The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 80



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 80

Episode 80 Year-end Settlement

As the end of the year approached, a large number of Korean executives came to LA.

Rather than going to Korea, which is noisy due to the presidential election, he said he would take this opportunity to visit LA on a private plane.

Although it was the aircraft I chose, the 747 was a truly tremendous aircraft to use as a private jet.

Every time it rose and fell, it consumed enormous maintenance costs.

The runway length and width required for takeoff and landing are so long and wide that it cannot fit into most airports.

When going to nearby areas, I rent a Bombardier.

The atmosphere was friendly as all of the WD executives gathered together for the first time in a long while.

Even though they were CEOs from the same organization, they had no reason to contact each other, so it was difficult to see each other’s faces even when they were in Korea.

WD Group was a new group that had been established not long ago.

The group was created by acquiring or establishing companies here and there.

The largest ones, WD Shipbuilding and Ddukie F&B, were acquired from insolvent companies, while WD Investment was a company that was created.

“Did you feel comfortable when you came?”

He said he wanted to ride the 747, so I sent him my private jet.

“You said it was a hotel, not an airplane. It was really comfortable.”

“It was a long-haul flight of 14 hours, so I’m glad you arrived comfortably.”

“I only heard that private jets are great, but I didn’t know they were this comfortable. Please give me another ride next time.”

Chief Park Sung-gyu, who was seeing the face for the first time in a long time, smiled.

“It seems that Chief Park really liked the plane. Of course, we will take you back on it as well.”

At my words, Chief Park and the others’ faces brightened. Once they got on, it seemed like there was a clear difference from other planes.

“I heard you acquired this building. That’s great.”

“I bought it after thinking about many things. I plan to establish WD USA here. There are not many vacancies yet, but I plan to move the company in as soon as there is space. I hope that President Lee Jun-ho will continue to work hard in the future.”

Everyone nodded to what I said.

“Vice President Kwak, why are you so quiet? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

“How could I step forward when there are others? WD is almost like a stepchild to me.”

Vice President Kwak said that because I didn’t care that much about WD Ramen.

That’s understandable. WD Ramen is a subcontractor that operates under subcontract from our food. The ramen it makes is also all from our food. Vice President Kwak was reluctant to attend this executive meeting, so he was dragged in.

“Oh, you shouldn’t think like that. It was because Vice President Kwak was here that I was able to take over other businesses without any worries. WD Ramen was the first company I created. It’s a company I have a natural attachment to.”

Looking at all of them in one place, I realized that I created and acquired a lot of companies in a short period of time.

If someone else had bought so many companies in a short period of time, they would have been struggling due to lack of funds. But I was different.

Although the WD Group has not yet been officially declared, each of its affiliated companies has achieved record growth, posting huge profits.

The gathering was not a stiff or formal place. It was a place where everyone gathered together, looked at each other’s faces, and talked freely.

I’m not a person who cares much about formality, and I don’t have a hobby of being a younger person and harassing older people by straining my neck to get them to do my bidding.

Although it was called an executive meeting, we just sat around with a cup of tea and talked about pending issues that had been piling up.

WD Chosun’s President Jeong Yong-in shook his head.

“This is my first time having an executive meeting like this.”

“President Jeong is the only one who attended the executive meetings of other groups. Is it very different?”

“What can I say? If the chairman conducts a meeting of executives, there are places where he has to go in wearing a diaper.”

“Oh my! You’re not in your right mind.”

“I only heard about it, but is it really true?”

Everyone present shook their heads in disbelief.

“There are chairman who throws ashtrays, and swearing is common during meetings. This is the first time in my life that I have had a comfortable executive meeting like WD. Didn’t the chairman say he wouldn’t even listen to business reports? When you report on business for a year, all sorts of things happen.”

They are all in the black. They are companies that make huge amounts of money. What can you do with business reports? You can find out everything with just one document.

“Our group, which has not even been officially launched yet, has entered the top 5 conglomerates.”

This was the first time I heard this.

“By what criteria?”

“In Korea, we are often judged by asset size. In terms of surplus size, we are second only to Samjeong. In terms of asset size, we are fifth, but everyone expects that we will surpass Samjeong within a few years.”

This was a given.

“WD Shipbuilding alone has seen its sales jump from 3 trillion to 7 trillion. Our goal next year is to exceed 10 trillion. All the yards that were idle are now fully operational and building ships.”

“There are a lot of drillship orders.”

“We have three years’ worth of backlog. I’ve never seen such a desperate situation over not being able to order such expensive ships. It’s the same with other ships. The engines they are installing are on a completely different level from those made by other companies. They are hiring back the people they laid off and there’s a huge shortage of people.”

“Is the LNG ship research going well?”

“Vice President William is in charge and is doing a great job. We will see a flood of patents next year.”

“Everything is going as planned.”

“The reason we set sales for next year at 10 trillion won is because we don’t have enough docks to work on. We need to increase the number of docks, either by building new docks or by taking over bankrupt shipyards.”

“Do both at the same time. If you try to do them one at a time, you won’t be able to handle the amount you’re supposed to receive.”

“We also have to keep in mind the recession.”

“Don’t worry and increase your production. No matter how bad the recession is, I’m confident that our shipyard will be the first to receive orders to build ships.”

Even in a recession, ships aren’t built.

“And they are begging other shipyards to sell them engines.”

“The engine?”

“The government also secretly hinted that it wanted to do that. It was because of complaints that ship orders were being taken away by other countries.”

“You can sell it. But you can sell it for a high price. I don’t know about drill ships, but you can sell ship engines.”

“I wish we could also take over the drill ship manufacturing technology.”

“That’s just nonsense. Why are you telling me that? Ask Samjeong to teach you how to make semiconductors. Ask Hyundai to teach you how to make automobiles. Where did you hear that nonsense?”

Drillship manufacturing technology is a cash cow that will sustain WD Shipbuilding for more than 20 years.

Because in the meantime, we will never be able to develop the technology to mine up to 10,000 meters.

“I told them the same thing. I told them that if they said something so ridiculous, I wouldn’t sell them the engine. I’ve been in the shipbuilding industry for a long time, so I know them well, and when I listened to their story, they said it was ridiculous. I understand their greed. The unit price of drillships is high, and our company has the best competitiveness in the world, so I understand why they want it, but they should be working on developing their own technology, and they’re just coveting what other people have!”

President Jeong Yong-in stuck out his tongue. He had also worked for other conglomerates for a long time, but the conglomerates’ shameless greed was truly endless.

“Aren’t you going to send spies? Not only domestic companies, but also foreign companies will be drooling.”

“No way. Even if we send it, there’s no way to access the technology lab. Even if we’re lucky and get access, the most important technology in the drillship is known only to the CEO.”

The most important drill on the drillship is the one I personally make and give to you.

The technology was not transferred to WD Chosun. Even if they wanted to transfer it, they couldn’t because it involved a lot of special metals, making it difficult to explain the technology.

“Other technologies are also important, so make sure to be more thorough with security. They will do everything they can to target your technologies.”

“I understand. It’s still tight, but we won’t spare any expense to maintain security.”

There’s no use regretting after losing your skills. No matter how much it costs, safety is paramount.

There have been many companies that failed because they failed to do this properly.

As I was talking to President Jeong, I felt his warm gaze.

“It seems like Chief Park is restless because he can’t speak. If he looks at me with such a hot gaze, Jamie will misunderstand.”

My joke caused the audience to burst into laughter.

Chief Park, his face flushed, waved his hand.

“Oh my, sir, what are you talking about? I am also a married man with two children.”

“Yes, Chief Park, since you seem to be itching to talk, I’ll let you brag.”

“This year, we achieved 6 billion bottles of overseas exports. China has 3.5 billion bottles and Russia has 2.5 billion bottles. The Russian volume includes 500 million bottles of 75-degree alcohol.”

“Russia has a much smaller population than China, but the amount of water entering is similar?”

“That country is really crazy about alcohol. I also like alcohol, so I joined a soju company, but when I see Russians drinking, I often wonder if they are in their right mind.”

“They say the number one cause of death is drinking. They say that both men and women drink.”

“That’s right. Anyway, it was worth it to focus on overseas markets instead of struggling in the domestic market where profits are not high. Profits reached 4.2 trillion won.”

“What about Maehrt? President Jeong Bok-gyu didn’t come this time.”

“We produced 20,000 bottles last month, but the quality is still uneven. President Jeong said that a brewery in Scotland was up for sale, so he went there. If you’re late, you’ll miss out on the first good deal in a long time.”

“It will improve over time. If a Scottish brewery comes up for sale, you should buy it.”

“Glenbelt is where President Jeong learned brewing techniques.”

“I hope it works out. A Scottish brewery would be a good choice, as it fits the direction I’m pursuing.”

There were two directions I was basically pursuing.

One is a luxury empire like LVMH, and the other is a military-industrial complex. For this, you need a financial company that moves money and buys companies that make money later.

“In the future, we will maintain the current level of sales rather than increase them.”

The increase in overseas exports of Toad F&B was due to the increase in production volume. However, Director Park did not get greedy because he was informed that it was no longer possible to increase the number of soju maturation facilities.

“How do you plan to handle the profits of the head office?”

“The tax is a little over 1 trillion won. I plan to pay some of the remaining amount as dividends and use the rest to purchase real estate as I am doing now.”

“Let’s pay 1 trillion won in dividends and use the rest to purchase real estate. Negotiate with the president of the real estate company and purchase overseas real estate as well. There’s a lot to worry about with domestic real estate because of the non-business-use high taxation. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is telling us to transfer the profits from Seohae Oil overseas, so we have to get involved.”

“Okay, but the government keeps asking about the toad listing.”

“How much is it trading at in the over-the-counter market?”

“It’s over 1 million won per week. There are hardly any sellers, so trading isn’t going well.”

The stock price of 5,000 won per week rose to 1 million won, meaning that the company’s market capitalization was 60 trillion won.

In fact, this is a company whose net profit this year is over 4 trillion won and is looking at 6 to 7 trillion won next year.

This year’s dividend amount is 16,000 won per share.

It has become too large to continue to be kept in the over-the-counter market.

“If listed on the Korean stock market, it would be difficult for the stock price to move similarly, right?”

“Probably so. They will compare it to a company like Samsung Electronics, so the stock price will fall a lot from where it is now.”

Samsung Electronics recorded sales of 40 trillion won and net profit of 7 trillion won in 2002. As NAND flash sales skyrocketed, the stock price rose to 400,000 won.

There was talk that if Toad were to be relisted on the Korea Exchange, its over-the-counter trading price would be halved.

“Why not just list on the New York Stock Exchange?”