Episode 160. A man’s romance.
The office of the President of the Industrial Bank of Korea.
Do Yu-shik, the bank president, who was sitting opposite me, asked.
“Are you interested in Baekwoo Motors?”
“yes. A man’s dream is to drive a nice car, isn’t it? I want to try making that wonderful car with my own hands.”
The bank manager laughed lightly.
“haha. That’s right. But CEO Kang, who is a capable businessman, is not jumping in for such a simple reason, is it?”
“Of course, I think the biggest reason would be money.”
The head of the bank said, stroking his chin.
“Um…you are special. To be honest, Baekwoo Motors itself does not have much competitiveness. However, if it is an existing automobile company, it can aim for synergy by supplementing the vehicle types that are not in the headquarters. So we were also looking for automakers like QM as candidates for acquisition, but to be honest, CEO Kang said that he would take over Baekwoo Motors, and I am honestly a little embarrassed.”
You’re asking if there are other hidden intentions.
“Are you saying that you are doubtful that I am trying to steal and throw away the company’s assets after acquiring White Own Car?”
Even at my words, the bank manager coughed in vain.
“Hmmmm. It’s a bit of an overstatement, but a concern similar to the one you mentioned arose during an internal meeting. Most of CEO Kang’s business is in the electronics industry, but doesn’t he have little contact with the automobile industry? We had no choice but to worry about that.”
“I fully understand the position of the Korea Development Bank. As a government-owned bank, you have a heavy responsibility to revive insolvent companies, and you must point out that point. But I have no intention of doing so. Rather the opposite. I am planning to develop Baekwoo Car into a world-class automobile company.”
At my words, the bank manager looked surprised.
“..The white cow tea is top-notch?”
“yes. I’ve taken over several companies so far, but I haven’t taken over a company I can’t afford to save. In other words, it means that we acquired it because we were confident, and in fact, among the subsidiaries, there has not been a single company that has been left bankrupt or passed on to others. Even the president of the bank is well aware that many subsidiaries such as Hicast, Hongin Media, and Road Driver are doing well, right?”
“..I am well aware that CEO Kang has both ability and trust. But automobiles are so different from CEO Kang’s field of expertise, so it’s a bit hard to accept them purely…”
“Now, even if I tell you about my plan to save the white cow tea, it would be hard to believe. So instead, I’ll reassure you like this. If you hand over the white cow car to me, I am going to put a clause in the acquisition contract that says I will not sell the stake to anyone else for at least 10 years. What do you think?”
“..Are you saying that no matter what happens, you will not sell your white cow tea stock within 10 years?”
“That’s right. Even if the parent company, Damoye, goes bankrupt, I will not touch the stake in Baekwoo Tea.”
It was a condition that would never be wagered if the company was in a position to acquire simply to take advantage of the company.
Because manufacturing is a business that requires a lot of fixed costs, such as labor costs and factory operation costs.
If it was not managed properly and left unattended for 10 years, the value of the company could become a piece of paper.
Even with my words, the bank president fell into deep trouble.
After a while he opened his mouth.
“It seems that you are serious about starting the automobile business. If so, how much did you think about the acquisition price?”
“We are thinking of 1.8 trillion won based on 100% stake.”
The bank manager’s face hardened.
“..1.8 trillion? Currently, the appraisal alone is worth 3 trillion won. You think the price is too low.”
“I don’t know how you evaluated the appraisal, but I know that the debt of Baekwoo Tea alone is already over 1 trillion won. Besides, as I said before, the company doesn’t have any special competitiveness itself, but it’s greedy to get 3 trillion won. In fact, QM must have bid a much lower price than that, didn’t it?”
At my words, the bank president, Do, did not speak right away.
I looked into his eyes and continued talking.
“You probably won’t be able to get more than this price over time.”
In fact, around the middle of this year, Won Mirae will hand over 80% of its stake in Baekwoo Tea to QM for 1.5 trillion won.
Looking at that, it was clear that even within the Korea Development Bank, they would not think that they could receive all three trillion won.
The head of the bank, Doh, who had been thinking over and over with his clasped hands, said.
“We will discuss Chairman Kang’s proposal by putting it on the agenda of the board of directors.”
“All right. But remember one thing. QM is an American company, I am a Korean company. If the price is the same, it would be positive for public opinion to hand over it to the Korean company. If you hand it over to QM and later cause any problems, such as closing the factory, the Korea Development Bank will take full responsibility for it.”
This, too, is really happening in the original future.
QM, which acquired Baekwoo Tea, closed its Gunsan plant due to poor management.
The Korea Development Bank is heavily criticized by the media, saying that it was because they sold white cow tea to a foreign company that had no affection for the country.
“.. let’s take that into consideration as well.”
“yes. Then let me know when the results are out.”
#My high school friend Yoon Myung-ho, who was doing martial arts with my sponsorship in Japan, got a call after a long time.
“Jaewoon. I got caught in a middleweight title fight.”
“What? when?”
“The 21st of the next month.”
“Wow! that is great.”
“yes. It is all thanks to you.”
“You worked hard. All I did was add a few bucks.”
“It might be a few bucks to you, but it was a lot of money to me. There aren’t many people who do nothing but exercise like me.”
“haha. If you are grateful, I will definitely win this title fight, man.”
“Of course. Are you coming to see me too?”
“Hey~ I’ve never said anything like that every time I contacted him, so he seems pretty confident.”
“yes. This time, I really prepared a lot. I’ll show you what I’ve accomplished during the four years you’ve supported me!”
“haha. okay. I will definitely go.”
Daewon was talking with his brother about a tablet PC from a competitor.
“brother. I got a call from the US saying that PC makers like Nell and Umpack are going to release a tablet PC soon.”
“already?”
“yes. Tablet PCs are eating up the demand for desktop PCs, and it is strange that those big companies are still standing still.”
“Hmm…but even if they make a tablet PC, aren’t we using Easy OS anyway? I don’t think I’ll be able to use a lot of power because it’s stamped as a copycat.”
“That’s not it. They say that they use an operating system made by Microsoft called D-Windows.”
“…I don’t quite understand. If it were called D-Window, it would be a completely different operating system from the existing Windows OS, and there would be very few applications, so why did you choose D-Window?”
“It is said that about 2,000 programs that people use frequently on Windows can be used on Windows D as it is. It’s literally what it says, it’s a new development for D-Windows.”
“Have you developed two thousand, not one? Less than a year has passed?”
“MS company provided money to the developer. That’s a whopping one billion dollars.”
Daewon gave his brother a surprised expression.
“A billion dollars… that’s a lot…”
“Is that right? Also Bill Arts. The yangban postponed his retirement, and in the end he persisted.”
“Then what are you going to do now? Can’t you just stay still?”
“Absolutely. Declining market share is also a problem, and even if our Easy OS shows signs of being pushed back a little, PC makers will rise up like bees and ask for a lower software price, etc. I haven’t seen anything like that again, so I’m going to draw up a plan that I originally planned to keep until the smartphone came out, called an instant messaging service.”
“Instant messages? what is that?”
“Hyung, do you know the mobile phone text service?”
“It’s similar to that. It is a service that allows you to exchange simple contents with each other through an Internet program.”
“Hmm… I know what it is, but there’s a text message service anyway, right? Do you really need that instant message?”
“yes. There is a big difference between the two. The text service goes through the telecommunication company’s billing system, but instant messages use data packets, so there’s no separate billing.”
The most representative example of an instant messaging service is Palm Tree Talk, which will be called a national app in the future.
Because palm tree talk is so popular that some people buy smartphones to use it.
Carriers will make texting services free by crying and eating mustard.
“Ah… that’s right! As you said before, if the 4G network is deployed, you will be charged for data packets for the Internet separately. After all, as long as there are data packets, you can send and receive instant messages, so you won’t have to pay extra.”
“Right. It’s almost free, so people will love it.”
“I will. Oh, but you’re talking about when the internet is available wirelessly, right? Do you think it would be a bit cumbersome to connect to the Internet through a wired connection and check messages again?”
I laughed at Daewon hyung’s question.
“haha. There is Wi-Fi. Aren’t there a lot of places in the US that have Wi-Fi because of D-Tab3?”
“..that’s right. I never thought of Wi-Fi.”
“The compatibility with smartphones is really good, but it will be quite usable for the next new D-Tab4. And if we take this opportunity to make people familiar with our instant messaging, it will be a big help in sales when we release the D phone later. It’s more convenient to keep writing what I’ve been using.”
“You’re right. There must be a lot of people who care about the fee every time they send a text message. It will work quite a bit.”
“And I’m going to add one more.”
“A map service.”
“What are you doing on the DAJI portal right now?”
“yes. Currently, only maps of Korea are being serviced, but I plan to expand the scope to the whole world. First of all, the US market is the largest, so I will start with the US first.”
“Are you going to provide only the map service? I feel like something is missing…”
“Is it possible? If there is only a map, the utilization rate will probably drop. It is most effective when combined with a search site.”
“Um… are you planning on exporting the DAJI portal to the US?”
“no. In the US, there is a powerful search portal called Goggles, so there is no chance of winning.”
“goggles? Isn’t that a site that is pushed back even in the afternoon?”
goggles.
It is a search portal created by two geniuses, Larry Poe and Sergey Bain, in their garage.
It was a company that could be said to be the king of the search portal industry, with its search capabilities so excellent that it pushed away most of its competitors.
It’s a little weaker now than in the afternoon.
Even after one year, the relationship between the two is reversed, and after 10 years, the gap widens beyond comparison.
“You can’t goggles in the afternoon. There’s no choice. There is a big difference in the performance of search engines. Goggles have been around for a while, so the market share is still low, and the situation will change soon.”
“okay? Well, if you saw it that way, you would be right. So how are you going to use the map service?”
“I’m going to combine the goggles with our U-map.”
