position in the cosmetic industry.”

The president smiled bitterly. “We approached them during their anti-cancer drug auction, and even had Wall Street firms over to inquire about it. But it’s that the company doesn’t want to be acquired, but that we don’t have the money to acquire them.”

“No money?” Several of the directors frowned. “Did the Mandala Lab go public?”

The president: “Not yet.”

The director: “Since it’s not listed, then all offers are at our discretion.”

The president shook his head. “We didn’t meet the head of Mandala, but we asked around on Wall Street for its evaluation and someone once offered $5 billion for 10% of Mandala’s shares and Mandala turned them down. There was also a proposal for a takeover of the company with an offer of $35 billion! Same thing happened; it was rejected by Mandala. Under this premise, if you want to acquire Mandala completely, I’m afraid you need to offer at least $60 billion. Our company’s market value is less than $100 billion, and it would be risky to spend $60 billion on acquisition. I’m afraid that you as the directors wouldn’t even agree with the acquisition because it would dilute the equity by 65%. Which one of the shareholders is willing to do this?”

The group of directors were silent.

“Mandala has such a high offer?”

The president laughed bitterly. “They have developed two bottles of anti-cancer drugs in five years. One bottle is worth $3 billion, so what if they develop five bottles in the next five years? That revenue will be shocking, so Wall Street is very bullish on Mandala’s future, and they see it as the Apple of the medical field. Perhaps they would represent the pharmaceutical companies and be in the list of the world’s top ten valued companies.”

The group of shareholders were quiet as well.

At this time, the marketing director who continued to follow up on this matter read the headlines on his phone and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, five minutes ago, the Mandala Lab gave out the pricing. This time they named their product ‘Revitalisation Series’ and divided it into three levels: the gold 50mL bottle for $1,299; the platinum 50mL bottle for $29,888; and $68,888 for a 10mL diamond bottle!”

Having heard the price, all the directors sighed out of relief.

Not only them, but directors of Estee Lauder in the M Nation also sighed out of relief.

It seemed like Mandala was planning to take the high-end market, and their price was more than ten to twenty times theirs, and so this way the competitiveness was not even on the same level, and it would reduce a lot of their losses.

“Why are the price differences so big between the three levels of gold, platinum, and diamond?” a director asked curiously.

“It probably has to do with the effect and the course of treatment. The description says that the gold bottle has a three-month course of treatment and can only be used for half a month. So according to the three-month effect then at least six bottles would be needed, which is equivalent to a cost of $7,700. The Platinum bottle is 50mL for a one-month course of treatment to see the effect. As for the diamond bottle, the description says that in just three days, there will be an effect, so they priced it at nearly $70,000. I think if that’s the case, I’m expecting us to lose some market share among the high-end wealthy customers.”

Both companies felt a struggle.