87. Poaching Talent

That afternoon, representatives from the three jewelry companies Martin had contacted arrived at the hotel where Li Daniu was staying.

After renting a small meeting room in the hotel, Li Daniu began to sell his diamonds.

Those three companies were all acquaintances of Martin’s, and they placed great trust in his judgment. More than that, each company had brought its own appraiser, so there was little doubt about the value of this batch of diamonds.

Ordinarily, a bulk transaction in a luxury good like diamonds would require proof of lawful origin, except in the case of those African mines.

But Li Daniu’s identities were crucial at this moment. On one hand, he was the King of Tuvalu; as the monarch of a sovereign state recognized by the United Nations, poor though it was, it was still a country, and for a king to have gathered such a hoard of diamonds over the course of several decades was entirely plausible.

On the other hand, he was the author of the world bestselling novel "The Lord of the Rings." Commentators on the world-famous Wall Street had already estimated that on the strength of that single book alone, Li Daniu’s net worth could reach two billion dollars.

And unlike the net worth of an ordinary business magnate, which was often tied up in illiquid stock, Li Daniu’s wealth, earned through royalties and copyright, was real and tangible, almost cash flow itself.

These two identities represented power, status, and wealth. Added to that, diamonds were unlike finished jewelry. Even if this batch of diamonds had truly come from the black market, there was no way to produce conclusive evidence.

The craftsmanship of diamond cutting was broadly similar everywhere, and for any given weight, the world could not possibly contain only one diamond.

So although everyone knew that every diamond was unique, how was that uniqueness to be proven? At worst, after each diamond was bought, it could be recut or reworked; so long as there was even a slight alteration, black-market goods could become genuine merchandise.

For that reason, jewelry companies bought diamonds of this kind without the slightest hesitation.

Though these three jewelry companies were not small, none of them had enough cash flow to swallow the full two-point-three billion dollars’ worth of diamonds. In fact, it could even be said that no jewelry company in the world could produce that much cash at once.

Because the pricing analysis had been done by Martin, when the three companies tried to drive the price down, Martin bargained even more aggressively than Li Daniu did. Otherwise, if the final sale price differed too greatly from the price analysis he had produced, it would prove beyond doubt that he was not professional.

In a mere hour and a half, Li Daniu’s Swiss bank account had received two billion, two hundred and seventy million dollars. The money was wired to a Swiss account on Castello’s advice, as such income could be arranged in a way that legitimately minimized taxes.

Once the money was in hand, Li Daniu took Castello and Martin aboard a plane that same night for Canada. They had already made an appointment with the boss Martin had mentioned, and were going directly to Bombardier in Canada to look at aircraft.

As for Louis, he had to remain in the United States to handle the launch of Li Daniu’s new book.

On the plane, Li Daniu began thinking about poaching talent.

"Martin, your appraisal skills are so strong. Why do you insist on staying at GIA? You could easily leave and go to a private company, and your income would surely be higher, wouldn’t it?"

"Actually, I’m not only a researcher at GIA and a teacher at its jewelry appraisal school, but also a part-time appraiser for two small jewelry companies," Martin explained. "If I wanted to increase my income, I could indeed go to some of the larger jewelry companies that have invited me. But those companies all require full-time staff. At the moment, I still want to stay at GIA, because I feel I still have a great deal to learn."

"Didn’t Louis say you were one of the teachers at GIA’s jewelry appraisal school?" Li Daniu found it strange. "You’re already a teacher, and you still need to learn?"

"It’s true that I’m an instructor there, but who says a teacher’s knowledge is ever enough?" When Martin spoke of his profession, his expression turned serious. "Times are advancing, and in every field new technologies and techniques are invented every day. Jewelry appraisal is no different. I may think I am fit to teach others in this field, but if I don’t keep learning and only live off what I already know, one day I’ll become just another person scraping by in this industry."

"And also," Martin continued, "GIA is the most famous jewelry appraisal institution in the world. Other than here, I truly don’t know where I could improve myself."

Li Daniu nodded in satisfaction. Martin’s words not only showed his attitude toward his field, but also his confidence in his own abilities.

Listen to that: apart from the world’s most famous GIA, nowhere else was worthy of his learning.

"I want to set up a jewelry company. Do you have any good advice?" Li Daniu asked cautiously.

"A jewelry company?" Martin asked in surprise. "Why would you have such an idea? The profits in this industry may be very different from what you imagine. For example, those companies just now, after they buy your diamonds and process them further, with finished goods sold at market price and some high-end pieces sold at auction, the eventual return should be around three billion dollars. But they won’t recover that three billion immediately."

"Turning diamonds into jewelry takes design and manufacturing, which already consumes a certain amount of time. And for a high-end luxury market like this, overall consumer demand is limited; it is not something that can be sold out in one or two months. Without a mature sales network, the interest on the cost alone can wipe out most of the profit."

Li Daniu fully understood what Martin meant. If the company’s operating costs were taken into account, an investment of nearly two and a half billion dollars would yield only a three-billion-dollar return, and no one knew how long that would take. This kind of business belonged entirely to the category of high investment and low return.

Of course, there were advantages too: the risk was low. Unless a world war suddenly broke out, or a giant diamond mine was discovered somewhere on Earth and drove prices down, nothing much would change. But both of those were essentially impossible.

For many wealthy people, this was not the sort of business they would choose to invest in. After all, the essence of a businessman was the pursuit of high returns.

But for Li Daniu, the biggest cost in a jewelry company—the raw material cost—was virtually zero. How could he not do it?

In truth, Li Daniu already had a plan. The jewelry company would mainly serve the auction house. He wanted to build a world-class auction house in Tuvalu, one so prestigious that the wealthy of the world would fly their own planes there.

Just like Monaco, a country even smaller than Tuvalu, which ranked second to last in the world by land area at only 1.98 square kilometers. By leveraging no personal income tax and car racing, it attracted the world’s tycoons, and then used the money brought by those tycoons to develop tourism. Its GDP reached more than six billion dollars, more than six hundred times Tuvalu’s, while its per capita GDP reached an astonishing one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

Li Daniu felt that Monaco’s development model was very suitable for Tuvalu.

"I understand what you mean, but I prefer the low risk of this kind of business, and I also have a reliable source of raw materials and a perfectly mature sales channel," Li Daniu said. There was no need to explain too much to Martin; he only needed a technical adviser with relevant knowledge and connections.

"So, are you interested in working for me?"

"I can’t resign from GIA and come on full-time. If you can accept that, I think I could consider it."

Li Daniu smiled. He was not afraid of demands; he was only afraid that the hook would not be taken.

"No problem. It can be part-time, but only for my company. As for salary, I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied."

Besides, Li Daniu had great confidence in his current collection. If he brought those jewels that could only be described as peerless before Martin, he believed Martin would not be able to refuse.

"I think we can talk in detail," Martin said, his interest piqued. To put it bluntly, coming out to do part-time work was for the money. And Li Daniu’s current net worth—leaving aside his status as the author of "The Lord of the Rings" and King of Tuvalu—was already greater than the market value of the two small companies Martin worked for part-time.

When it came to a boss, he either had money or potential. Li Daniu lacked neither, so why not follow him?

What’s more, when it came to the appraisal fee earlier, Li Daniu had been exceedingly generous. What employee would not like such a generous boss?