The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 94



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 94

Episode 94: Preparation for listing

The head of the company came to LA to prepare for listing. He will stay in LA for the time being to prepare for listing on NASDAQ.

The team that came with me was going to stay in the house I used to live in. The house had been empty for a while, so I decided to renovate it and use it for guests. I bought a house in New York and was using it for my staff.

“Your face is nice to look at.”

“Although I am busy, I feel at ease because the company is doing well. The company atmosphere is excellent because cash is pouring in every day. The soju we make sells as it is.”

“How are domestic sales?”

“There’s nothing special about that. The market is almost saturated. There’s not much left. It’s a business that only benefits the people in the National Tax Service. There are many wholesalers who want to sell soju for export in Korea, but they ignore them.”

“Of course it should be. The remaining amount is different. Even if you release it domestically, there will be no loss due to taxes, so there is no need to push yourself too hard.”

Even if we release soju for export into the country, there is almost nothing left after paying taxes.

The quality itself was different from that of domestic alcohol, which was produced in-house and used low-quality alcohol.

“Is there still a shortage of supply?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We are trying to speed up production, but there is a limit. All the branches are saying to the head office is to increase the allocation of supplies.”

“Can’t we increase the number of maturation tanks?”

“The materials to make it are incredibly hard to obtain. We’re barely able to keep up with the current standards.”

If you don’t use maturing barrels, you won’t get that unique flavor.

The same was true even when stored for a long period of time.

Because the quality varies greatly depending on whether it is used or not, it is difficult to increase supply.

“How are things going financially?”

“The dividend payment and internally accumulated cash assets amount to 6.2 trillion won. Of that, 4.5 trillion won went into WD Investment Asset’s stock fund, and we are also steadily purchasing real estate both domestically and overseas.”

“Did the profits turn out well?”

“The China Fund and IT Fund have generated high returns, so the total return is over 80%. The returns have been so great that we have internally worried whether this level of return is okay.”

“Are you worried? Why?”

“Most people manage their cash funds conservatively. They say they make long-term investments, but they invest in risky assets because they offer high returns.”

“In a word, it’s leaning. It’s not that we invested in risky assets, but that the stock market has entered a full-fledged boom. The U.S. stock market will rise more steeply than the domestic stock market. We will continue to see a surplus from soju exports, but since supply is limited, the size of the surplus is fixed. In the future, the size of the surplus each year will be determined by how we generate investment returns.”

“I think so too. We need to manage our growing cash assets well.”

“How is the morale among the employees?”

“Not only did they raise my salary, they also paid out a huge bonus. They also provided the best welfare in the country, so it’s a place that college students want to work after they graduate. My friends who are still here are extremely jealous when they hear how much I earned last year.”

Last year, the toad paid a high bonus of 1,000%.

If you add the bonuses that the executives took home, they could buy a house in Seoul with cash.

“Chief Do must have received a lot of stock dividends, right?”

“Haha, I got a lot. I got back all my investment money and still have some left over. People around me are so jealous of people who bought toad stocks. They make money when the stock price goes up and they also get a lot of cash in dividends.”

“I guess everyone who invested has no complaints?”

The person in the middle of the conversation chuckled at my words. Most of the people who invested in the failing toad were bankers or high-ranking government officials who had access to the information early.

“Everyone is cooperating as if it were their own work. Even the tax office staff who frequently visit the company ask me if I should buy Toad stocks right now, which is a headache.”

“How come they couldn’t buy it? It seems like government officials bought a toad stock in the meantime.”

“I was in the countryside so I got the information late. I heard about it later and tried to buy it, but the stock price kept going up, so I just sat back and watched. When I heard the news of the NASDAQ listing, I tried to buy it in a hurry, but the stock price is so high now.”

“How much is it being traded at the over-the-counter market these days?”

“It hit 2 million won and went through a period of adjustment, and is currently being traded at around 1.8 million won. It seems difficult to rush in because the stock price is higher than that of listed companies.”

“If the stock price is expensive, it is difficult to invest. You told me that there will be a stock split before the IPO, right?”

“Yes, they said they would buy it then because they were going to do a 50 to 1 stock split before the listing. Many foreign investors are coming in and buying stocks. Everyone is taking the NASDAQ listing as a given. The New York Stock Exchange has also offered to list it. It is quite possible to list it on the New York Stock Exchange.”

“For the time being, Nasdaq will be better. The two markets have different images. I may move later, but for now, Nasdaq looks better. It also has relatively fewer restrictions.”

The stake, which had risen to 68%, fell to 52% after the NASDAQ listing. So, the plan was to steadily purchase shares even after the listing if the stock price fell.

If Toad F&B succeeds in listing on NASDAQ, it will instantly surpass the market capitalization of LVMH, the world’s number one luxury goods company.

If the stock price rises as expected, the value of my stake in Toad F&B will exceed $100 billion.

“Emma Brown and Ultra, which acquired a portion of the shares, are also seeing tremendous increases in sales. I heard that sales in China are growing even more than in the US.”

Emma lived in China for a while and expanded her branch. Timeshock became a huge hit, and its recognition increased, so that sales are now far ahead of other luxury brands in Europe.

Whether it’s called a youth luxury brand or something else, it was chosen as the most preferred luxury brand among Chinese youth.

“Don’t the Chinese like strong primary colors? Emma’s clothes are also flashy and fit well. Their marketing is also well-suited to the tastes of young people. Their economic growth rate is incredibly fast. No matter how poor the country is, last year’s economic growth rate was over 12%. Because of the culture that likes to show off, the luxury market is bound to explode every year.”

All I did was to fill in the gaps in Emma Brown’s finances. With enough money, Emma Brown was basically settling into her own building.

The same goes for Ultra, which makes energy drinks. It successfully entered the Chinese market from the beginning by advertising heavily.

The secret to success was the students taking the Gaokao, which is like the Korean college entrance exam.

“It seems that college entrance exams in China are just as difficult as in Korea.”

I heard about it from people around me.

“My son was thinking about studying abroad in China, so he looked into the Chinese college entrance exams. It’s not hard for foreigners to get into a prestigious university, but it’s incredibly difficult for Chinese students to get into a prestigious university.”

“Chinese students drink a lot of Ultra while studying for exams.”

“With such a large population, the number of students must be enormous.”

“The number of students taking the Gaokao this year is about 7 million. It is said that this number will continue to increase rather than decrease. It used to be 2 to 3 million, but since the Chinese economy has become more livable since 2000, it has been increasing explosively.”

The person in the middle shook his head at my words. It was a number that was hard to believe. The number of college entrance exam takers in Korea was at most 800,000.

“As the number of people trying to go to college increases, the competition for admission will become more intense.”

“I heard about the college entrance exam when I went to China last time. There are a lot of suicides after the Gaokao exam. The number of students is increasing, but the number of admissions to prestigious universities is not increasing much, so it is the most competitive exam in the world. The stress students feel from the college entrance exam is so severe that Ultra sells well to Chinese students. I heard that even Chinese elementary school students drink a lot these days.”

The person in the middle of my story looked tired.

“Oh, really. I have two children, so I have nothing to say. Korea is the same as China. If you want to go to a prestigious university, you have to study hard. My eldest son gets stressed out a lot. After all, parents can’t help their children study.”

“Is your son good at studying?”

The man on the way bragged as if he had been waiting to be asked.

“I heard that I’m in the top 10 in the entire school, but we’ll have to take the test to find out.”

“The place you live now is Daechi-dong, Gangnam, right? If you have a full-time student in Gangnam, you can get into any decent university.”

“You have to do well on the college entrance exam. What about American universities? You, Chairman, went to college in the US, so you should know.”

“You have to prepare separately. You have to take the SAT and do volunteer work and other preparations, so it’s hard if you don’t prepare in advance. If you haven’t prepared, it’s better to just take the CSAT and enter a Korean university. You can transfer in the middle or go to graduate school in the US. Do you know about private university tuition?”

“I wouldn’t have even thought about it in the past. Back then, the tuition for one semester was expensive, at most over 1 million won, but these days it’s gone up a lot. I heard that private universities in the US are really expensive.

“If I don’t get the scholarship, I’ll end up with hundreds of millions of won in living expenses.”

We talked for a long time about college entrance exams with the middleman.

“Even having a child here is a worry.”

[It’s a problem if you don’t pay too much attention like in the future. Don’t androids raise children? There’s no competition for college entrance exams.]

“So it’s really horrible for the kids. How can they stay at school all day until dinner? It’s not even child abuse.”

[What can I do! That’s how everyone lives here. Since the competition in America is less fierce, why don’t you raise your children in America?]

“Will that work? It seems like my grandfather is insisting that I send my children to a Korean university. He said that since he sent them to the US early, they have become Americans, and that his great-grandchildren should send them to a Korean university.”

I felt sorry for my children because I thought it was my fault. While talking to my grandfather, I realized that I was a complete idiot who was ignorant of Korean history.

When should I have learned Korean history?

It was the first time I heard about the Three Kingdoms period and the Goryeo period. My grandfather was surprised and tested my history skills, and then he was terrified.

I sent him to the US to study, but he said he became an American. To be honest, his American history was also useless.

[Please study now. Aren’t there many books that teach Korean history in one volume?]

“I think that’s how it should be. Even I think that I don’t know much about Korean history, so whenever history is discussed, I feel that way.”

[If you don’t know, you have to study.]

“But why didn’t you tell me when I didn’t understand my grandfather’s story?”

[I told you not to interrupt when I was talking.]

“Okay, you can interfere from now on. I just have to be crazy for a little while.”

[Hehehe, I understand.]

It felt like I was being fooled by Ariel’s trick, but I was also shocked. I should say that I was caught off guard in a place I never expected.

I had forgotten about it because I was busy investing, but now that I have time, I plan to diligently read history books.