The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 54

54. The Conglomerate Villain – Riding the Waves 02 –

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Tak.

It was Jung Hyun-woo who brought the tea.

“Thank you for coming such a long way.”

Robert raised both hands to shoulder height and gestured that it was okay.

“It’s no trouble at all. You’re giving a manager who stumbled a new opportunity, so I should rush to wherever you are.”

Sarah comforted him.

“Robert isn’t a failed manager. The market was just bad.”

Robert sighed deeply.

“Hoo… I’m sorry that I seem to have harmed Victoria Corporation as well.”

The Activision IPO [Initial Public Offering, the first sale of stock by a private company to the public] he pushed forward had caused Victoria Corporation a loss of $700,000. And that loss was still ongoing.

The three of them gathered at Jung Hyun-woo’s Boston home. He had bought this house from Daewoon Trading’s U.S. branch for $50,000.

“There are three things I need to discuss.”

Robert lowered his hands at his words.

“What are they?”

He was more polite than before. This meant that the relationship between the two had changed.

“First, I want to buy the rights to Activision.”

“Are you saying you want to acquire Activision?”

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“No, not an Activision acquisition, but the rights to the IP (Intellectual Property) [creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce].”

Robert realized what Jung Hyun-woo was trying to say.

“Charlie, are you saying you want to buy the rights to Activision games?”

“In short, yes.”

If they were going to negotiate an IP deal, now was the perfect time, with Activision’s value plummeting.

‘The timing is good. This deal isn’t Charlie’s idea, is it?’

Robert thought Jung Hyun-woo’s proposal was based on calculations by Sarah or the Hilton family. But Sarah was so focused on JP Services that she couldn’t pay any attention to securing IP.

Securing IP was something Jung Hyun-woo had come up with on his own. The two had only agreed on this point an hour ago.

Robert said in a calm voice.

“You should be able to secure the Zero Space series for $300,000.”

Given the situation, that was enough to secure all the IPs for parts 1, 2, and 3.

Jung Hyun-woo wasn’t just thinking of securing Zero Space.

‘An opportunity like this doesn’t come often.’

He raised the budget.

“Robert, how much can I secure with $3 million?”

$3 million for a faltering Activision.

It would be like welcome rain for Activision’s management. But if they gave everything away for $3 million, Activision would have no future.

Robert couldn’t help but narrow his brow.

“With $3 million, you can secure several IPs. But I can’t guarantee you’ll get everything you want.”

Jung Hyun-woo let out a short groan.

“Hmm, I know there are seven titles that have performed better than the Zero Space series. How many of these can I secure?”

He was aiming for a bigger hit than Zero Space.

Robert thought for a moment before answering his question.

“You should be able to secure about three.”

That was $1 million per IP. Of course, before Activision’s situation became as difficult as it was now, even one would have been a difficult price.

‘Still, $1 million per IP is a bit expensive.’

As he narrowed his brow, Robert made a counter-proposal.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to reduce the number of hit titles and secure several smaller IPs.”

Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head at his suggestion.

“Robert, do you think there’s a place to use small IPs?”

“I think we can recover the principal by exporting to the European market. If we consider Asia, we won’t be at a loss.”

Selling mediocre games to recover funds would prevent losses.

At his opinion, Jung Hyun-woo raised his right hand and stroked his chin.

“Export to Europe, huh.”

The European game market was growing a step later than the United States. Moreover, there was no absolute powerhouse like Atari, so events like the bubble burst did not occur.

‘It would make money, but that’s not what I want.’

As he hesitated, Robert raised his voice.

“Charlie, if you hire me, I’ll connect you with Europe.”

He thought he needed to have something to show before boarding the plane to Boston.

‘If I can pioneer the European market, I can earn my keep.’

Robert was confident that if he was entrusted with the European market, he could generate more revenue than his annual salary. Of course, Jung Hyun-woo didn’t want him for this small amount of money.

Sarah raised her voice slightly.

“Robert, what makes you so sure about the European market?”

Robert turned his gaze to her and replied.

“The European market has shrunk like North America, but it hasn’t been hit as hard. The market is still alive here. If we enter Europe ahead of other American companies, we can secure competitiveness.”

One more thing, the European game market had managed to defend itself to some extent thanks to the summer vacation season’s success. Robert thought that Victoria Corporation should preempt this market before companies like Atari or Activision turned their attention to Europe.

‘This would be a good proposal for Charlie and Sarah.’

Sarah turned her head to Jung Hyun-woo.

“What do you think, Charlie?”

Securing several small IPs.

Jung Hyun-woo crossed his arms and said.

“Let’s spend $5 million.”

At his decision, Sarah raised her voice.

“Charlie!”

This was not an agreed-upon matter. In fact, she thought even $3 million was too much.

‘Charlie, what are you thinking? We don’t even have the funds to use for JP Services.’

Victoria Corporation was in a situation where it had to take out a loan due to a lack of funds. In this situation, the sudden talk of spending $5 million to secure IP was hard to accept.

Jung Hyun-woo gestured and said.

“It’s okay. I have a plan.”

Sarah’s voice became somewhat lower.

“You have a plan?”

“Yes. Please trust me.”

She always trusted Jung Hyun-woo.

She wanted to do so this time as well.

“Okay.”

Sarah briefly accepted his words and then let out a long sigh inside.

‘Hoo, apart from trusting Charlie, I can’t understand what he’s thinking at all.’

Jung Hyun-woo briefly persuaded Sarah and then turned his gaze to Robert.

“Robert, how about $5 million?”

Robert realized that Jung Hyun-woo was in control of the company after seeing the two people’s differences of opinion narrow in a short time.

‘Charlie is the one leading the company, I can’t believe it.’

He had always believed that Sarah was managing Victoria Corporation.

“With $5 million, I think we can create a package that includes three hit titles and about 20 small titles.”

“Does that hit title include the Zero series?”

“No. I’m talking about hits that are bigger than the Zero series.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded as if satisfied.

“That would be good.”

Robert let out a long sigh inside as Jung Hyun-woo raised the budget and accepted his proposal.

‘Hoo, I can at least earn my keep.’

He was planning to develop the European market to earn his value. However, Jung Hyun-woo had recruited him to use him in another area.

“Robert, now for the second matter. In fact, this is much more important than the first.”

Robert was able to approach the second story with ease because he had smoothly passed the first matter.

“What is it?”

Jung Hyun-woo took a breath and replied.

“Victoria Corporation will begin JP Services next month.”

Robert blinked at Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“Did you just say JP Services?”

“That’s right.”

JP Services was a stock ticker service provided by JP Morgan, and there were advertising signs not only on TV commercials but also throughout the airport that Robert used.

Robert was surprised that the subject of JP Services was Victoria Corporation.

‘Wasn’t Victoria Corporation a game developer?’

But the important thing was from now on.

Jung Hyun-woo said in a calm voice.

“JP Services is experiencing difficulties due to much higher than expected demand. I hope Robert can solve these difficulties.”

How could Robert solve the difficulties of JP Services, which he was doing with JP Morgan?

He thought it was a problem that exceeded his abilities and authority.

“Charlie, that’s impossible. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Jung Hyun-woo had no intention of letting him go.

“Robert, I haven’t told you the real story yet.”

He hadn’t told him the real story.

Robert couldn’t help but narrow his brow.

‘I can’t guess what this boy is talking about at all.’

Jung Hyun-woo calmly explained the situation Victoria Corporation was in.

“Currently, the expected number of JP Services subscribers is…”

Robert listened to Jung Hyun-woo’s story for about 5 minutes. It was when Jung Hyun-woo was talking about the explosion of demand and the lack of hardware. He interrupted Jung Hyun-woo’s story and said.

“Charlie, it’s difficult to recruit service installers in a short period of time.”

He told Jung Hyun-woo to think arithmetically.

If JP Services had to be provided to 900,000 households within 3 months, installation had to be completed in an average of 300,000 households per month. However, one service technician could only install 300 households per month.

In other words, to install JP Services in 900,000 households within 3 months, a minimum of 1,000 employees would be needed across the United States.

“We also have to complete training and hardware distribution.”

He thought this project would take a year, not 3 months. Of course, Jung Hyun-woo had no intention of wasting a year.

Jung Hyun-woo highly appreciated Robert’s point.

‘He’s definitely a person who has managed a company in the field, so his calculations are different. He’s more specific than I am.’

He had also emphasized to Sarah that securing installation personnel was important. But he hadn’t thought about the training and hardware distribution that he had pointed out.

Jung Hyun-woo presented his solution to him.

“Robert, we’re going to use game shops scattered throughout the United States.”

“Use game shops?”

“That’s right. We want to do both hardware distribution and installer hiring through game shops.”

“What is that…”

Jung Hyun-woo explained his plan in a little more detail. Sarah was hearing the details of this plan for the first time.

“We can use part of the game shop as a JP Services installation center, and re-hire game shop employees who have become unemployed due to this bubble burst as installers.”

The game industry’s slump had not only hit game developers.

The Atari shock had a major impact on both game wholesalers and retailers.

Jung Hyun-woo’s plan was to dig into this part.

However, Robert’s narrowed brow had not yet been smoothed out.

“Even if you can secure installers that way, how will you train them? Modems don’t just plug in.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised his right index finger and his left index finger. Then, he faced the two index fingers and said.

“It has to be connected from point to point.”

An installer who has been trained in advance moves to another shop and trains novice installers. And the trained installer trains another installer.

If you choose this method, you don’t have to create a training center or have an employee in charge of training travel around the country. But it was impossible to dramatically reduce the time required for training.

“Charlie, even if you do that, there won’t be enough time.”

Jung Hyun-woo frowned slightly and said.

“I’ll give you one more month.”

He was saying that he would extend the time from 3 months to 4 months.

“Impossible.”

“How much do you need?”

“Give me half a year.”

Jung Hyun-woo let out a long sigh.

“Five months, no more.”

Robert thought for a moment before answering.

“Okay. I’ll set up an installation system within 5 months.”

Jung Hyun-woo delayed the service by about two months, and Robert accepted it.

But Sarah thought it was too one-sided of a decision.

‘Shouldn’t we consult with JP Morgan?’

Of course, she did not object to his decision even though she had these thoughts. She also knew that this problem could not be solved in a short period of time.

‘That being said, a professional manager is definitely different.’

Robert wasn’t really a professional manager from the beginning either. But he had accumulated considerable know-how while running a company of Activision’s size.

He put his hands together and continued.

“Charlie, it’s not over yet. There’s still the issue of hardware supply.”

Jung Hyun-woo naturally accepted his words.

“Robert, you’ll have to solve that too.”

“What is that…”

Robert was about to say that it was nonsense. But he barely managed to suppress himself.

‘Hoo, I have to solve it, he’s being unreasonable.’

He still thought it was difficult to talk to Jung Hyun-woo.

“Robert, Atari and Commodore’s warehouses should have some modem inventory.”

The two companies had bought hardware parts indiscriminately during their heyday, so it wasn’t unfounded. In particular, Atari had been so mismanaged that it ordered hardware needed for projects that hadn’t even started yet in units of 10,000.

And securing modems for network game services could be understood in the same context.

Robert crossed his arms after hearing Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“Charlie, even so, it will only be tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.”

He was saying that the number was far from enough to fill the 800,000 missing modems.

“Let’s add the European volume here.”

Robert raised his voice.

“Europe?”

“We’re bringing in goods from European wholesalers. Robert, you said you were in contact with Europe earlier, right?”

Robert nodded at his question.

“I’m in contact to some extent. But the volume…”

Jung Hyun-woo interrupted his words and asked.

“Roughly how much can you secure?”

“If you shake up England, France, and Germany, you can secure 200,000 to 300,000. But that’s it. And since this has to cross the sea, it will take 2 months just to move it.”

Robert thought.

‘Even if it arrives on time, it won’t fill even half of the 800,000.’

Jung Hyun-woo thought differently from him.

“There’s no reason why it should take 2 months.”

“Yes?”

How could it not take 2 months to move goods to the port and cross the sea by ship?

“We can ship it by plane.”

“By plane?”

Air transport.

In the 1970s, leading companies such as FedEx and DHL opened their doors, but air transport was not yet a familiar concept to managers.

Air transport grew explosively as small, expensive items such as semiconductors and mobile phones were distributed in large quantities.

Jung Hyun-woo raised his right index finger and said.

“Robert, time is money. If you can buy that time with money, it can never be said to be expensive.”

Buying time with money.

Robert also knew the concept. But the concept of buying time with money that he was thinking of was to give employees more overtime pay or pay third parties more to reduce the deadline.

‘Huh, to ship modems by plane.’

While Robert was admiring the new concept, Jung Hyun-woo turned his gaze to Sarah.

“Sarah.”

Sarah raised her voice.

“Do you have something to say to me too?”

“I’d like Sarah to take charge of Canada.”

“Canada?”

“Yes, just like Europe, there should be usable modem inventory here.”

“Okay. I’ll take charge of Canada.”

Jung Hyun-woo expected to secure 100,000 units through the Canadian distribution network. He looked around at the two and said.

“If we can match 300,000 from Europe, 100,000 from Canada, and 200,000 from Atari and Commodore, we can collect approximately 600,000 modems.”

The shortage was about 200,000 to 300,000 units.

“We can request overtime from the manufacturing company for the missing parts. They should be able to produce 120% or 130%.”

Robert told him his thoughts.

“It won’t work just like that.”

“We’ll have to give them a premium too.”

It was the same as using air transport, he was saying that he would buy time with money.

“Hoo…”

Now that the general story was sorted out, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Robert clapped lightly.

“Charlie, that’s amazing.”

Jung Hyun-woo shrugged his shoulders at Robert’s compliment.

“It’s not a big deal.”

He was just struggling to make up for the lack of time.

“No. I think it’s amazing.”

What was so amazing?

“I’ve seen the owners of several companies, but this is the first time I’ve seen this level of agility. To put it a little excessively, I think you could even be a CEO specializing in corporate rehabilitation [turning around failing companies].”

Agility and a CEO specializing in corporate rehabilitation.

Jung Hyun-woo smiled bitterly.

‘Agility is definitely my forte. But I don’t want to be a firefighter.’

He was just a developer and engineer.

“Robert, the story isn’t over yet.”

Robert nodded and said.

“I know. There’s still the third matter you mentioned earlier.”

“Robert, please become the general manager of JP Services. This is the third matter.”

He was asking him to take on the task of putting everything he had talked about into action.

“If I’m the general manager, am I the COO [Chief Operating Officer]?”

To put it simply, the COO could be said to be in a position similar to that of a vice president in Korea. Before he was recruited, Victoria Corporation’s COO was Sarah.

“That’s right.”

Robert’s eyes lit up at the word COO.

‘If they give me the COO position.’

It was worth doing.

He came to this conclusion.

“Charlie, the most important story is left.”

The most important story.

Sarah seemed to know what that story was.

“Are you talking about the salary?”

Robert asked directly.

“How much will you give me?”

Jung Hyun-woo answered his question.

“$200,000. How is it?”

At this point, $200,000 was a huge sum of money that could buy a detached house in Manhattan, New York.

And it was twice the salary Robert had received at Activision. He extended his right hand to Jung Hyun-woo.

“CEO, please take good care of me.”

Jung Hyun-woo took his outstretched hand and accepted his words.

“I’m the one who should be asking you to take good care of me.”

He had finished preparing to ride the giant wave by recruiting Robert.

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