World Domination through Planet Development - Chapter 67



Only Noblemtl

Episode 67. Daehyun Automobile 56th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting

Body made of stainless steel. Futuristic, angular design.

A sleek pickup truck was driving along the vast roads of America. This is Route 66, America’s first transcontinental highway.

Time passed quickly and the bright sky turned dark.

Swish.

The truck slowed down and stopped.

The place where I stopped the car was a charging station. The charger was attached to the car and it was quickly charged.

The truck that started again starts moving.

Swoosh~

The screen darkens as it zooms out to reveal a vast city and coast in the background.

-Coast to coast with one charge.

It was a promotional video for Edison’s new car. The marketing was that it could cross the American continent on a single charge.

In fact, strictly speaking, it should have been considered as two charges, but in order to maximize the advertising effect, the amount charged the first time was not considered. In any case, people’s reactions were enthusiastic.

-Wow. Now even Edison uses PDC batteries.

-Chinese cars and American cars are included, and there is no place where PDC batteries are not used now.

-I heard that it is also scheduled to be included in the Oseong smartphone.

-ㅋㅋㅋ Why are you putting someone else’s batteries in instead of your own?

-But why don’t you put it in Daehyun’s car?

└There was a rumor that you would never be able to get into Daehyun’s car again.

Once again, as the name PDC became known as a battery, a rumor was spreading through internet communities and SNS that Daewoo Motors would not be introducing PDC batteries, although it is unknown who started it.

As time passed and these rumors spread widely, Daehyun Motors did not take any action, which only made people more suspicious.

* * *

Daehyun Motors 56th regular shareholders’ meeting.

“We will now begin the 56th regular shareholders’ meeting of Daehyun Motors. First, I would like to express my gratitude to all shareholders who attended the shareholders’ meeting… .”

The moderator announced the start of the shareholders’ meeting.

“We will hold a shareholders’ meeting. The chairman of today’s shareholders’ meeting will be Dong-Hoon Lee, CEO and President of Daehyun Motors… .”

As the shareholders’ meeting began, Lee Dong-hoon, one of the CEOs of Daehyun Motors, came forward.

Lee Dong-hoon started the shareholders’ meeting with a simple greeting.

However, since Daehyun Motors has a domestic presence, the shareholders’ meeting was held in strict compliance with the format and procedures.

Only after all that formality was over did the real main event of the shareholders’ meeting finally begin.

“Motion No. 1. I will now consider the motion to approve the 56th financial statements.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Representative Lee Dong-hoon banged the gavel while submitting motion number 1.

Suddenly.

As soon as the hammering was finished, one shareholder stood up and asked to speak.

CEO Lee Dong-hoon sensed something was off from the start, but he couldn’t immediately ignore the shareholder’s request for a voice.

“Yes, go ahead and speak.”

The shareholder was handed the microphone and presented his opinion.

“Recently, several competing companies have been introducing PDC’s batteries. However, Daehyun and Ace Motors have not made any official announcements, so in terms of maintaining competitiveness in new car development….”

The shareholder talked at length, but the gist of it was this: While other competing automakers are overwhelmingly improving vehicle performance by using PDC batteries, what is Daehyun doing?

In fact, the price competitiveness of the battery has also increased since it is not subject to price gouging.

So, competitors are pursuing both performance and price.

The key question was what they were doing now, as it was obvious that if they did not introduce them together, their market share would be extremely low when the next new car was released.

Since this was a problem that CEO Lee Dong-hoon was well aware of, he couldn’t help but sweat. However, he himself doesn’t know why the PDC isn’t taking any action against Dae-hyun.

“Ah… I would like the shareholder to only comment on the current agenda item, the financial statements… .”

“I’m talking about matters related to financial statements. What I’m talking about now ultimately comes down to financial performance.”

Even though CEO Lee Dong-hoon tried to gloss over the issue, the shareholder who was speaking continued to persistently demand an answer.

As CEO Lee Dong-hoon’s expression became clearly flustered, an older shareholder suddenly stood up on the other side.

“Is this a hearing?! You should go to the National Assembly and talk about that!”

An older shareholder who is screaming.

“I hope you will listen to what other shareholders have to say.”

Even though an older shareholder was criticizing without a voice, the shareholder who was speaking paid no attention and calmly continued speaking.

“According to what I have heard, Daehyun and Ace Motors are suspected of not having received battery prototypes from PDC in advance. Could you clarify whether this is true or not?”

This was something that even CEO Lee Dong-hoon, who is currently presiding over the shareholders’ meeting as chairman, only found out a few days later. That other companies had been provided with prototypes.

But I couldn’t figure out why Daehyun didn’t give it to me either.

Even though I asked PDC separately if I could receive a prototype, I did not receive one.

Now, we have been able to obtain batteries from other companies and conduct research, but we still do not know why we are being discriminated against.

“Ah… I think it would be difficult to give you a definite answer here because the relevant department is currently working on that matter…”

“You need to give me a precise answer. If the performance and price of a newly released vehicle are lower than those of competitors, that will ultimately lead to a decline in the stock price. Are you saying that you cannot guarantee the rights of shareholders now?”

As the speaking shareholder pressed the chairman again, another older shareholder stood up and shouted:

“The stock price didn’t fall! It didn’t fall, so what are you talking about?”

“Won’t it fall when the new car is released and the sales performance is announced? The battery performance is not even half that of other companies, and the price is not cheaper either, so who can guarantee that they will buy it? As a fellow shareholder, do you think this is right?”

“How do you know whether it will fall or not?!”

The shareholders’ meeting continued in a very unpleasant atmosphere. When some other people joined in, it became even more chaotic.

“Hey, you punk. You’re the chairman?!”

“Why is your hair white?!”

The chairman quickly proceeded with the shareholders’ meeting and ignored the comments from minority shareholders, as they could not affect the outcome anyway. In this way, the shareholders’ meeting was forced to proceed and concluded.

This time, the Daehyun Motors shareholders’ meeting incident spread throughout the media and the internet and became a laughing stock.

The problem is that even a large company like Daehyun Motors has not been able to properly resolve this issue.

Naturally, this news reached the ears of Jang Woo-seon, who did not even attend the general shareholders’ meeting, and the executives in the company had to listen to him.

He was truly a thick-skinned gentleman. He knew why the PDC was acting this way.

Naturally, upon hearing this bad news, there were a great number of shareholders who sold their Daehyun Automobile stocks.

It increased significantly after the general shareholders’ meeting, so in fact, it was a time when the stock price would have fallen significantly.

However, there was one reason why the stock price did not fall so noticeably. It was because of Jungwoo’s purchase. It was because several disguised investment companies that Jungwoo had acquired were purchasing Daehyun Motors stocks.

* * *

A memorial service for the Beomdaehyeon family.

All the major figures of Daehyeon Family gathered to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the death of Jang Yang-jo.

The location is the former home of the late Honorary Chairman Jang Yang-jo.

Beomdaehyun Group. It is a conglomerate that previously existed as one before the Daehyun owner family split.

The Daehyun Group was created by the late Jang Yang-jo and is now being run by his descendants.

Of course, they are no longer grouped together.

As people from Daehyeon-ga began to gather, a car pulled up.

Click. Chuck.

The person who got out of the car was Jang Dong-joo, chairman of Daehyun Heavy Industries.

He didn’t really like this ritual where everyone gathered together even after the Daehyun Group completely disbanded.

This was because he felt that the owner of Daehyun Motors was eventually becoming the owner of this house, which made him uncomfortable.

But for some reason, Chairman Jang Dong-ju’s expression doesn’t look that heavy today. Rather, there’s a faint smile on his lips.

Jang Dong-ju seemed to feel better just thinking about the difficult situation Jang Woo-sun was currently in.

Jang Dong-ju came into the house, greeting his family.

“Are you here, uncle?”

Jang Woo-seon happened to be there to greet him as he came in.

Jang Dong-ju is Jang Woo-sun’s uncle. Considering Jang Woo-sun’s age, we can see that Jang Dong-ju is not that old either, but he is still quite healthy.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Are you ready?”

“Okay, please sit over here.”

Jang Woo-sun guided Jang Dong-ju to the highest seat. Then, Chairman Jang Woo-sun followed him and sat down next to him.

While the two were sitting across from each other and talking about various daily life and work-related matters, Jang Woo-seon casually asked a question.

“Uncle, how is Daehyun Oil these days?”

Ouch.

Chairman Jang Dong-ju, although surprised inside, did not show it and asked back.

“Why Daehyun Oil?”

Jang Dong-ju looked at Jang Woo-seon with a suspicious look.

“Yes, I heard that Daehyun Oil had a near-accident recently, didn’t I?”

Jang Woo-seon asked Jang Dong-ju as if he was testing him.

“Accident? You know about an accident that I’ve never heard of. I’m really curious to know what it is.”

Where on earth did you hear that news?

“Or it’s okay. It’s nothing. I guess I misheard.”

However, judging from Jang Woo-seon’s expression, it seems he still doesn’t know the details. Jang Dong-ju answered with a smirk.

“What a singular guy.”

Jang Dong-ju answered with a sly smile. I think our employees are still keeping their mouths shut.

“By the way, you seem to have been quite noisy about the last shareholders’ meeting. Wasn’t that an accident?”

And this time, Chairman Jang Dong-joo asked Jang Woo-seon in return.

“… It’s still okay. Considering that the stock price isn’t falling significantly, I think it’s just a temporary public opinion. There are no internal problems, so it will be resolved well.”

Jang Woo-sun answers indifferently. It was a pretty convincing performance, to the point where someone else would be fooled if they saw it.

But to Jang Dong-joo, who already knows about the relationship with PDC, it is just laughable.

Temporary public opinion? The stock price is still being defended? There are no internal problems?

Haha.

Jang Dong-ju laughed inwardly.

Jang Dong-ju knows that this is not a temporary public opinion. He knows that PDC is intentionally discriminating against Daehyun Motors. So he also knows that there is an internal problem.

In that case, the decline in Daehyun Motors’ stock price is a foregone conclusion.

But why is the stock price being defended? Of course, it is because PDC is buying it.

However, Daewoo Motors will probably also notice this fact after a little more time passes.

No matter how many investment firms purchase it, the size will grow like a snowball day by day.

Even then, first of all, can you really be this calm?