Free Web NovelThe next day, the moment I opened my eyes, I called Han Kyungyeong first.
“Did you enjoy your vacation?”
“Of course.”
A lot had happened during the month-long vacation, but I handed everything off to others.
The contract with Android, along with various investment agendas, had all been entrusted to other people at Dreamhigh.
Perhaps because of that, the chronic fatigue that had always clung to Han Kyungyeong seemed to have disappeared, and color had returned to his face.
“You got pretty tan?”
“I didn’t get tanned. I tanned myself. Looks okay?”
“Yeah. Looks fine.”
Han Kyungyeong set the stack of documents he had brought down in front of me and sat down.
“Tesla? Why that company? It hasn’t even been a year since it was founded. I don’t even know what it was created to do...... Electric cars? Do you really think that’ll work? You’d get pissed off just charging it.”
Waving the phone in his hand, Han Kyungyeong continued.
“This tiny battery alone takes over an hour to charge. How long do you think it’ll take to charge a battery big enough to move a car? And safety? You’d have to carry around a battery large enough to power a vehicle.”
“It’s still very lacking. But over time, internal combustion engines will eventually fade into the back pages of history.”
People were still talking about how oil would be depleted in the near future.
Of course, new oil fields continued to be discovered, but even so, it was certain that internal combustion engines would gradually disappear in the not-so-distant future.
“Hm.......”
I read through the documents Han Kyungyeong had brought. Since the company hadn’t been around long, there wasn’t much proper data.
Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, and the engineer Ian Wright were the three core members. But not a single one of them would be able to stay with Tesla through its success.
“There’s basically nothing there. Not exactly an attractive investment, is it?”
I set the documents down and nodded.
I knew Tesla would succeed, but that was only after Elon Musk took control. Of course, he went through quite a few trials and errors, but he still produced results.
Right now, it didn’t look like it had any investment value at all. Even so, I had prepared this as bait to throw to Elon Musk.
“Yeah. It’s not very interesting.”
“There’s nothing to show at all. But you’re still going to invest?”
“I have to.”
According to the documents, they were preparing for funding soon.
By now, the company had probably already entered Elon Musk’s field of vision.
Out of the 7.5 million dollars in funding, Elon Musk would invest 6.5 million. After that, in several rounds of continued funding, Elon Musk would keep participating, while the founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, would not.
So every time they received investment, it was only natural that the existing shares would be diluted.
In the end, Elon Musk would /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ become the largest shareholder, and the shares held from the early days would continue to be diluted until they fell below 5%.
What if I blocked outside investment entirely and Musk and I invested together?
“How much cash do we have that we can move right now?”
“If we move immediately, about 20 billion dollars?”
“That’s the amount in Dreamhigh’s corporate account, right?”
Han Kyungyeong nodded.
“Not much.......”
“Right? But there are a lot of people who want to invest with us. I think we could gather investment capital.”
There was also money sitting in several paper companies, but I couldn’t move that cash right now.
The neocons controlling the White House were desperate to find my weaknesses, so if I moved recklessly, I could get exposed.
“No. Once we start taking other investors’ money, we’ll have to report to the securities exchange. Things get complicated.”
“Hm. Then what about setting up a new asset management firm and gathering funds there? Every time we go to a party, I get a headache hearing people say they want to invest.”
“A new asset management firm?”
“There’s a limit to what we can do as a family office. We’re monopolizing the profits, but that also means Wall Street isn’t looking at us kindly.”
Dreamhigh was an asset management firm started entirely with my own money.
This approach, called a family office, allowed funds to be managed freely without interference from anyone.
There were no clients depositing money, and no obligation to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Looks like you’ve been getting harassed quite a bit?”
Since I wasn’t deeply involved in Dreamhigh’s day-to-day operations, it didn’t hit me as hard, but Han Kyungyeong was active on Wall Street and never missed gatherings and parties.
“Dreamhigh’s returns being insane is pretty well known. Wouldn’t it be stranger if people with money didn’t inquire?”
“So your idea is to set up an asset management firm and bring in clients? That’s what you’re thinking?”
“Exactly. Starting with about 100 billion dollars should be enough. Half of it comes from Dreamhigh, and the other 50 billion is raised from clients. Not half-baked clients, but real rich people. If we set the minimum investment at 10 million dollars, mediocre people won’t even be able to participate even if they want to.”
It didn’t seem like an off-the-cuff idea.
Seeing Han Kyungyeong talk numbers in such detail after a light prod, I smiled and asked,
“Yeah? But who’s going to manage it? You need to focus on Dreamhigh.”
And I couldn’t just hand Dreamhigh over to someone else.
Han Kyungyeong rubbed his chin and said,
“What about sending Vice President Edward as the CEO?”
“Edward Hwang? Hm.”
“He’s someone we can trust with it. Not someone who’d disobey our instructions.”
“You want to gain influence over the people investing their money with us, right?”
“Exactly. The more friendly people we have, the easier it is to move. We grow their money, and they clear away anything that gets in our way. Win-win.”
“Let’s think about it slowly. It’s too much right now.”
After that, I received reports on the performance of our investments so far.
“How long are we keeping a long position on crude oil futures? Isn’t it about time to switch to short?”
Oil prices, which had hovered around 10 to 20 dollars, had risen to 40 dollars.
“It’ll go up and down, but for a while, it’ll keep rising steadily. Maintain the position.”
“How high are you expecting it to go?”
In response to Han Kyungyeong’s question, I raised one finger.
“100 dollars.”
“What? That’s oil shock levels.”
“It’ll be different this time. Back then, it was the oil-producing countries throwing their weight around. This time, prices will rise slowly due to market logic. So it’s fine to hold. Some months we’ll take losses, some months we’ll make gains, but keep holding.”
Han Kyungyeong nodded.
“Understood.”
“And tell the directors we have at Apple to agree with everything Jobs does, no questions asked.”
“Huh? That’s what we’ve been doing.”
“Seems like there was quite a bit of pushback this time. Apparently they paid ten million dollars as a penalty for terminating a contract. So the board complained to Jobs.”
Han Kyungyeong shook his head side to side.
“Wow, ten million dollars as a penalty? At that level, you wouldn’t have much to say even if you were fired. No wonder the directors pushed back. But they agreed in the end, didn’t they?”
“They did, but that guy Jobs seems to hate even that. He told me he wants yes-men. Make sure you convey it properly again.”
“Hm. You’re unusually soft on Jobs? Anyway, I’ll relay it again.”
I checked the time and stood up. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
“Let’s get going. You called the lawyer, right?”
* * *
The place we agreed to meet Elon Musk was a small café on the outskirts of Washington.
SpaceX’s headquarters were in California, and Dreamhigh’s headquarters were in New York. It was awkward to sign a contract in either place, so Musk called us here. freewēbnoveℓ.com
When I opened the café door and walked in, there was no one inside except two people sitting at a table, talking.
At the sound of the door opening, the two of them turned toward us as if on cue.
After confirming it was me, Elon Musk stood up from his seat.
“You’ve arrived.”
“There’s no one here.”
“I rented it for the day. A friend runs this place. He got excited and went on a date.”
“Is that so?”
Smiling, I finished the handshake and was about to introduce Han Kyungyeong.
“This is......”
“I know. If you don’t know this man, you’re not a businessman.”
Elon Musk smiled and extended his hand to Han Kyungyeong.
“James Han! It’s a pleasure to meet the legendary investor of Wall Street. I’m Elon Musk.”
“I’m James. Nice to meet you.”
After finishing the handshake with Han Kyungyeong, he guided us to our seats.
“This is my personal lawyer, Jeff.”
“Hello. I’m Jeff Turner.”
Just then, our lawyer opened the door and walked in.
“This is Attorney Leon Wood.”
“Good to meet you. I’m Leon Wood.”
After greeting Elon Musk, Wood looked at Jeff sitting beside Musk and smiled.
“Oh! Wood. Long time no see.”
“Yeah. Didn’t expect to meet you here.”
Musk asked,
“You two know each other?”
“Yes. We crossed paths at Yale.”
“I see. That works out well.”
With all the lawyers present, there was no reason to delay. Musk handed out the investment contract he had prepared, and we began discussing it.
“Two hundred million dollars for twenty-five percent, correct?”
I nodded.
“That’s right. But there’s one special clause I’d like to add.”
“A special clause?”
“Yes. If you’re short on funds and need investment, we’d like to be given priority before providing capital.”
“Hmm. Priority?”
“Yes. Looking at SpaceX’s equity structure, you haven’t brought in outside investors even once.”
Musk nodded as if to say that was correct.
Smiling, I continued.
“If you don’t intend to go public anyway, wouldn’t that be more convenient than unnecessarily bringing in other investors?”
“.......”
“And of course, Elon Musk, you’re first. We’re asking to be given priority next.”
Right now, no one was paying attention to SpaceX, but with time, people would come carrying bags of money to find Elon Musk.
“As I said before, I’m investing in your dream. If there’s someone you absolutely have to take investment from, I’ll understand to a certain extent and make concessions.”
After thinking for a moment, Musk nodded.
“If it’s to that extent...... Fine. Let’s do it that way.”
The contract was amended, and finally, the lawyers moved to another table to review the wording.
The remaining people continued talking.
“James, what do you think about this investment?”
Musk asked Han Kyungyeong, who had remained silent and simply observed throughout the negotiations.
“Um.......”
Glancing at me, Han Kyungyeong spoke.
“Honestly, as an investment, it’s a complete zero. Private space business is a money-eating monster. This won’t be the end of it. You’ll have to invest again and again. It’s not a business that produces results in the short term.”
“But......”
“No one knows the future. And it’s something no one has ever succeeded at until now. If it were me, I wouldn’t invest in SpaceX. Maybe after results start coming out, but not now.”
Elon Musk asked with a strange expression,
“Then why don’t you oppose it?”
Han Kyungyeong lightly tapped my shoulder and said,
“Because it’s the boss’s decision.”
Elon Musk’s puzzled gaze turned toward me.
I simply smiled without saying anything.
“Most of Dreamhigh’s investment plans come from the boss’s head. And most of them have succeeded.”
“That’s an impressive level of trust.”
Musk nodded, then checked the time.
“Are you expecting someone else?”
“There’s someone I wanted to introduce. It should be about time for him to arrive......”
“An introduction?”
Musk grinned.
“He’s not well known yet, but he’s quite capable. You won’t regret meeting him.”
