The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 209

209. After Winter (2)

Victoria Corporation’s JP Service version 2.2 was launched on February 2, 1986.

JP Morgan clients were satisfied with the new version, and clients of Citibank and Bank of America, who were waiting for the update, were also filled with anticipation.

However, clients of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other securities firms were full of complaints.

“How long has JP Service been out, and we still haven’t caught up?”

“Even if we can’t catch up, shouldn’t we at least make something similar?”

“Morgan Stanley is the only place trying to imitate them; I don’t know what the other companies are doing.”

“I’m switching securities firms after this quarter.”

Securities firms that weren’t providing real-time information could only watch their clients leave.

By the end of February, five regional securities firms and two mid-sized securities firms had contacted Victoria Corporation.

“Can’t we use JP Service too?”

“We need JP Service. Please, let our clients use it as well.”

They had to hold onto their departing clients somehow.

Jung Hyun-woo, Robert, Sarah, and Young Bolton gathered in the conference room to discuss the new client issue.

Jung Hyun-woo announced the topic of the meeting.

“Seven securities firms have requested to use the real-time service.”

As CTO [Chief Technology Officer], Robert approached this meeting with a serious attitude.

“Charlie, I don’t think it’s feasible to provide customized services to seven companies.”

Victoria Corporation was able to develop City Service and American Service because the two banks had secured a large number of clients.

Jung Hyun-woo nodded, acknowledging Robert’s point.

“I also think customized services for each company are impossible.”

Sarah asked him.

“If developing customized services is impossible, why did you call this meeting?”

Since Robert and Jung Hyun-woo both said customized services were difficult, it would be logical to notify the seven companies of their rejection. However, Jung Hyun-woo held an executive meeting before rejecting them. Sarah wanted to know the reason.

“I was wondering if there might be another way.”

“Another way?”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and replied.

“There are several technical aspects to consider.”

“What technical aspects are you talking about?”

“For example, what if we bundled the services of the seven companies into one?”

Robert lightly tapped the desk at Jung Hyun-woo’s question.

Tock.

“That’s a good idea.”

Each of the seven companies was small when considered individually, so they couldn’t provide the same service as Citibank.

However, if the seven were combined, they would be comparable to a fairly large bank on Wall Street, even if not quite Citibank’s size.

Jung Hyun-woo turned his gaze to Bolton.

“Young, what do you think?”

Young Bolton, from Activision, had developed various services since the early days of Victoria Corporation.

“You want to apply the module system you’re developing to that service, don’t you?”

Jung Hyun-woo smiled slightly.

“That’s right. I want to apply the module system to this project for the first time.”

Young Bolton sighed briefly.

“Hoo… That’s not going to be easy.”

When he showed a negative reaction, Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head and asked.

“What’s the problem?”

Young Bolton replied.

“The module system’s completeness is lacking.”

Robert agreed with his opinion.

“Charlie, the module system has only just begun development, so technically, not many parts have been implemented. We won’t be able to use the module system this time.”

The module system Jung Hyun-woo had envisioned was only in the stage of establishing technical concepts.

Robert and Young Bolton thought there were still many shortcomings to apply it to the development of a new system.

Jung Hyun-woo clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Hmm, the last report was quite detailed, though.”

Young Bolton raised both hands to show the palms.

“Reports and reality are a little different.”

He meant that the module system report submitted last time was slightly exaggerated.

Jung Hyun-woo sighed briefly inwardly.

‘Hoo… Since I’m not on-site, there seems to be a disconnect from reality.’

He gave up on adopting the module system as if there was no other choice.

“I understand. Then let’s exclude the module system from this project.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Robert raised his right hand.

“Charlie, there’s no need to exclude the module system altogether. We can apply the parts that have already been developed or are in the demonstration stage and use them for the development of the new system.”

Robert argued that there was no need to think of this project and the module system separately.

‘Technology is connected like a spider web.’

Jung Hyun-woo listened to him and slowly nodded.

“I understand. If that’s possible, do it that way. And… I’d like to entrust this project to Robert. Is that okay?”

Robert shrugged at Jung Hyun-woo’s question.

“I’ll take it on if you reduce my workload by half.”

He meant that he couldn’t increase his workload without any conditions since he already had a lot of existing tasks.

“Hmm, is that all?”

“Even though my workload has decreased since I was COO [Chief Operating Officer], the CTO’s workload isn’t small either.”

Sarah had the same thought.

“Charlie, if you entrust this project to Robert, I think someone should help him.”

Jung Hyun-woo turned his gaze to Young Bolton.

“Young, do you have any availability?”

Young Bolton shook his head.

“We’re short on time for developing the module system as it is.”

“Then who has availability?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone in our company, is there?”

Victoria Corporation employees were doing a lot of work for the high salaries they received.

“Then should we recruit from outside?”

Robert shook his head at his question.

“Charlie, it won’t be as easy as last year.”

“Are you saying it’s difficult to find personnel because the IT industry is recovering?”

“Even the dying game industry is reviving thanks to Nintendo’s success. It’s not as easy to find high-quality personnel as it used to be.”

Jung Hyun-woo was able to recruit experienced development personnel at relatively low prices thanks to the Atari shock [the video game industry crash of 1983].

However, as the shockwaves of the Atari shock passed, the job market was normalizing.

“Hmm, then what should we do?”

Jung Hyun-woo really wanted to proceed with this project.

“Since no one is free, shouldn’t we solve it by promoting someone from the field?”

Sarah said that the only way was to create an executive to be in charge of this project by raising the rank one step at a time from below.

“A new executive… Then who would be good?”

Robert was the first to suggest a candidate.

“How about Young?”

He suggested Young Bolton, who was present at the meeting, as a candidate.

Young Bolton shook both hands.

“My skills aren’t good enough to handle a project independently.”

Jung Hyun-woo asked him.

“If not Young, who can handle it?”

“Andrei would be better than me.”

Andrei Pashinkov He was a genius with the nickname ‘God of BASIC’ [a high-level programming language].

He was currently handling not only BASIC but also Assembly and C languages.

Young Bolton thought that Andrei Pashinkov was the best developer at Victoria Corporation in terms of development ability alone.

“Isn’t Andrei in charge of the security system?”

Young Bolton replied.

“As Miss Hilton said, we should promote one person from the security development team to team leader and bring Andrei over.”

Jung Hyun-woo turned his head to Robert.

“Robert, what do you think?”

Robert picked up a pen and answered his question.

“Andrei’s skills are definitely solid. I’ll put his name on the list of candidates for now.”

Jung Hyun-woo put his hands together and said.

“Let’s do it this way. Andrei is the first priority, but if Andrei is difficult to get, Young will take it on.”

Young Bolton was a little burdened by being the project leader. But since he couldn’t back out any further, he nodded.

“I understand.”

Jung Hyun-woo received his consent and said briefly.

“Let’s end today’s meeting here.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Robert and Young Bolton hurriedly left due to their pending tasks.

Only Sarah and Jung Hyun-woo remained.

“Charlie, lunch?”

Jung Hyun-woo checked his watch and replied.

“There are still 30 minutes left.”

“Leaving 30 minutes early is…”

“It doesn’t look good to the employees.”

“You’re planning to leave right on time.”

“Because there’s nothing special.”

Sarah asked him.

“When are you planning to expand the headquarters?”

“Didn’t I leave that to Sarah?”

As Victoria Corporation grew in size, it had reached a point where it was difficult to handle with the current building.

“You need to set some standards to some extent.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought for a moment and then replied.

“Let’s move the new project team first.”

He wanted to move the new team first, not the team that was already busy.

“Okay, then I’ll prepare knowing that. Oh, and I got a call from New York.”

“From New York?”

“They want you to take a look at the data center site?”

Jung Hyun-woo narrowed his brow slightly.

“Is there a problem with the site?”

“I don’t think so. I think they want to show you that they’re doing well.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case…”

Sarah cut him off.

“Is it annoying?”

“A little bit.”

“The data center is what Charlie wanted the most, isn’t it?”

“I wanted the data center. I didn’t want the data center building.”

Sarah sighed as if she couldn’t help it.

“Ha, I understand. I’ll go.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised his right hand and said.

“Let’s go together.”

“Together?”

“Let’s visit Victoria Fund too.”

He meant that it would be a waste of time to only visit the data center construction site.

“Okay. Then I’ll try to make the schedule as tight as possible.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised the end of his words slightly at her words.

“A tight schedule?”

“Wouldn’t it be good to meet Citibank while you’re in New York?”

She was saying that it would be good to handle as much work as possible in New York and return.

* * *

Victoria Corporation’s stock price surpassed $20 with the success of version 2.2.

“$20.2?”

“Then that means the market capitalization is over $40 billion.”

Accordingly, Jung Hyun-woo’s assets also exceeded $20 billion.

“I should have invested when it was under $10.”

“At that time, everyone thought Victoria Corporation was collapsing.”

At one point, Victoria Corporation’s stock price had fallen to the $7 range.

Of course, no one decided to make a large-scale investment at that time.

Citibank.

Michael Carter, CFO [Chief Financial Officer] of Citi Securities, sat facing Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah.

“Congratulations on surpassing $40 billion in market capitalization.”

Jung Hyun-woo said with an awkward smile.

“This is just the beginning.”

A market capitalization of $40 billion had symbolism in 1986.

The reason was that even in the United States, companies with more than $40 billion were classified as super-giant companies.

Examples of companies with a market capitalization of more than $40 billion at the time included IBM, Intel, Bank of America, ExxonMobil, Walmart, and Coca-Cola.

“If this is just the beginning, is the goal $100 billion?”

As of 1986, IBM was the only company that had achieved $100 billion.

“We are aiming for more than that, but I think the most important goal to achieve first is $50 billion.”

When Victoria Corporation’s market capitalization reached $50 billion, Jung Hyun-woo’s assets would exceed $30 billion, and he could be ranked in the top 10 richest people in the United States.

The increase in wealth was not only for Jung Hyun-woo. When Jung Hyun-woo’s assets reached $30 billion, Sarah’s assets would also reach $10 billion.

“I hope you achieve it within this year.”

Michael Carter had helped Jung Hyun-woo in the past, so the conversation proceeded in a bright atmosphere.

Citibank and Victoria Corporation agreed to discuss the update date for City Service and to conduct advertising and promotions accordingly.

Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah finished the meeting in about 2 hours, left Citibank, and headed to the construction site.

The vehicle the two were riding in was a limousine with bulletproof features.

In the past, they might have just taken a taxi, but now their faces were too well known to do that.

Tom, Sarah’s secretary, sat in the front seat of the limousine, and Jung Hyun-woo, Sarah, and Luna, Jung Hyun-woo’s secretary, took their seats in the back of the limousine.

“The limousine is spacious, but I can’t say the ride is comfortable.”

Sarah agreed with Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“The car is so long that it sometimes feels like a bus, right?”

“But it’s still better than a bus.”

The limousine was long, but it was lower than a bus, so there was less rolling.

“After the construction site visit, we have a meeting with John.”

The John Sarah mentioned was John Peer of Victoria Fund.

“Is John doing well?”

“Doesn’t Charlie know better?”

“I haven’t heard from him recently.”

“Not exactly well, but it seems like he’s been busy.”

John Peer was expanding his business to the New York Stock Exchange after recruiting Jeremy Spin.

“There are no schedules after meeting John, right?”

Sarah shook her head at his question.

“No.”

“Hmm, which side is it this time? Is it JP Morgan?”

Jung Hyun-woo thought it had been a while since he had a meeting with JP Morgan.

‘Since a new version is out, I should stop by to say hello.’

Sarah answered his question.

“It’s not JP Morgan either.”

“Then who is it?”

“Bill Garner.”

It was the first time he had heard the name.

Jung Hyun-woo couldn’t help but tilt his head.

“Bill Garner?”

“John said that Charlie asked him to do it?”

Jung Hyun-woo’s eyes widened.

“I asked him to do it?”

It was the first time he had heard of it.

“Bill Garner is the CFO of Chevron.”

As soon as Jung Hyun-woo heard the name Chevron, he opened his mouth.

“Ah! Chevron.”

“Charlie asked for it, right?”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and replied.

“That’s right. I told them to arrange a meeting with them on the condition that they buy Chevron’s bonds.”

Sarah narrowed her eyes after hearing his words.

“You bought Chevron’s bonds? You didn’t consult with me.”

“Hmm, I used my own money for that.”

“Charlie’s own money?”

“All of Victoria Fund’s funds were poured into Japan.”

Sarah widened her narrowed eyes and said.

“If you’re using your own money to buy bonds, is there some good news for Chevron?”

“If there was good news, I would have bought Chevron’s stock, not bonds.”

“Hmm, now that I hear it, that’s true. Then what’s the reason?”

“I’m trying to have a line with energy companies too.”

Sarah crossed her arms at his answer.

“Charlie, aren’t you trying to do too many things?”

She thought Jung Hyun-woo’s ambition was excessive.

“I’m not saying I’m going to do any work with them right now. I’m just throwing a stone for the future.”

Sarah asked him again.

“So how much did you throw?”

“$100 million.”

$100 million.

Even though the value of money was constantly falling, $100 million was still a lot of money.

“$100 million isn’t just a stone you throw.”

Jung Hyun-woo stared out the window and said.

“Sarah, have you ever thought about this?”

“What thought?”

“What if gas stations across the country were connected by a network?”

Sarah realized that Jung Hyun-woo was trying to contact Chevron as part of the network business.

“Is Chevron next after Walmart?”

Jung Hyun-woo answered her question.

“Sarah, the future of the network isn’t just in banks or IT companies.”

He had experienced a world where the world was connected by a small device called a smartphone.

‘Offline and online cannot be thought of separately.’

The reason why Jung Hyun-woo emphasizes the connection with offline companies is that all those companies will eventually be connected by a network.

“Hoo…”

It was when Sarah sighed deeply.

The driver turned his head and raised his voice.

“We have arrived at our destination.”

The conversation between the two ended here as they arrived at the construction site.