Money Likes Me Too - Chapter 91



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Episode 91.

I got a call from Elon Musk.

– It was a great negotiation. I was surprised. As expected, it’s Mr. Kang. I learned a lot this time too.

What is negotiation? What can you learn from me?

When I asked why, the answer I got was shocking. Is it because it’s a gigafactory?

His words were as follows:

Now it’s also actively coming out in Texas.

The location was also finally decided on as Winfield, a satellite city on the southeastern outskirts of Austin, the state capital. It was one of the places Musk and I toured by helicopter. It has an area of ​​800 hectares. It’s the size of one and a half Manhattans.

The problem is only the size of the factory.

The combined land for the bed town, infrastructure, commercial district, and leisure facilities that will be built there is even bigger. In addition, they have even prepared idle land for cocoa, which may enter the southern United States in the future. Musk explained that the Texas state government has made a firm promise.

‘Why does this keep getting bigger?’

I never said anything about going to Texas. Why are you suddenly like this? It wasn’t just that I was blocked. My nose was blocked too.

– As you know, this is all because of Mr. Kang.

It’s all my fault.

They’re pushing it as my fault. Now I know why people call Elon Musk a prankster.

“But Elon······.”

He lightly dismissed my protest.

– My story isn’t over yet.

“······If that’s the case, then that’s fortunate.”

– Anyway, Governor Adam told me to tell him that the Cowboys will have a hard time. It’s hard to say, but it can’t be done. Please grant me that request, Mr. Kang.

Is this a threat?

– If you do that, I have an interesting suggestion for Mr. Kang. I think you’ll like it, too.

If it were the Mr. Kang I know, he would have snorted.

“What is that?”

I was curious.

– There are many ways to own the Cowboys without necessarily buying them.

“for example?”

– They have a home stadium in Arlington. It’s called AT&T Stadium. It was originally called Cowboys Stadium. A few years ago, AT&T bought the naming rights and the name was changed.

Come to think of it, that’s right. Acquisition isn’t the only way to invest in a team.

You could become the main sponsor of the uniform, or you could buy the naming rights for the stadium. Musk’s story is that we should try the latter. As expected, it was appealing.

But there’s already an owner?

– It’s been only 5 years since 2013, so 400 million dollars over 20 years.

“Elon is talking about taking it away, right?”

– that’s right.

Then he laughed and said, “That’s funny.” At times like this, he’s trustworthy.

It’s fun. The fun of spending money.

I’ll pay the deposit and execute my advertising expenses. It’s killing two birds with one stone. I’ll have to give AT&T at least $400 million.

I added a word there.

“It would definitely be fun.”

– I knew you would. That’s what Mr. Kang likes.

“But 20 years is a bit short.”

I went one step further.

“Let’s go to 200 years.”

20 years is just a thrill.

This is a business that is like eating a living day after day. Just by adding the name of cocoa, you can spend billions of dollars for free. It is a pity that I did not think of it sooner.

‘Thanks Elon.’

I gave him a compliment inwardly. No matter what, there are few people who are as sincere about spending money as Musk.

– What did you say?

He didn’t seem to understand right away.

“200 years.”

– No, that’s a bit······.

“Elon, I can’t give in anymore. We’ve already done enough.”

I spoke sternly, pretending to be serious.

I can’t cut it down by one year, not even one day.

I had already given in several times. Now I absolutely had no intention of giving in even an inch.

From now on, the stadium of the NFL powerhouse Dallas Cowboys should be called ‘Cocoa Stadium’. And for 200 years.

“But you know.”

– yes······.

Elon’s sullen voice came over the phone.

“Aren’t there other teams in Texas besides the Cowboys? Like baseball, or basketball?”

I was still hungry.

It wasn’t enough to just go one step further.

There’s the Texas Rangers in MLB, the Dallas Mavericks in NBA, and even an NFL team (Dallas Stars). It’s a state with all four major sports. I thought I’d be satisfied if I could get the naming rights to all four.

“Elon? Elon?”

But Musk didn’t answer for a long time.

* * *

“No.”

I knew this would happen. There was no way Han Jang-soo would let this go unnoticed.

I asked why.

He took out a bunch of documents one by one, as if he had prepared them in advance. The title was ‘Status of Trademark Royalty Fees for Cocoa Affiliates.’

“What is this? A trademark?”

“You will know when you see it.”

I flipped through the paper. A list appeared.

——

[Coco I&M] 4.62 billion won (* Comprehensive contract for Cocoa Friends character usage rights)

[Cocoa Game Studio] 2.24 billion won

···

[Cocoa Brain] 12,000 won

——

’12 thousand won?’

No, what is cocoa brain?

A representative answered my question.

“To put it simply, it’s royalty.”

According to his explanation, the subsidiaries using the name ‘Cocoa’ have been paying a certain percentage of their sales to the headquarters, Cocoa Labs.

No, I know that without you explaining it.

There is one thing I am curious about.

‘How could they be doing this without me knowing?’

It was annoying. If I let my guard down even for a moment, rice would pile up in the granary without me knowing. But, whether he knew my feelings or not, General Han continued to explain.

“The total revenue from the cocoa trademark is less than 10 billion. And pouring billions of dollars into a stadium name? It’s too much of a burden. No, Mr. Chairman.”

It was like a complaint.

But it was I who couldn’t do it. It was something I couldn’t listen to.

“That went well.”

A question mark appeared on one of the representative’s faces at my words.

“Thanks to this story, I found a new place. The parent company is charging royalties to its subsidiary for using trademarks. This is ridiculous. It needs to be fixed now.”

“yes?”

“The trademark contract is terminated in one fell swoop. Let’s re-sign it. For 0 won.”

“That’s nonsense!”

A general who was hit by a bullet from an unexpected place shouted.

“That doesn’t make sense. Didn’t the CEO say that to me earlier? It doesn’t make sense to spend billions of dollars to name a stadium. It’s the same logic. It doesn’t make sense to charge billions of won just to use the name Cocoa.”

I got caught in a trap.

“No, that······.”

General Han was speechless. After a while of not speaking, he began to counterattack.

“Then, Mr. Chairman, are you giving up too?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that what you’re saying? Wouldn’t it make sense to give up the stadium naming rights as well?”

“That’s not it.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my heart.”

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What did you say? Han Jang-soo opened his mouth wide.

I crossed my arms. It’s a matter of spending money. It’s okay to be a little shameless. The face of Han Jang-soo, who was looking at my face like that, turned red and blue. It was quite a sight.

So what?

It doesn’t matter. I’ll do whatever I want.

“But for now, I’ll just do the Cowboys. Later, I’ll gradually work on baseball, basketball, and ice hockey stadiums. I’m telling you this in advance.”

“······.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Oh, how are the negotiations with Dosan Bears going?”

This is the result of the idea contest ‘Cocoa Octagon’ for all Cocoa employees. Employees’ ideas are valuable. We must protect them. Han Jang-soo came to his senses at my question.

“Dosan’s position is that they will let go if the amount is met by the end of this year.”

Still, Han Jang-soo is a man who is sure about getting things done. I nodded.

“It must have been easy to talk.”

“It had to be that way. Dosan is in a state of crisis right now.”

His explanation continued.

“In the 80s when Dosan first started the baseball team, it had the image of a beer company, so it valued its brand reputation, but now that it has transformed into a construction and heavy industry company, it is different. There is not much contact with consumers. The baseball team has been a burden for a long time. Furthermore, it is currently going through a harsh restructuring, so it is difficult to run a baseball team that costs money.”

Keureuk, that’s a good word.

“Well done. As expected, the conversation was bound to go smoothly.”

“Yes.”

“How much do you want? From your side.”

This is the most important story.

“We have prepared 200 billion won. However, since we have the initiative, we may be able to cut it by 50 billion won. We also have to pay a membership fee to the KBO, so it would be better to save money here.”

“Cut it? What nonsense are you talking about?”

“No, Mr. Chairman.”

“Not even one penny should be cut from 200 billion won.”

My logic was sound.

“If the price is slashed, Dosan will try to make ends meet by selling off franchise stars. I want a baseball team with enough power, not a team with all its limbs cut off and only its name remaining. Tell the negotiating team to raise the price and not lower it.”

Han Jang-su nodded without answering. It seemed like he understood what I said.

Thank goodness it came out with a different logic.

“and······.”

Then he asked.

“After taking over the team, we will need to appoint a new general manager and president. Do you have anyone in mind, Chairman?”

* * *

At that time, KSH Holdings office.

“Hey, Director Lim.”

It was Lee Jong-seok’s voice as he opened the door and came in. There was no answer. A second voice rang through the office again.

“Kyungjun.”

“······.”

“Are you sleeping?”

I hit the back of Lim Kyung-jun, who was lying face down. There was a thud sound.

“Why, why?”

The voice was still sleepy.

After making a record profit of $100 billion, or 100 trillion won, the coin market fell into a slump.

The KSH office was similar.

The only reason was different. Here, it was because of ‘Director In’. He innovatively reduced miscellaneous tasks, so Im Kyung-jun kept nodding off after finishing trading.

“If you don’t have work, create some.”

“Like the CEO (Lee Jong-suk)?”

Lee Jong-suk has been busy these days.

He received incentives close to the unit price. He started his own business. It wasn’t a big deal. He bought a few buildings on Hwaridan-gil. He’s been busy running them lately.

But Lim Gyeong-jun had no interest in such things.

‘What are you going to do with the money?’

‘Does the person who makes money live only on bank interest? Banks are just thieves who don’t even have knives. Money needs to be rolled to grow. Executive Director Lim.’

Despite Lee Jong-suk’s nagging, she held on steadfastly.

The only place I spent money was on a 199㎡ (60.2 pyeong) apartment in the Aceum 1 complex, which was being built to meet the demand for apartments near Ace City.

Brrrr, brrrr.

At that moment, Lee Jong-seok’s cell phone rang.

[Han Jang-soo]

“Mr. Han is looking for you.”

It was a Kotok message. It was a simple message telling me to come over to the chairman’s office.

What could it be? Lee Jong-suk tilted his head and went out the door.

“Manage your money well.”

“I will take care of my own protection.”

Lim Kyung-jun lay down again. Sleepiness came over him.

30 minutes later,

When Lee Jong-suk returned to the office, Lim Kyung-jun was fast asleep.

“Kyungjun!”

“Why do you keep waking me up?”

“If things go well, why don’t you just spread out a blanket and go to sleep? You don’t want to do that, do you?”

“Then it’s like I’m living in the company.”

Then it wasn’t like that? Lee Jong-suk chuckled.

“But why?”

Lim Kyung-jun asked what happened in the chairman’s office.

“Why is that?”

“What is it?”

“Lim Kyung-jun, you look like you have a job to do.”

Lee Jong-suk smiled as he handed him a document. The cover read, “Regarding the acquisition of Dosan Bears.”

“What is this?”

Lim Kyung-jun asked, looking at the documents lying next to him with an indifferent gaze.

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

Lee Jong-suk said, ‘You’re in trouble.’ That was the expression on his face.

* * *

The news spread like wildfire.

‘It’s not a mess.’

We formed a working team.

It was a temporary organization under Cocoa Labs with Lim Gyeong-jun as the TF leader.

Excluding financial experts, I received support from senior level and above cocoa employees. I figured there would be many employees who liked baseball. Appropriate (large) incentives to spend money were a bonus.

The page for support staff that was posted on the intranet closed in exactly 5 seconds. It was amazing.

‘I guess everyone likes baseball.’

If I had known this would happen, I would have bought a baseball team a long time ago.

As the results came out quickly, they were leaked to the news.

[ KBO’s first team, Dosan Bears, moves to Cocoa. ······ Signing of ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ for a total of approximately 200 billion won. ]

[ 100% stake is valued at 150 billion won, and the value of assets owned, including Bears Field, is valued at 56.32 billion won. ]

This is a popular Seoul team.

Last year and the year before, they won consecutive championships. It’s strange that they are silent when they suddenly hear that the owner has changed. However, most fans welcomed Cocoa.

— Kang Si-hyeon, you know it’s hot.

— In 2018, is it possible to expect a Dosan, or rather, a Cocoa Dynasty?

Victory, that’s a good word.

But if you win, you get a prize, right? That’s a bit weird.

I was sitting in the conference room, thinking about this and that. People came in one by one, smiling, and greeted me happily.

“Mr. Chairman! What are you doing here?”

Lim Kyung-jun looked surprised when he saw me.

“Thank you for your hard work in signing the MOU. I also came to attend the meeting. This is the first meeting since then, right? The date for the full-scale handover negotiations is approaching.”

“That is true, but.”

“I came to talk to you about the most important issue that I forgot to mention.”

At those words, all the TF staff sitting there became tense.

‘I guess he’s going to talk about money.’ Lim Kyung-jun also seemed to be thinking this to himself. But no.

“Your name. Your name.”

I continued.

“Our Cocoa baseball team should have a cool name like Bears. We can’t call it Cocoa Tox or Cocoa Friends. I’d like to hear your opinions.”

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