I Am the Third-Generation Heir of a Conglomerate - Chapter 480



Only Noblemtl

480. Large-scale disaster (5)

Winter has come.

And winter was coming to the Bitcoin market as well.

“An announcement regarding Bitcoin-related regulations was made today! The Minister of Justice announced a special law to abolish exchanges.”

“It seems like there’s a new regulation announced every day.”

As December began, regulations were announced one after another.

A task force on virtual currency measures being carried out by the Ministry of Justice.

The National Tax Service is proposing cryptocurrency taxation, while the Financial Services Commission is proposing regulations including a complete ban on Bitcoin.

A huge amount of regulations were announced by each department.

The Korea Communications Commission has taken practical measures as well as regulations.

“The Korea Communications Commission has imposed fines and penalties on several exchanges.”

“But isn’t it amazing that the price remains the same?”

“The forces are pushing up prices violently. And it’s also because they haven’t yet launched an all-out war in the financial towers.”

When this level of bad news comes out, it is bound to be reflected in the market.

But the Bitcoin market was in a frenzy, with prices flat despite dozens of regulatory proposals and practical actions.

“It looks like they are struggling to maintain the 30 million won mark.”

“There is a lot of bubble in the Korean Bitcoin market. This is proof that many forces are manipulating it.”

The price of Bitcoin has already surpassed 30 million won.

It was a much higher amount than I remembered, and it also meant that a stronger madness had come than before the regression.

“It seems like the forces’ defenses are quite strong.”

“They’re not Toyota, so they’ll break through with a few taps.”

Toyota was still defending its stock price.

But the shield was starting to have holes all over it.

It was impossible for a force with less than half the financial power of Toyota to defend against an attack by the financial tower.

“Don’t play with it too much.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to let him play around with it a little so that his competitive spirit can burn? I’ll play with it for another two weeks and then destroy it as soon as the new year begins.”

“It wouldn’t be too late around the New Year. I heard that in January, they’re even proposing a special law to abolish the exchange. If it’s that bad news, wouldn’t the market react?”

In fact, the introduction of a bill could not suppress the madness.

Eventually, huge capital will have to move and trample the market to make them realize reality.

And that role was to be played by the financial tower.

“I will cut the price of Bitcoin in half in 3 months. Wouldn’t that be a bubble-free price?”

“Can you do it with 50%? It will drop by more than 70% in 3 months. This time, the bear market will be full of madness.”

Action and reaction.

It was the same during the IT bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis.

Stocks that soared to the heights of madness tended to plummet even faster and at lower prices when the bubble burst.

“If it falls to 70%, it seems like it will be enough to fill the stomachs of financial tower financial companies to some extent.”

“Bitcoin is not enough. By that time, Toyota’s shield will also be broken.”

“It’s so exciting to even imagine. And I have some good news for you. I asked you to tell the chairman that David has resolved the antitrust issue.”

“We can create a union between the US and South Korea and swallow up Toshiba Memory.”

“We have already finished talking with the fintech banks. We are ready to form an alliance today.”

Forming a coalition was not an easy task.

This was because it would have required tens of trillions of won in funds to be called a union.

So, we had to go through a complex coordination process with each company in the middle.

But since the fintech bank was practically mine, I was able to skip that complicated process.

“Contact Toshiba. If they tell you that all the pre-work is done, they will fly to Korea on their own.”

“I will be waiting more earnestly than anyone else. I have even rejected all the private equity fund offers and am waiting for you, Chairman. Especially in the case of Westinghouse, there is no one else to buy it except Taewoo Group.”

Toshiba also bet on the Taewoo Group.

Toshiba had concluded talks with the private equity fund just before the sale, but the emergence of the Taewoo Group brought negotiations back to square one.

“If you contact me today, I will be coming to Korea within this week. Please prepare the details in advance.”

“Experts have already completed drafting the contract, from the broad outlines to the details, and are currently conducting secondary and tertiary reviews.”

“Now all we need to do is have Toshiba executives come to Korea.”

Acquisition negotiations worth at least 25 trillion won and up to 30 trillion won.

It may not be that big of a deal compared to the major mergers and acquisitions that have taken place so far.

However, we could not afford to be careless in our preparations, and we planned to acquire it at a cheaper price.

***

Four days later.

Managing Director Haruto visited Korea, leading a large number of Toshiba executives.

Legal team, semiconductor researchers, Westinghouse executives, etc.

More than 30 people visited the Taewoo Group headquarters, and we also sent out our staff to welcome them.

“It’s so nice to see you again.”

“It is thanks to the chairman who created a good environment. Neither I nor the group’s experts expected that the anti-monopoly issue would be resolved so quickly.”

Managing Director Haruto was in charge of these negotiations.

Taewoo Group may have thought that it was rude for me, as the chairman, to step forward personally, while Toshiba may have thought it was rude for me to send an executive director.

But that’s absolutely not what it meant.

The person most likely to become the next president of Toshiba was Managing Director Haruto.

He was put in charge of this negotiation because he was the most capable.

“We have prepared two conference rooms. Shouldn’t the working-level staff conduct detailed negotiations separately?”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

All the staff moved to the large conference room.

Managing Director Haruto and I conducted negotiations in the chairman’s office.

“First, let me start with something that may be rude. Top experts hired by Taewoo Group and Fintech Bank analyzed the current value of Toshiba Memory.”

“It is natural to analyze the current value during the process of acquiring a company. It is not rude at all. But I am curious. I would like to know the current value of Toshiba Memory.”

Director Haruto was a man full of pure curiosity.

Toshiba would have also naturally put a lot of effort into analyzing the current value.

He wanted to know how different the opinions of outside experts and Toshiba experts were.

“It’s exactly 2 trillion yen. And in Westinghouse’s case, it’s 400 billion yen.”

“The price doesn’t seem to have changed much since we met last month. Unless the chairman has influenced the expert’s opinion, it must mean that he has a professional-level eye.”

“It just so happened to be a coincidence. Now, I would like to know what the current value is as determined by Toshiba.”

“In the case of Toshiba Memory, it is 2.4 trillion yen, and for Westinghouse, it is 500 billion yen.”

Toshiba was demanding 500 billion yen more than the amount proposed by Taewoo Group.

500 billion yen, that’s over 5 trillion won.

In fact, it may not have been an excessive demand, but it would have been foolish to accept the amount Toshiba demanded.

First, let’s attack Westinghouse.

Compared to Toshiba memory, it was easy to touch because it was small in size.

“I understand that Toshiba bought Westinghouse for $5 billion. Can I take that to mean that they’re willing to sell it for almost the full price?”

“Westinghouse has invested a considerable amount of money in improving its technological capabilities.”

“The era of profiting from the nuclear power business is over. Taewoo Group is seeking to acquire Westinghouse for the advancement of nuclear power technology on a grand scale.”

Now is the era of nuclear phase-out.

Managing Director Haruto also avoided my gaze as he continued speaking, perhaps thinking that Westinghouse’s value was excessive.

“On a grand level, we will not be greedy either.”

“And there’s still a bubble in the Westinghouse price, which was created by Toshiba buying Westinghouse for three times what was originally estimated at $1.7 billion.”

He brought up something that happened more than 10 years ago.

Toshiba acquired Westinghouse in 2006.

The market had expected Westinghouse to be worth around $1.7 billion.

Toshiba bought Westinghouse for three times its price.

Toshiba had that much confidence in the nuclear power industry.

If the Great East Japan Earthquake had not occurred, Westinghouse would have been worth that much.

Now it was just a bunch of money, full of debt.

“I partially admit it. I will do my best to cooperate with the amount proposed by Taewoo Group.”

“We want to acquire it for 300 billion yen.”

“Isn’t the amount assessed by an external expert to be 400 billion yen?”

“We have to sustain astronomical deficits every year going forward, so we can’t afford to pay a lot for acquisitions.”

“But there have been private equity funds that have offered more than 300 billion yen. The discount rate is too high.”

It could be seen as an excessive amount.

That’s why I added a new suggestion.

“We are planning to add a condition to transfer one of the Russian factories currently being used by Taewoo Electronics after three years. It is a factory with a current value of at least 50 billion yen.”

“Didn’t you sell off all the Russian factories owned by Taewoo Group?”

“Because the scale is so large, we haven’t sold it all yet.”

The Russian factory was sold to a Japanese company.

However, there were still some factories remaining, and the plan was to use this opportunity to dispose of all of them.

“So you’re saying you’re going to acquire Westinghouse for 350 billion yen?”

“I think that’s a reasonable price. I’m sure it’s not much different from the amount offered by the private equity fund, or even higher.”

“Hmm, good. Then, let’s proceed with the Westinghouse negotiations to acquire the Russian factories worth 300 billion yen and 500 billion yen.”

Managing Director Haruto accepted it more easily than expected.

That’s understandable, because Westinghouse was just an appetizer.

There was no reason to bother with the appetizers, and it was a hundred times better to focus on the main dish, Toshiba Memory.

“Now it’s time to start negotiations with Toshiba Memory.”

“As you know, Toshiba Memory is different from other affiliates. Although it had a deficit last year, it was because it made bold investments in technology development. In terms of technology alone, it is the only company that is absolutely not behind Samjin Electronics.”

Toshiba Memory’s technological prowess is certainly outstanding.

And it is true that a large-scale investment of over 800 billion yen was made.

However, there were still some areas that needed to be explored, and some of them were related to the issues that were currently causing a stir in the Japanese manufacturing industry.

“I understand that it was revealed last year that the company had been exaggerating its performance and falsely portraying a loss-making business unit as a surplus.”

“Ahem, it was an accounting error, absolutely not intentional.”

Toshiba was also implicated in the manipulation.

Although it’s not like the auto industry manipulates performance.

There was a history of manipulating accounting information to increase corporate value.

There was no better subject to delve into than creative accounting, and if used well, it could lead to a very favorable outcome in negotiations.