The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 66



Only Noblemtl

66. Entering a new business (3)

We’ve got an office in LA to work on the acquisition of a beverage company.

As the optimistic takeover of Hansen became difficult, the first task was to find a suitable company to take over instead.

“Is it really necessary to invest this much? It would be better to use that money to acquire or buy shares in an IT company.”

Although they looked into it because they were ordered to do so from above, Manager Noh Young-min of the acquisition team was negative about the acquisition of the beverage company.

The growth rate and market size itself were different from the companies he had acquired so far. Even if the current performance of the IT industry is not that great, it is literally an investment for the future.

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company, had sales of just over $20 billion last year.

“The president was furious after receiving a detailed report on this acquisition.”

‘Have you ever had any problems with Jews before?’

Team Leader Jeong Gi-ha suddenly had this question, but he didn’t dare say it out loud.

“I can understand why the CEO got angry after hearing the report. I didn’t say anything, but those guys are crazy. Their attitude toward our acquisition negotiation team was too arrogant.”

“It happens all the time when you work in America. Even if you don’t show it, there is no way there won’t be racial discrimination.”

“I just rejected it. It was the first time I’ve ever reacted like that.”

Manager Noh Young-min didn’t understand, but it wasn’t an unfamiliar reaction to Team Leader Jeong Gi-ha.

“When I worked at a foreign company before, this kind of thing happened all the time. They wanted to sell their shares, but we didn’t.”

“Then, who do you want to sell it to? We bought the shares at a high price.”

“Who would it be? It’s Coca-Cola.”

“Isn’t that a competitor that makes beverages? Would Coca-Cola be interested in energy drinks, even if it’s not a sports drink? If it was, it would make them.”

“Where is there a permanent competitor? From Hansen’s perspective, they need a shareholder who can sell their products well.”

When it seems difficult to win against a competitor, Coca-Cola has been using the method of acquiring shares in the competitor.

Perhaps because it recognized that its refusal to take over bankrupt Pepsi had been a mistake, Coca-Cola had no qualms about acquiring a stake in a new company.

“I don’t know. By the way, Monster seems to sell pretty well in California.”

“I think the manager has a sense. He is sponsoring extreme sports among sports.”

“Sponsoring athletes can be problematic. It might be okay for a sports drink, but it’s hard for an athlete to endorse an energy drink.”

“Monster’s market share in the drinks market is growing quite quickly.”

The United States is a country with a large budget, so it chooses to succeed locally and gradually expand its market to other regions.

The California regional economy is roughly the size of a developed country. The economic power of the region alone is comparable to that of the United Kingdom, the world’s fifth-largest market.

The San Francisco Bay Area economy took a direct hit from the bursting of the tech bubble, but it has now recovered somewhat.

The local beverage market was also fiercely competitive. Companies frequently went bankrupt.

“Are you looking into the beverage company?”

“I am looking into it through the bank, but it will take time to get it acquired.”

It will take time to select a company and do due diligence, but there is no need to rush. The last time I saw him, the CEO was angry and said he would take over the beverage company, but when I reported to him in the morning, he told me not to rush.”

“What does the boss do? He doesn’t even come to work.”

“What are you going to do with that?”

What can an office worker do knowing what his boss is doing?

“I’m curious! I’m curious! I’m a fan of the CEO. Isn’t the CEO amazing for a young gentleman? He took over a toad all of a sudden and turned it into a company that made huge profits, and he even developed oil fields in Korea. Isn’t he really the hand of Midas? Someone of a similar age would be called the hand of minus.”

Team Leader Jeong sighed at the sight of Manager Noh speaking with shining eyes.

“You can only talk about that at a dinner party. Even if it’s not urgent, you still have to keep selecting the target for acquisition.”

“Okay, I see. This time, the takeover process is going to take quite a while. How about buying Coca-Cola shares instead?”

“You’re buying a stake in a billion-dollar company to get into the energy drink market? That’s a lot of money. You can buy a small stake, but you’re too big to do an acquisition.”

“Then what about Pepsi? They’re more active in M&A. I heard they acquired Gatorade a while ago. I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to join hands with Pepsi and approach the energy drink market. It would be difficult for Pepsi to directly enter the energy drink market. People are already trying to avoid drinks with a lot of sugar for health reasons. But what’s left if you take the sugar out of cola?”

Team leader Jeong Gi-ha waved his hand.

Manager Noh Young-min is good at his job and has many brilliant ideas, but he talks too much. If you didn’t cut him off like this, I would have to listen to his rambling all day.

“Okay, go to your seat quickly and make a list of target companies.”

As he left the team leader’s office, Team Leader Jeong Gi-ha, who had been reading documents, scratched his head.

The idea of ​​joining hands with Pepsi to enter the energy drink market wasn’t a bad one, as long as they could come up with a viable energy drink.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see since the CEO confidently said he’d make a product better than Hansen’s.”

***

The reason I am confidently trying to enter the beverage market is nothing other than this. When things get tough, I drink alcohol, but what do I do when I can’t?

The method of making a beverage like cola is easier than making alcohol. You just need to mix the prepared ingredients without having to go through a separate aging process.

Coke is carbonated sugar water, while energy drinks are sugar water with a high caffeine concentration.

[Master, if you consume that much concentrated caffeine, it puts a big strain on the human body.]

The drinks I enjoyed were meant for modified humans, so normal people would be shocked if they drank them.

The body’s reaction to caffeine is immediate, so consuming a large amount at once is bound to cause side effects.

My heart started beating fast when I drank the drink I made. I felt like I put too much caffeine in it.

[Aren’t you too concerned about a hundred million dollar business? You should be worrying about other things at this time.]

The reason there are no significant competitors is because the market is too small.

It was only natural that sales of Hansen Monster Energy, which had just been launched, were small.

“I remember that guy Devane was drinking an energy drink. If that guy made something, it would be better than this.”

Devane Freeman was an old friend of mine, known since I first started my career as a space miner.

He was a quiet and polite guy compared to the other miners who always swore at him.

I died in an accident on a mining planet I had pioneered while successfully developing mines and growing my company into a giant concern.

It was an ordinary thing.

Because it’s a common occurrence for space miners to die in accidents.

It makes sense that as space miners get older and more experienced, their mouths naturally become rougher.

Accidents happen unexpectedly and by chance.

If you happen to pass by an area with a small black hole, or if the stellar wind suddenly becomes violent, an area that was safe until yesterday can turn into a dangerous area in an instant.

The work area that friend chose was a planet with an unstable geological structure.

When mining minerals on a pioneer planet, various methods are used depending on the characteristics of the planet, but on rocky planets, ground stabilization work is done first.

Because if that doesn’t happen first, the probability of an accident occurring is high.

Devane naturally carried out ground stabilization work and operated the mine for over ten years without any accidents.

The shelter sank deep underground due to sudden tectonic activity in the mine area. Normally, even if the shelter sank, it would have been safe and would have passed without any major accidents, as it was equipped with safety equipment.

But unfortunately, the shelter’s energy supply equipment broke down at that time and was undergoing repairs.

No matter how thoroughly prepared a shelter is for safety, it is useless if energy is not properly supplied.

I had been hit with one misfortune after another, so there was no way out.

I was lucky, but my friend wasn’t.

Devane, who doesn’t even drink alcohol, only drinks energy drinks.

He drank so much that it made people watching him sick.

“Should we buy a beverage company and sell energy drinks under the Devane name?”

[There will be someone with a similar name who will be sued.]

“Movie actor? Maybe because they have the same name, their bodies are similar. But Devane is much taller.”

[He was short, but he was stronger than the Master.]

“Yeah, he was stronger than me. I was the only one who could outwit him. I couldn’t even tell you how strong he was despite being short.”

If the dwarves from Germanic mythology appeared in real life, they would be exactly like Dwein.

Another thing is that he doesn’t like alcohol. Devane’s father was an alcoholic.

Judging from the fact that he hates alcohol so much but is addicted to energy drinks, it seems like the people in that family are prone to getting addicted to something.

It’s been over a hundred years since that friend passed away.

I had completely forgotten about it, but I remembered it again while trying to make an energy drink.

“What was it that was in that guy’s favorite energy drink?”

Because so much time had passed, I struggled to remember.

It was a very special ingredient, and I was told that it had to be added to make it taste good, but I couldn’t remember. If I can remember the name of something I heard two or three times a hundred years ago, I’m a real genius.

I started this ambitious project with the goal of making an energy drink that would break the noses of arrogant people, but the energy drink I was looking for didn’t taste like anything I’d like.

[Why don’t you just decide on the one that the Master likes to drink? You said you’ve made it many times before?]

“That’s not enough. I only made it myself in the beginning, and later I drank the energy drink that Devane sent me as a gift.”

When I first started mining on a pioneer ship, I literally lived off of energy drinks. I couldn’t drink because I was afraid of getting drunk and having an accident.

Sometimes when I stopped by the energy brokerage to replenish supplies, I would hear that someone had died in an accident.

The work is hard, and if you endure it alone on a pioneering ship with no one around, you may develop a mental illness that you never had before.

So everyone moved as a team, but I moved alone.

When you go into business together and discover a gerenium mine, there’s a fight. If it’s a hundred, it’s a hundred, and they fight over the share.

I had to endure loneliness to eat the gerenium I discovered alone.

He even regretted giving up his successful energy trader job to enter the mining development business.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to restore the Devane energy drink I had tasted before.

[Master, do as you wish.]

Ariel, who had tried to change my mind several times, got upset and didn’t answer even when I spoke to her.

Another thing happened that made me mad. When Jeongyeon came home from work, she complained to me.

“The director who promised to shoot the movie suddenly turned down the offer? What was the reason?”

“They give various reasons, but I think they feel pressured.”

“Pressure? What pressure?”

“I guess they told me that if I make a movie with Blue Rabbit, they’ll make my future in Hollywood difficult.”

The red light has been turned on for Jeongyeon’s new movie that is going into production at Blue Rabbit.

“What kind of guy goes around making those kind of noises?”

“Who would it be? Oh man, I knew it when Tina said he was a son of a bitch. He’s just trying to suppress his competitors. My brother invested enough money, so he can’t do anything about it, so he’s blackmailing the movie director and actors.”

When I heard that, my head started spinning.

Trash was trash after all. I thought there was no need to do anything about it as long as it wasn’t blocking my path, so I left it alone, but before I knew it, it was blocking Jeongyeon’s path.

“How is Valentina doing?”

“I’m trying to change the director’s mind somehow, but it seems like it’s going to be difficult. The actors who promised to appear are also changing their words. I think making the movie will be difficult.”

When I saw Jeongyeon with her gloomy face, anger welled up inside me.