The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 288



Only Noblemtl

288. Give and Take (2)

Heads of many companies that dominated the 90s.

However, most of them died of old age or resigned from their positions.

Just looking at the Taewo Group, my grandfather took the position of honorary chairman this year and left for Vietnam.

However, Samjin Group Chairman Oh Hee-gun still maintained his position as head.

Moreover, Chairman Oh Hee-geon, whom I met at the restaurant, looked as if he had corrected himself.

“long time no see.”

“I heard that you were on a long business trip to the U.S. And I would like to congratulate you on your inauguration as Chairman of Taewo Group.”

“I’m not sure if it’s something to be congratulated on. I flatly refused, but my grandfather forced me to hand over the chairmanship and left for Vietnam.”

“Hehehe, are you trying to ruin people? If I had a strong successor like Chairman Kim, I would have quit running the company a long time ago.”

It was Chairman Oh Hee-gun, who would sit at the head of the company for at least five more years.

Even after 5 years, I remembered that he did not step down from his position as head of the company voluntarily, but due to health reasons.

“You are too correct to hand it over to the next generation. To be honest, there is a big difference between whether the chairman is held by a senior member of the group or not. Especially when a young person takes the position of CEO, checks that did not exist before are brought in. do.”

“Chairman Kim is a person who has the ability to overcome all such checks. If my child were even half as good as Chairman Kim, he would have handed over the chairmanship a long time ago. I have never envied Chairman Kim Tae-joong as much as I do today.”

It didn’t seem like it to me at all.

It seemed like he couldn’t come down because he still had a lot of regrets about his position as president.

However, since it was Chairman Oh Hee-geon who had more expertise in corporate management than anyone else, it was never seen as greed.

We had a few more small talks.

When the moment came to stop talking, I got to the point.

“First of all, I would like to apologize. I did not understand the relationship between the Hankyung Ilbo and the first lady and began acquiring shares.”

“Why are you apologizing to me for that? It has something to do with your in-laws and nothing to do with Samjin Group.”

“Still, I would like to apologize to the chairman for upsetting the lady.”

“Hmm, Samjin Group will not interfere in that matter at all. It is a matter for Juan Group to handle.”

As expected, it wasn’t easy to get caught.

Anyone could see that if they intervened in the affairs of the Juan Group, they would also become involved with the Samjin Group, but Chairman Oh Hee-gun remained ignorant.

Still, I couldn’t ask for help first.

Instead, it was better to appeal to the fact that I had merit that I could give to Samjin Group.

“I know that the LCD market is very good these days. As the number of smartphone users increases, won’t the demand for LCDs increase further? And the demand for CLDs, which are used in home appliances as well as TVs, continues to increase.”

“The LCD business is good. I’m so glad that the Taewo Group is not interested in the LCD business. I’m sure they didn’t come here to declare war to start the LCD business, right?”

Chairman Oh Hee-geon’s expression suddenly changed.

Taewoo Group was a customer that purchased a huge amount of LCD from Samjin Group and CL Group.

However, if the company changed from a customer to a competitor, profits would decrease and competition would become fiercer, so it was natural to keep it in check.

“I have no intention of entering the LCD business yet. But it is true that I am very interested in LCD.”

“I’m not going into the business, but I’m interested. I don’t know what to take that to mean. Just because I’m not going to participate in the LCD business, it doesn’t mean I’m asking you to hand over my stake in Hankyung Ilbo, right?”

I can’t believe I don’t have that conscience.

I didn’t even think about such a suggestion because it went against the rules.

“I am interested in Hankyung Ilbo’s shares, but I have no intention of acquiring them in that way.”

“I want to hear in detail what you were thinking when you said that.”

“In the LCD field, Korea has already surpassed Japan and ranked first in the world. However, I do not think that LCD will monopolize the display market forever. Just as CRT was pushed aside by LCD, won’t there come a day when next-generation displays push out LCD? ?”

CRT has dominated the display market for nearly 70 years.

However, due to the commercialization of LCD, it has now disappeared into the back of history.

And I also knew which display the LCD was losing to.

“It means you’re interested in the next generation of displays that will push LCD away. And it sounds like you know what that is.”

“We expect OLED to dominate the next-generation display market.”

“Hmm, research related to OLED is underway at the Samjin Group level, but I don’t think the possibility of commercialization is very high. To achieve commercialization, we will need to invest a lot of investment and research manpower.”

Nothing Chairman Oh Hee-gun said was wrong.

Samjin Group and CL Group earn enormous profits from the LCD business.

They were expected to incur large losses due to the costs of developing next-generation displays.

“Taewoo Group can support part of the enormous investment cost.”

“They won’t just invest, but are you suggesting we exchange it for Hankyung Ilbo’s shares?”

“The investment cost is at least trillion won. This is more than enough to conduct a hostile takeover of the Hankyung Ilbo. So, under such conditions, it is far from sufficient.”

“Then what more do you want?”

“If the Samjin Group succeeds in developing OLED, I hope that Taewoo Electronics will be able to have the priority usage rights. And I hope that they will sell the OLED at the cost price. Of course, you can just let them have the priority usage rights with Samjin Electronics. .”

Actually, it wasn’t that big of a benefit.

This was because the condition was to receive the next-generation display under the same conditions as Samjin Electronics.

Taewoo Electronics could have signed a contract with CL Group if Samjin refused to deliver, so of course it could have been a condition in which Samjin Group had to make an offer first.

“If those are the conditions, of course I will accept them. Then, can I give you shares in Hankyung Ilbo and priority use of the next-generation display?”

“If you do that, Taewo Group will share 30% of the OLED development cost.”

“If CL Electronics hears, they will be very upset. Hehehe.”

It was the same contract that meant receiving exclusive supply of next-generation displays from Samjin Electronics.

Of course, at least 10 more years were needed for OLED to be developed, so it was a contract that had little meaning right now.

“So I would like to keep this contract private.”

“It’s a little disappointing, but I’ll accept that condition. But are there really no other conditions? No matter how I look at it, it seems like a condition that would cause too much damage to the Taewo Group.”

Chairman Oh Hee-geon looked at me as if searching.

They were suspicious because I had signed such a shabby contract.

Either I’m a brat with less ability than I’m known for, or I have a different mindset.

Of course I was the latter.

But for now, I wanted to look like a pushover to Chairman Oh Hee-gun.

“There are no other conditions. I just hope that Taewoo Group and Samjin Group can grow together in the future.”

“At least the current relationship will be maintained as long as I am in the position of chairman. Of course, I will also provide thorough training to the person who takes up this position after me.”

“In order for Korea to develop, shouldn’t large Korean companies help each other? What’s left if we fight bloody hard in the small Korean market? How good would it be if we share in the wide global market?”

“Hehe, if it could be done like that, it would be perfect.”

Chairman Oh Hee-geon raised his glass.

You might want to toast this negotiation because Samjin Group has benefited greatly.

But is this really a negotiation in which only Samjin Group benefits greatly?

* * *

After the meeting with Chairman Oh Hee-gun, I visited Captain Kang’s office.

President Han Jeong-hoon had already arrived and was waiting for me, and as soon as I came in, he started asking questions.

“What happened? Are you going to give me Hankyung Ilbo shares? What did Taewoo Group agree to give you?”

“Let’s at least drink a glass of water and talk. What is so urgent that we don’t even give people time to breathe?”

“Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll get you a glass of water right away.”

Jump, jump!

He drank a bottle of cool water in one go, loosened his tie, and sat down on the sofa.

“We decided to take over all shares of Hankyung Ilbo. Taewo Group is now the organizer of the 100 Best Arts Awards.”

“Chairman Oh couldn’t have just given it to you, right?”

“We decided to invest 30% of OLED display development costs. It will probably cost close to 1 trillion won over 5 years.”

“Is there a need to spend 1 trillion won to take over Hankyung Ilbo’s shares? Isn’t that just enough money to conduct a hostile takeover of Hankyung Ilbo? And isn’t it unclear whether OLED can become the next-generation display?”

It’s been a long time since a president reacted like this.

To that extent, this negotiation seemed like a one-sided business in which Taewo Group was losing money.

“I am confident that OLED will become the next generation display.”

“The Chairman is confident that no business has failed, so I will not doubt that. Even so, investing 1 trillion won does not seem to be very profitable.”

“Then why not make it profitable from now on?”

“Is there such a way?”

“That can happen if we secure the OLED source technology.”

When the story of the original technology came up, President Han’s face brightened.

Taewo Group had secured a lot of original technology and was receiving astronomical royalties every year, so President Han knew well how profitable the original technology was.

“But can you secure the original OLED technology?”

“Kodak possesses the original technology for OLED. With all American companies shaken by the Lehman incident, wouldn’t this be the best time to purchase the original technology?”

If only royalties could be received from the original technology.

The investment amount of 1 trillion won was quickly recovered, and Taewo Group was able to receive priority supply of high-quality OLED panels from Samjin Group.

“I don’t think it’s such a bad deal if we can secure the original technology. With the Plus Alpha concept, we obtained a stake in the Hankyung Ilbo and the right to host the 100 Best Arts Awards.”

“So we need to secure OLED source technology from Kodak as soon as possible. We need to move first before other companies buy it.”

I took out my cell phone and called David.

It was now 9 a.m. in the United States, so David answered the phone before it even rang twice.

[boss! What are you doing at this hour?]

“David contacted me to ask for one of his favorite things to do. Buy the OLED core technology from Kodak. If necessary, I don’t mind acquiring the entire OLED division. I think we can do it for about $100 million.”

[If something like that happens, of course I have to make a move. We will contact you today. Kodak’s headquarters is in New York, so it’s not that far away.]

“Kodak is also likely to be in a bad management situation due to the Lehman incident, so if you scratch gently, it will be acquired without difficulty. We are still at a time when the value of OLED panels is unknown, so don’t be too proactive for no reason.”

[That is my specialty. We will try to get Kodak to ask us to take over the OLED division.]

David’s voice was excited.

I get excited even when I go shopping for 1 million won, but how can I not get excited when I can spend over 100 billion won on shopping?