The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 61

61. Becoming a Villain in a Chaebol Family – Ruler of the Era 04 –

***

Why was MIT suddenly paying attention to Victoria Corporation?

‘It can’t be because they’re interested in the JP service I designed.’

The JP service he developed was commercially successful, but it wasn’t a particularly complex or sophisticated program that would warrant MIT’s attention.

‘Could they see potential in the network system?’

This was more likely. The JP service he developed relied on telephone lines and modems, which limited its speed.

However, it had the advantage of widespread accessibility. In 1983, JP service was the only network program that tens of thousands of people could access simultaneously.

‘It was arguably the most popular network service developed before the internet became widespread.’

As his thoughts deepened, Professor Norn said,

“The school seems to want Charlie and Victoria to be its flagship.”

Jeong Hyun-woo’s eyes widened at the word ‘flagship.’

“Me, MIT’s flagship?”

“Competitors like Harvard and Stanford already have prominent figures in the IT industry.”

Jeong Hyun-woo tilted his head.

“Aren’t our main competitors Caltech [California Institute of Technology] rather than Harvard or Stanford?”

Historically, MIT’s strongest competitor was the California Institute of Technology, Caltech.

“Caltech has Moore.”

Gordon Moore, the namesake of Moore’s Law, the famous observation about the exponential growth of transistors on a microchip, was a Caltech graduate and co-founder of Intel.

‘In short, they need a leading IT entrepreneur or a star developer who can become MIT’s flagship.’

It wasn’t that MIT lacked notable figures in the IT industry compared to the aforementioned universities. MIT boasted several IT stars such as Irwin Jacobs, who founded Qualcomm, Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company], and Lisa Su of AMD [Advanced Micro Devices].

The problem was that it was 1983. Qualcomm and TSMC didn’t exist yet, and AMD’s Lisa Su was only a middle school student.

‘MIT is experiencing a talent drought.’

He wanted to run Victoria Corporation quietly if possible, but circumstances were making it difficult.

“Professor, Victoria Corporation is nowhere near the size of Microsoft or Apple.”

Professor Norn smiled gently.

“If Victoria were like those two companies, they wouldn’t just be showing interest; the school would already be promoting it heavily.”

“Then…”

“It seems the higher-ups want to grow Victoria into something like those two companies. Or, even if it doesn’t reach that level, they want to be able to say that they have a company of this caliber too.”

If Victoria Corporation received support from MIT, its growth would undoubtedly accelerate.

‘But if I receive support from MIT, I’ll be under intense scrutiny.’

Jeong Hyun-woo frowned and asked,

“Is MIT allowed to fully support a private company?”

He wondered if it was permissible for a university to sponsor a specific company or startup. Professor Norn looked at him as if he didn’t understand the question.

“Charlie, do you think there’s a reason why it shouldn’t be allowed?”

American universities had been closely linked with companies from the very beginning. MIT had close ties not only with American companies but also with government agencies.

“Well, that is…”

“We don’t conduct research for the sake of intellectual vanity. We pursue academia to provide people with a better life and future.”

Jeong Hyun-woo sighed briefly.

“Hoo, if MIT supports our company, there must be some conditions, right?”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

There was no truth more certain than this.

‘They won’t be providing support just with the condition that we become the school’s flagship.’

Professor Norn nodded, understanding his concern.

“I don’t think there will be any major conditions like you’re worried about.”

“So, there are minor conditions.”

“From the school’s perspective, it would be beneficial if you hired a lot of MIT graduates as employees.”

MIT graduates were among the best talent in America, if not the world. Hiring them in large numbers would also be a significant benefit to the company.

‘This is an offer I have no reason to refuse.’

Jeong Hyun-woo asked to confirm.

“That’s the only condition?”

Professor Norn countered,

“Charlie, should we add more conditions? You seem to want there to be more conditions.”

Jeong Hyun-woo quickly raised both hands and shook them.

“No, that’s not it.”

Professor Norn smiled at his gesture.

“Charlie, will you go along with MIT?”

Jeong Hyun-woo lowered his hands and his voice.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for me to refuse.”

As mentioned before, Jeong Hyun-woo had no reason to decline the offer.

“I see. There’s no reason to refuse. Then I’ll take that as a confirmation.”

As he was about to turn around, Jeong Hyun-woo raised his voice.

“Professor, it’s not a confirmation yet.”

Professor Norn tilted his head.

“Not a confirmation?”

“I want to meet with the higher-ups at the school and hear their specific thoughts. And I need to explain this to my partner as well.”

Professor Norn nodded in understanding.

“Hmm, so it’s not a company you own alone.”

“The company has grown larger than expected.”

“I understand. I’ll arrange a meeting soon. And this matter will probably be handled by the Education Committee.”

Jeong Hyun-woo paused at the mention of the Education Committee.

“It’s a collaboration with a company, so why the Education Committee instead of the External Cooperation Department?”

Professor Norn replied softly,

“It will start as a project to support graduates’ employment in the IT industry. Does that answer your question?”

“I understand.”

Superficially, it was framed as a project to support MIT students’ employment and research in the IT industry, rather than directly promoting Victoria Corporation.

“I hope things go well with your partner too.”

Professor Norn said briefly as he turned to leave.

“I hope so too.”

Jeong Hyun-woo bowed as he watched him go.

“I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Professor Norn could imagine Jeong Hyun-woo’s posture without looking.

‘He’s probably bowing deeply.’

Many people from East Asia were polite like Jeong Hyun-woo.

***

“MIT requested a collaboration?”

The beauty with wide, surprised eyes was Sarah.

“The school indirectly conveyed their intentions through Professor Norn.”

“That’s unexpected. I can’t believe MIT would make such a proposal.”

Jeong Hyun-woo put his hands behind his head, supporting it with both hands.

“I didn’t expect it either.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I said I would meet with the higher-ups first.”

“Does Charlie intend to accept MIT’s offer?”

Jeong Hyun-woo had no reason to refuse MIT’s offer.

“It’s not like the school is interfering with the company’s management, and if they’re helping with our research and development, I don’t think there’s any reason to refuse, right?”

Sarah raised her right index finger and asked,

“They must have their own conditions, right?”

Like Jeong Hyun-woo, she believed MIT wouldn’t help them for free.

“They told me to be the school’s flagship.”

“Flagship?”

“Like Gordon Moore of Caltech or Bill Gates of Harvard.”

Sarah understood the situation.

“They’re saying they’ll promote Victoria and use it for school marketing. But MIT doesn’t need that.”

MIT was the best engineering university in the world. Excellent students from all over the world flocked there every year, so there was no need to create an image.

“I thought so too, but the higher-ups seem to think differently.”

Sarah lowered her right index finger and said,

“Could it be that MIT just wants to have a successful IT company to point to?”

“Well, that could be the case. And even if the higher-ups think that way, we don’t have anything to lose.”

The point was that they would receive support from MIT.

“Well, that’s true. But is that all?”

She asked if there were any specific conditions attached.

“They told me to hire some new employees.”

“From MIT?”

Jeong Hyun-woo replied briefly,

“Yes.”

“Hmm, there’s no reason to refuse if they’re from MIT. But we’ll have to treat them well.”

Sarah seemed worried about labor costs, as befitting a CFO [Chief Financial Officer].

“How about matching IBM’s salary?”

“You’re saying we should match IBM’s starting salary?”

“Wouldn’t that work?”

“There’s no reason it wouldn’t work. But would that be okay?”

Sarah thought that since their benefits were less generous than those at a large company like IBM, they should offer a higher salary.

“We’ll be able to get promoted faster here, so it’ll be fine.”

Victoria Corporation was a startup company. Startup companies, by their nature, allowed for rapid promotions.

“Rapid promotion, huh.”

Sarah put both hands on the table and leaned forward, slightly revealing her cleavage. Jeong Hyun-woo subtly averted his gaze.

‘I wasn’t trying to look on purpose.’

His face was slightly red.

Knock, knock.

The door opened without a knock, and Robert appeared.

Sarah and he were the only ones at Victoria Corporation who could enter the president’s office without knocking.

“Robert?”

As Sarah raised her voice, Robert smiled brightly.

“Charlie! Sarah! We’ve reached an agreement with IBM.”

Sarah and Jeong Hyun-woo’s eyes widened at his announcement.

“You’ve reached an agreement with IBM?”

“What are the conditions?”

Robert put down his hat and briefcase instead of answering their questions and sat down across from them.

“IBM has accepted all of our conditions for now.”

The condition that Victoria Corporation presented to IBM was that they would not pay any fees or royalties for creating collaborative products that included JP service.

“Did IBM agree so easily?”

Robert smiled wryly at Sarah’s question.

“There was some resistance, but it seemed like they weren’t in a great situation either.”

The slump in the North American game market, which started with the Atari shock [the video game crash of 1983], was clearly affecting IBM’s PC sales. The reason they considered releasing a new product with Victoria Corporation was because the downturn in the game market was impacting computer sales.

Jeong Hyun-woo raised his voice in disbelief.

“Robert, IBM isn’t an easy partner, is it?”

He couldn’t forget the attitude Maxi had displayed.

‘He was a friend with a neck brace.’

Robert replied softly,

“They accepted a few picky conditions.”

“Picky conditions, like…”

“Things like penalty clauses and confidentiality clauses.”

“Everything must be disadvantageous to us.”

Robert nodded.

“But they’re clauses that will only come into play if problems arise.”

He felt it was worse to break the deal because of the possibility of future problems.

‘If problems arise, we can deal with them then.’

Sarah seemed to have a slightly different perspective.

“Robert, what if a problem arises?”

As a CFO, she was sensitive to the company’s potential losses and profits.

“We’ll probably lose more.”

“Robert, that’s a bit irresponsible.”

Sarah was about to raise her voice when Jeong Hyun-woo grabbed her wrist, signaling her not to blame Robert.

Turning her head, Jeong Hyun-woo said soothingly,

“Sarah, we can’t trade with IBM without taking some risks.”

He was prepared to accept the risks that Robert had taken.

“But…”

“The contract has already been written, and we can’t unilaterally break it. And we gave Robert full authority to negotiate, right?”

Jeong Hyun-woo thought,

‘Bill Gates eventually signed a contract with IBM too.’

When signing a contract with IBM, the important thing wasn’t the trivial clauses or profit and loss calculations, but things like royalties and copyrights.

He figured that if he secured those aspects, there would inevitably be concessions to make elsewhere.

Robert, seeing that Jeong Hyun-woo’s decision was firm, sighed inwardly.

‘I almost got a big scolding if it wasn’t for Charlie.’

He said, defending his choice,

“Sarah, Charlie is right. When trading with IBM, you have to take some risks. That’s just the kind of company they are.”

This wasn’t just an IBM issue. Large, powerful companies generally had a tendency to take advantage of startups.

Sarah sighed deeply when the two of them indicated they could handle the situation.

“Hoo… I understand. My opposition won’t change the outcome.”

Jeong Hyun-woo turned to Robert.

“So, what’s the initial quantity we contracted for?”

“The initial quantity of the new 16-bit PC that includes JP service is 100,000 units.”

100,000 PCs meant 100,000 JP service subscribers.

“It would be considerable if we sold them all.”

With 100,000 subscribers, the monthly usage fee alone would amount to 1.5 million dollars.

‘18 million dollars a year. With this amount of money, I can afford to tolerate some of IBM’s unreasonable demands.’

Sarah went a step further than Jeong Hyun-woo’s calculations and calculated the net profit, excluding costs.

“We can make a profit of about 9 million dollars a year.”

Jeong Hyun-woo thought the profit she calculated was higher than expected.

“Sarah, isn’t a 50% profit margin too high?”

“We completed the construction of the service center last month. Now, Victoria Corporation doesn’t incur significant additional costs for building a service network.”

The longer JP service continued, the higher Victoria Corporation’s profit margin would inevitably be.

Jeong Hyun-woo listened to her explanation and turned his gaze to Robert.

“Robert, I hope we have another deal with IBM.”

Robert opened his bag and responded,

“Charlie, a second deal is definitely possible.”

“You can sell all 100,000 units and enter the second sale?”

Even though IBM was the dominant leader in the 16-bit computer market, it wasn’t easy to sell 100,000 units of a specific bundled product.

“We have decided to supply IBM with a new product package this Black Friday.”

Sarah and Jeong Hyun-woo tilted their heads simultaneously.

“What does that mean?”

“Robert, that doesn’t make sense?”

Black Friday was just around the corner.

‘There’s no time to create a package.’

It would take at least a month for Victoria Corporation to send modems to IBM and create a combined product.

‘It’s not just the modem. Packaging and promoting the package product also take a lot of time.’

Adding all of this up, it would take at least two months, no matter how much they streamlined the process. However, Black Friday was only about ten days away.

Robert answered their questions confidently.

“The package product will be provided separately, with the modem, computer, and service offered as individual components.”

Jeong Hyun-woo groaned softly.

“Umm, you’re saying that since there’s no time to create a package, you’ll provide the products that go into the package separately.”

Robert nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s right. In fact, even if a modem is included in IBM’s package product, it’s useless if a service installer doesn’t visit, right?”

To use JP service, a visit from a service installer was essential. He had to work hard to convey this point to IBM.

Jeong Hyun-woo, as the developer of JP service, understood this perfectly.

“You’re saying that since JP service requires a visit for installation, it’s okay to separate the computer and service installation.”

This time, Sarah clapped her hands in satisfaction.

“Excellent. If we can prepare the modems that the installers will carry in time, we can make a fortune this Black Friday.”

Was it because he had been in the IT industry for so long?

In terms of negotiation skills and marketing, Sarah couldn’t surpass Robert.

Robert scratched his head at her compliment.

“You’re too kind.”

Sarah wrote something in her notepad and asked,

“Robert, IBM won’t pass the cost on to the consumer, right?”

In the worst-case scenario, IBM could raise the price of the entire package while creating the package product.

“I was also concerned about that point, so I discussed it with IBM.”

Robert was flawless in this regard.

“Did IBM confirm that they wouldn’t raise the price?”

“I put it in clause 7 of the contract.”

“Excellent.”

The ability to discover hit games, including the Zero series, was still there. The skills Robert was demonstrating at Victoria Corporation were truly outstanding.

“Sarah, here’s the contract.”

Robert took out a contract signed by IBM’s representative from his bag.

Sarah and Jeong Hyun-woo slowly reviewed the contract.

“Hmm, IBM definitely has a lot of stipulations.”

Sarah focused on the unusual clauses set by IBM.

‘Most of the clauses are favorable to IBM.’

Of course, the clauses she focused on were things that had no significant meaning unless problems arose, as Robert had explained earlier.

Jeong Hyun-woo looked over the entire contract and said calmly,

“As I said before, I will accept all the clauses written here.”

In fact, there was no other option even if they didn’t want to accept it. The contract had already been written, and if they broke it, Victoria Corporation would have to pay IBM a penalty of more than 1 million dollars.

Robert bowed his head deeply at Jeong Hyun-woo’s agreement.

“Thank you.”

He believed it was a contract that would benefit Victoria Corporation unless there was a natural disaster.

“Sarah, I think it would be good to add a page to the contract.”

Sarah raised her voice at Jeong Hyun-woo’s suggestion.

“What are you talking about? Add a page?”

The contract between the two companies had already been written, and they couldn’t arbitrarily change it.

And…

What on earth were they going to add?

“Robert’s success bonus is missing.”

“Ah!”

While Sarah exclaimed, Jeong Hyun-woo explained the specific details.

“Let’s pay 1% of the profit earned from the contract with IBM as Robert’s bonus. Sarah, that’s okay with you, right?”

“I agree, this deal is Robert’s achievement.”

1% of the profit seemed like a small amount, but according to his calculations, it was about 90,000 dollars a year. With 90,000 dollars, you could buy a decent two-story house in Boston.

‘If it’s someone with Robert’s skills, 1% is not a waste at all.’

Jeong Hyun-woo was a CEO who clearly rewarded merit.