The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 289



Only Noblemtl

289. Give and take (3)

A week later.

David came to Korea.

I waited for him in Captain Kang’s office with President Han, and in David’s hand was an OLED original technology contract.

“Boss! Do you look good? There is no war zone in the United States, but Korea seems to be a safe zone.”

“Compared to the United States, the damage is less, but the aftereffects are slowly coming. Instead, hurry up and give whatever you can.”

I received a contract from David.

It was a contract stating that the original OLED technology was transferred to a fintech bank.

“First of all, the contract was signed in the name of a fintech bank. If the boss wants, it can be transferred to Taewoo Group at any time.”

“You just have to do it slowly. It will take at least 10 years for OLED to be commercialized anyway.”

“I don’t know if that’s why Kodak tried to sell the OLED core technology without hesitation. Honestly, I think it was the easiest acquisition I’ve done so far.”

“In times of war, you want to load more bullets. Kodak would also need cash to survive this war.”

The fire of the Lehman crisis has not yet been extinguished.

Rather, the embers grew into a large forest fire.

“All companies are in need of cash. And as you may have heard, a hearing was held in the U.S. Congress two days ago. There was a lot of interest because it was a hearing where the three big U.S. automobile companies gathered in one place.”

“I heard that the hearing hall was a very shitty place.”

“They very confidently asked for $25 billion in bailout money. At least if they were begging, coming in on a private plane, if not in rags, was crossing the line.”

I also watched that scene on the news.

The CEOs of the Big 3 companies land at Washington Airport on ultra-luxurious jets.

He was very proud, and it even looked as if he was asking for the money he had entrusted to him.

“American public opinion will be very cold.”

“Even at the hearing, there was a lot of confusion. There was even a member of the National Assembly who said that they would not give a bailout because they had sufficient funds to fly on a private plane.”

A CEO who was listening to our story opened his laptop.

He searched for the stock prices of the Big 3 automobile companies on an American stock market site and showed us them.

“It’s the lowest it’s been since 1929. 1929 was the Great Depression in the United States. Stock prices fell further than the worst period in American history.”

“If we had only focused on the automobile industry, it wouldn’t have fallen to this level. If we also dabbled in housing bonds, this is what happened.”

“Housing bonds are a problem, but sales have also decreased by 45% compared to last year. And overall, if you look at the chart of the U.S. S&P 500 index, it has been cut in half in one year. The worse problem is that there are expectations that stock prices will fall further here. ”

I nodded to President Han’s analysis.

I also expected that stock prices would continue to fall until at least the first quarter of next year.

“Under the circumstances, even if the CEOs of the big three automobile companies made a fuss at the hearing, wouldn’t the U.S. government provide bailout funds?”

“Even if it is difficult right now, I think we will support a bailout when public opinion calms down in a month or two.”

“I spoke to someone at the Treasury Department who said it would be around $18 billion.”

“The amount is barely enough to pee on your feet.”

$18 billion was less than the one-year deficit of American automobile companies.

Recovery was absolutely impossible with this amount of money. In particular, in the case of GM, which had the worst financial structure, it was merely a matter of delaying the period of bankruptcy.

“Isn’t this administration’s idea to first put out urgent complaints? Even if we go bankrupt, we must go bankrupt after the next administration takes office to avoid responsibility.”

“President-elect Obama is going to have a huge headache.”

“Maybe that’s why I received another call from the election campaign. It was a request that the boss attend the inauguration ceremony.”

If a VVIP calls, of course I have to go.

But I wasn’t going to acquire an American car company if it didn’t give me the benefits I wanted.

“We’ll think about it next year. Did you hear that Taewoo Group has decided to host the 100 Best Arts Awards this time?”

“I heard this from a CEO. Due to the boss’s personality, the awards ceremony will not be held in a small manner, and it will cost a lot of money.”

“I want to make the most of my money. Speaking of which, I would like to invite a veteran from the American or European film industry to present the award. Is that possible?”

“It’s not impossible, but I think there will be a lot of conditions attached.”

It was the first 100 Art Awards hosted by Taewo Group.

So, compared to the previous awards ceremony, I wanted to show an upgrade in everything from the scale to the award presenters.

“Please meet the conditions as best as possible. If necessary, I can cover the entire cost of film production, so please only bring a master director.”

“If the boss wants it, of course we will do it. We will recruit a master who is widely known in Korea.”

The serious story ends here.

We set up a drinking table for David, who was visiting Korea for the first time in a long time.

As for the drinking table, there were only a few cans of beer and a few snacks, but since it was a drinking party with comfortable people, everyone drank the beer with a smile.

* * *

Early morning the next day.

There were still two hours left before the employees had to go to work, and only a small number of people were present in the secretary’s office.

“Chairman, Taewoo IT team leader Cheon Min-jeong is waiting for you.”

“You mean now? Since what time have you been waiting for me?”

“I’ve been waiting for you for 30 minutes.”

“Then tell them to come in right away.”

Team leader Cheon Min-jeong has been waiting for me since the early hours.

There were one of two reasons why she asked to meet me at this time.

A serious problem arose or something worthy of praise was done.

“Chairman! The response to the launch of League of Champions is very good! It is a huge topic not only in North America but also in Korea!”

“Have you been waiting since early morning to receive praise? You can report this in the afternoon, but you should have slept a little longer.”

“······To be honest, I couldn’t sleep at all. I checked the number of users logged in every minute and looked at the reactions of the related communities, and it was about this time.”

I looked closely at Cheon Min-jeong’s face.

Because my skin was pure white, the dark circles were more visible.

“Then go ahead and get some rest for today.”

“I want to do that, but there’s still so much work to do. Bugs that haven’t been caught keep popping up, and we need to respond in real time to reduce user complaints.”

“It’s a beta test, so users will understand. If you run too much from the beginning, you’ll eventually lose strength and give up. And thank you for your hard work. If it wasn’t for team leader Cheon Min-jeong, we wouldn’t have been this successful.”

He generously gave her the praise she wanted.

Then Team Leader Cheon Min-jeong lowered his head and gave me the answer I wanted.

“Then I will rest until the morning and then go back to work.”

“It’s okay to rest until the afternoon.”

“I’ll just go now.”

Team leader Cheon Min-jeong bows his head until the end and heads out.

As she went outside, the planning manager who was waiting came into the chairman’s office.

“Did you scold team leader Cheon Min-jeong?”

“That can’t be right. Why am I scolding team leader Cheon Min-jeong?”

“Team leader Cheon Min-jeong’s face was red, so I thought he was scolded.”

“I guess it’s because I’m so tired. Manager, what brought you here in the morning?”

“I came here to report on the Hankyung Ilbo acquisition process and the 100 Best Arts Awards.”

It was not the acquisition of the entire Hankyung Ilbo.

A sports newspaper company that owned the 100 Best Arts Awards was acquired, and the planning director reported the process in detail.

“I think the acquisition will be completed without any problems.”

“Because there was full support from Samjin Group, Juan Group and Hankyung Ilbo also handed over their shares without making unreasonable demands.”

“The matter has now been sorted out, and how is the shipping industry these days? It seems to be going through a recession due to the Lehman incident.”

The Lehman crisis was not simply an economic crisis in the United States.

It was a situation that would lead the entire world into a long-term economic downturn, and the shipping industry was set to take a particularly hard hit.

“The shipping industry is in a serious situation. In particular, Hyunjin Shipping is suffering the most damage, and Taewoo Motors and Taewoo Electronics, whose sales are centered on exports, are also expected to suffer some damage.”

“Most of Taewoo Group’s products are exported by ship, so it would be natural for us to suffer damage as well.”

Korea was also slowly beginning to experience the aftermath of the Lehman crisis.

The shipping industry was the first to react, and the situation at Hyunjin Shipping was especially serious.

“However, the current group’s shipping companies are still holding strong, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“It looks like Hyunjin Shipping is having a hard time.”

“The situation has not been good since Chairman Cho of Hyunjin Shipping passed away two years ago.”

“Chairman Cho’s wife was managing Hyunjin Shipping, right?”

“That’s right. Chairman Cho’s wife, Choo Young-hee, has been inaugurated as CEO. So, a fight for management rights is taking place within the Hyunjin Group.”

The prince’s rebellion was also occurring in the Hyunjin Group.

As was the case with the current group, when the number one person dies, a fight for management rights is bound to occur.

In the case of Hyunjin Group, it was a very complicated situation as the wife, brother, and children of the deceased chairman participated in the fight for management rights.

“A lot of money will be needed to defend Hyunjin Shipping’s management rights. So it is clear that they will quickly try to sell off their large ships and assets.”

“I was already hearing rumors that Hyunjin Shipping was visiting Chinese and Japanese shipping companies.”

“Hmm, maybe I should meet Chairman Chu sometime.”

“Are you willing to help? Even if Hyunjin Shipping becomes difficult, exports will not be greatly affected due to the presence of Hyunjin Group’s shipping companies.”

There were several shipping companies in Korea.

So even if Hyunjin Shipping went bankrupt, there was no reason for us to step forward.

However, it was different if it was for profit rather than help.

Assets are being sold off at cheap prices, but we can’t hand them over to overseas companies.

“The current group’s shipping companies will also not be in a good situation. The entire Korean shipping industry will experience difficulties. So shouldn’t we take out insurance in advance?”

“Are Hyunjin Shipping’s large ships covered by insurance? The subscription amount is too expensive to be called insurance. It is predicted that the economic recession will last at least 10 years due to the Lehman incident.”

Like semiconductors, the shipping industry also had cycles.

10 years of boom and 10 years of recession.

The planning director was also aware of this cycle, so he mentioned a period of 10 years.

“That’s why we need to make contact now. This is an opportunity to buy ships and assets for just 10% of the money.”

“Anyway, would Chairman Chu sell the ship at such a low price?”

“Rather than dying right now, wouldn’t it be better to take the time somehow? If we don’t sell something, we can just walk away.”

“Then, let’s make an appointment with Chairman Chu right away.”

The shipping industry was not such a delicious fruit.

Because we had to wait at least 10 years for the next cycle to come.

However, if we could acquire Hyunjin Shipping’s assets at a 10% price, we could wait 10 years.