The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 211

211. After Winter (4)

Jeong Hyun-woo’s next appointment was a meeting with Bill Garner, the CFO of Chevron.

“Where is it?”

“Chevron’s New York branch.”

“Wall Street?”

“That’s right.”

The reason Chevron’s New York branch was located on Wall Street was its proximity to the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The trading volumes for commodities and bonds at the New York Mercantile Exchange were astronomical.

Despite the short distance, Jeong Hyun-woo and his group had to take a limousine.

“Can’t we just walk?”

Sarah shook her head, answering his question.

“There are too many of us; it would disrupt traffic.”

Their team included not only the two secretaries but also John Pierre, his staff, and the bodyguards.

‘Sigh… I guess I have to give up on moving around quietly in New York.’

He remembered Aria always being accompanied by bodyguards and realized he was in the same situation.

“We’ve arrived.”

Chevron’s New York branch was located near the Mercantile Exchange.

“It’s on the 33rd floor.”

Jeong Hyun-woo and his party were greeted by Chevron employees who had been waiting and were escorted to the 33rd floor.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened with a chime.

“Luxurious.”

Sarah agreed with Jeong Hyun-woo’s assessment.

“A bit excessive.”

Chevron’s New York branch had red carpets from the hallway onwards.

“Oil must be good money.”

“If you could monopolize the oil business, you could become the richest person in America, no, the world.”

In the past, present, and future, oil was the most important driver of industrialization.

Sarah’s statement that one could become the richest person in the world by monopolizing the oil business was by no means an exaggeration.

‘That was true even in the 2020s.’

Even if it wasn’t a monopoly but just a partial share, the company would inevitably have astronomical value.

‘Aramco is a good example.’

Saudi Aramco was an oil company limited to Saudi Arabia. However, they had once reached the top spot in global market capitalization with just Saudi Arabian oil.

“After hearing Sarah’s words, I feel like I have to invest in the oil business no matter what.”

Sarah tilted her head, asking back.

“Aren’t you here to invest in Chevron?”

Jeong Hyun-woo had previously mentioned that he was interested in something other than investment.

Nevertheless, Sarah still thought Jeong Hyun-woo was interested in investing in Chevron.

“We’ll see. I’ll have to hear what they have to say.”

The two had already arrived at the New York branch CEO’s office.

“Mr. Garner is waiting inside.”

Jeong Hyun-woo entered the New York branch CEO’s office with Sarah and John Pierre.

‘Tsk, this is even worse.’

Chevron’s New York branch CEO’s office was even more extravagant than the Bank of America CEO’s office.

Statues that looked like they were made in ancient Rome or Greece and paintings from the Renaissance era decorated the walls.

“Hello, I’m Bill Garner.”

Bill Garner was a tall, middle-aged man.

‘A typical American executive.’

He appeared to be of German descent.

“I’m Charlie Jeong.”

Following Jeong Hyun-woo, Sarah and John Pierre greeted him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sarah Hilton.”

“I’m John Pierre, who called earlier.”

As the three took their seats, Bill Garner sat across from them with the New York branch manager.

“I was surprised that Mr. Jeong is interested in our Chevron.”

Jeong Hyun-woo smiled gently and said.

“Chevron is one of the best oil companies, after all.”

Currently, the best oil company in America was ExxonMobil. So, instead of saying second place, Jeong Hyun-woo used the expression ‘one of the best companies’.

“Thank you for valuing our Chevron so highly.”

Just a few years ago, Chevron’s CFO wouldn’t have met with Jeong Hyun-woo.

But now, the market capitalization of Chevron and Victoria Corporation were not significantly different.

‘If the upward trend continues this year, it will soon be reversed.’

Of course, market capitalization wasn’t everything. Chevron’s sales and net profit were still overwhelming.

“I’ve wanted to have a serious conversation with Chevron someday.”

Bill Garner said in a soft voice.

“Any conversation with Mr. Jeong is always welcome.”

The two exchanged some more small talk.

Some might find this small talk boring. But in the case of first meetings, it was necessary to ease the tension with an excessive amount of small talk.

When he thought the tension had eased to some extent,

Bill Garner brought up a specific topic first.

“Do you perhaps have any interest in investing in our Chevron?”

Jeong Hyun-woo tilted his head, asking back.

“Hasn’t Chevron been a listed company for a long time?”

“Our Chevron has numerous subsidiaries.”

Bill Garner was recommending investment in a non-listed subsidiary.

“Can you introduce me to the company?”

Bill Garner nodded, recommending one of the subsidiaries.

“It’s a company called VL.”

VL stood for Venezuela Line Oil.

In other words, VL was a company that produced and processed oil in Venezuela.

‘Hoo… Not just anywhere, but Venezuela.’

Venezuela might be okay for the time being. But as Jeong Hyun-woo knew about Chavez’s rise to power and the future of Venezuela, he couldn’t invest there.

Even though he had negative thoughts about Venezuela, Bill Garner enthusiastically explained about VL.

After finishing the explanation, Bill Garner said to Jeong Hyun-woo.

“Mr. Jeong, you will never regret choosing VL.”

Jeong Hyun-woo spoke in the softest voice possible.

“I understand that Venezuela’s oil reserves are enormous and its potential surpasses even Saudi Arabia. But I’m concerned about the political aspects of Venezuela.”

“Political aspects?”

“Everyone knows about Venezuela’s oil nationalization measures, don’t they?”

Before Chavez came to power, in the 1970s, Venezuela had implemented oil nationalization measures [where the government takes control of private oil assets].

With the nationalization of the oil industry, which possessed vast reserves, Venezuela briefly achieved the top GDP in South America. The expensive Concorde passenger plane connected Venezuela and Paris, and it even achieved the world’s highest whiskey consumption.

But this glory faded with the oil shock.

If you ask why a country with oil reserves would collapse during the oil shock, the answer is as follows.

Unlike other oil-producing countries, Venezuela had a massive amount of foreign debt, and as U.S. interest rates rose, the interest payments skyrocketed, crushing the economy.

“Hmm, will Venezuela repeat the same mistake?”

Bill Garner said that Venezuela would not take a second oil nationalization measure.

But Jeong Hyun-woo knew that they would take even greater measures.

“I have a different opinion from Mr. Garner.”

The two people’s opinions ran parallel.

Bill Garner was the first to back down.

He couldn’t force an investor who didn’t want to invest to invest.

“Then I’ll recommend another company.”

This time, he recommended a company that produced oil in western Alaska.

Jeong Hyun-woo’s response this time was positive.

“I’ll consider Alaska positively.”

He turned his head to John Pierre.

“John, put together an evaluation team.”

John Pierre knew that Jeong Hyun-woo didn’t say these things when he was actively considering an investment.

‘Charlie usually talks about conditions or amounts first if he likes an investment. Alaska must not be great either.’

He had some idea of Jeong Hyun-woo’s true feelings, but he took his words seriously.

“Understood. I will put together a team for investment evaluation within this month.”

Bill Garner thought that he had failed with the Venezuela side, but he might be able to get an investment from the Alaska side.

‘Half success?’

After his investment proposal ended, Jeong Hyun-woo proposed an investment in reverse.

What he proposed was to network gas stations across the United States to provide consumers with real-time price information.

However, Bill Garner was reluctant to this system.

“Gas stations won’t like it.”

Jeong Hyun-woo raised his voice at his answer.

“Gas stations don’t like a transparent system?”

“People will only flock to gas stations with lower prices.”

“Couldn’t they use price competitiveness as a weapon?”

Bill Garner shook his head.

“More gas stations will object.”

He was saying that there would be more gas stations that wanted to hide that their prices were higher than the average than gas stations that used prices as a weapon.

“Hmm, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Jeong Hyun-woo cleanly gave up on the gas station network business.

‘This side isn’t free either.’

He talked with Bill Garner about the Middle East situation and relations with the Soviet Union, then finished the meeting.

After the meeting.

As they exited the lobby on the first floor, Sarah asked.

“No gains?”

She also knew that Jeong Hyun-woo didn’t think the Alaska investment was satisfactory.

“I just met him.”

“Weren’t you going to push the network side more?”

“It wasn’t a business I wanted to pursue even if it meant suppressing the other party’s opposition.”

Sarah received his words as she walked out the door.

“Hmm, is that so?”

“More than that, Sarah didn’t say much?”

Sarah answered his question.

“I’m not interested in the oil business.”

Jeong Hyun-woo tilted his head, asking again.

“Isn’t it a family business?”

Sarah’s father was focusing on the oil business, not the hotel business.

“My father’s business and my business are separate.”

Jeong Hyun-woo thought as he got into the limousine.

‘Come to think of it, if Andrew Hilton had wanted to use his daughter strategically, he might have taken an oil businessman as his son-in-law.’

He thought that one of the reasons Sarah disliked the oil business was because of these arranged marriages.

* * *

March.

As winter passed and spring arrived, Victoria Corporation’s stock price began to soar.

The first thing that boosted the stock price was Nintendo’s huge success in the North American market.

“Nintendo is showing a steep rise.”

“Have you seen the game that was released this time? It’s amazing.”

“Mario, right? I saw it too. It was amazing. It had a speed and control that couldn’t be felt in North American games.”

Nintendo’s new title, Super Mario, had a quality and fun that could not be compared to the low-quality games that were released before the Atari shock [the video game industry crash of 1983].

North American users cheered for this new game. And that cheer raised the stock price of Victoria Corporation, Nintendo’s partner.

“Chairman, Victoria Corporation’s stock price is rising again.”

Kyle Montana, the big head of Morgan Stanley, frowned and asked.

“How much has it risen?”

“$19.8.”

Kyle Montana raised his eyebrows at the secretary’s answer.

“What?”

The reason he was so surprised was because Victoria Corporation’s rise was at a frightening level.

“Victoria Corporation’s stock price briefly exceeded $20 in the morning.”

Kyle Montana shook his head greatly.

“That’s ridiculous. A company that supplies a few programs has a market capitalization of $40 billion?”

The companies with a market capitalization of $40 billion that he was thinking of were giant banks, oil companies, or pharmaceutical or chemical companies that spent astronomical research funds.

“What should we do with the remaining short positions?”

Morgan Stanley had not repaid all of the shares shorted during the Victoria Corporation short selling incident last year and had left some remaining.

“Leave them!”

“Understood.”

Kyle Montana was confident that Victoria Corporation’s bubble would eventually burst.

But it didn’t seem to be in 1986.

As it entered mid-March, Victoria Corporation’s stock price exceeded $25.

This time, several securities companies were joining together to trade with Victoria Corporation.

“Another bank is trading with those Victoria guys?”

“This time, it’s an independent securities company, not a securities company under a bank group.”

“What are they thinking!”

Chairman Kyle Montana raised his voice, but Victoria Corporation’s market capitalization had already exceeded $50 billion.

“It seems like we have to repay the shorted shares now.”

Chairman Kyle Montana shook his head.

“Leave them. The amount isn’t that big anyway.”

“But…….”

“I’ll take responsibility if there’s a problem.”

As Chairman Kyle Montana spoke loudly, the other executives could only bow their heads.

The problem wasn’t just Morgan Stanley.

Some hedge funds, like Terra, declared short selling at the $20 mark, talking about Victoria Corporation’s bubble.

But as Victoria’s stock price rose sharply, the hedge funds suffered huge losses.

“Victoria Corporation is at $26?”

“It seems like hedge funds are doing short covering [buying back shares to limit losses on a short position].”

The hedge funds wanted to repay the shares before increasing their losses. As a result, Victoria Corporation’s stock price exceeded $27 on March 22nd.

“Victoria’s market capitalization is $54 billion?”

“If I had bought it last year, I would have made several times the profit. It’s a shame.”

“Who knew it would rise this much?”

Wall Street investors and traders were amazed by Victoria Corporation’s rise.

However, Victoria Corporation’s rise had only just begun.

March 27th.

Victoria Corporation headquarters.

Jeong Hyun-woo, Sarah, and Robert attended the monthly meeting.

“This quarter’s announcement is scheduled for April 21st.”

Victoria Corporation announced its quarterly results in New York every quarter.

“Is Sarah presenting this time too?”

Sarah nodded, answering Robert’s question.

“I have to.”

Jeong Hyun-woo asked Robert.

“Has the new team been formed?”

New team.

The new team he mentioned referred to the program development team that the seven securities companies would use together.

“I plan to complete the formation by next week.”

“How about the service?”

The service network was already established, so if the program was developed properly, the service could be available within the year.

“I’ll have to see, but it would be great if the service starts within this year.”

He was saying that if a problem occurred, the service could be postponed to next year.

“Hmm, the schedule is tight.”

“If we had started in January, maybe? It’s already past March.”

Robert thought that the securities companies should have proposed it a little earlier.

“How about Microsoft?”

“They say they will release a new operating system next year.”

Jeong Hyun-woo knew that the new operating system Microsoft was developing was Windows.

‘It will dominate the world.’

Of course, it wasn’t just Windows that made Microsoft rich.

They were making more money with office systems and cloud services.

He knew that too, so he invested boldly in data centers.

“Sarah, how about the fund side?”

“Wasn’t Charlie taking care of that directly?”

“I’m only handling the big picture here.”

He was saying that Sarah should manage the details.

“The Japanese business has started. They’ve bought quite a few buildings, and I heard that Kajima Construction has formed several teams.”

“So it’s just starting.”

“I’m going to include Victoria Fund’s performance in this quarter’s report, is that okay?”

Jeong Hyun-woo nodded, answering.

“Victoria Fund is also Victoria.”

If Victoria Fund’s performance was announced, Victoria Corporation’s stock price would inevitably rise.

“Oh, and I heard that the number of Japanese customers has increased.”

“Are you selling American real estate to Japanese customers?”

“They’re very interested in LA and Hawaii.”

Jeong Hyun-woo thought.

‘Not New York yet?’

New York was the economic capital of the United States, but it was geographically far from Japan.

“That’s a relief.”

Robert had not invested in Victoria Fund, but he could not say it was someone else’s business because Victoria Corporation had a stake in Victoria Fund.

“It seems like Victoria Fund is doing well too.”

Sarah turned her head to Robert and said.

“It’s a business that Charlie started.”

There was no failure in the business that Jeong Hyun-woo started.

“If I hadn’t bought a house, I would have invested too.”

Robert smiled bitterly. However, he already owned about 2% of Victoria Corporation’s shares.

Since Victoria Corporation’s current market capitalization was $54 billion, the estimated value of the shares he owned was $1.1 billion.

In other words, he had joined the ranks of billionaires thanks to this rise.

Jeong Hyun-woo put a little strength in his voice and said.

“Let’s not think that this is the end, but the beginning.”

He had no intention of being satisfied with a market capitalization of $50 billion.

‘I can’t say I’ve changed the future this much.’

If he really changed the future…….

Victoria Corporation’s stock price and value would grow to an extent that could not be compared to now.