Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 311

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

311. I’ll make sure to give you all a very generous severance package.

The snow that had fallen last night blanketed Central Park in pristine white.
I gazed out at the snowy landscape beyond the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, enjoying brunch alone, before setting down my fork and knife and dabbing my lips with a napkin.
A Hotel Staff Member in uniform, who had been standing nearby, quietly approached and asked.

“Shall I clear this for you?”
“Please.”

I nodded, setting the napkin on the table.
The Hotel Staff Member brought over a mobile tray and neatly cleared away the dishes, then asked again.

“Would you care for dessert, or shall I prepare some tea?”
“Just coffee. No sugar—make it strong.”
“Understood.”

The Hotel Staff Member placed a drip coffee before me, made by pouring hot water slowly over ground beans in a funnel fitted with a filter. As I lifted the cup and took a sip of the rich, aromatic brew, Han Ji-sung approached and placed a newspaper on the table.
Han Ji-sung approached and placed the newspaper he had brought on the table while I was taking a sip of coffee with a rich coffee bean aroma from the teacup I had picked up.

“Thank you.”
Thank you.

Though abroad, I made sure not to miss domestic developments by having newspapers delivered via passenger flights between Seoul and New York every few days.
Before my regression, I could have seen events happening on the other side of the world in near real-time with just a few mouse clicks, but such an environment didn’t yet exist, so this inconvenience was unavoidable.
However, in the not-too-distant future, news organizations would begin launching internet news services one by one, so eventually I wouldn’t need to rely on such cumbersome manual methods.
As I pondered this and slowly scanned the contents, I spotted an article that caught my eye and stopped turning the pages.
Thinking that way, Seok-won slowly skimmed through the content and stopped turning the newspaper when he found an article that caught his eye.

Four Banks Provide 18 Billion Won Cooperative Loan to Hansei Steel
Four banks—Ilhan, Woo Young, Foreign Exchange, and Industrial Bank—have agreed to provide a 18 billion won cooperative loan to Hansei Steel ahead of the completion of its Dangjin Steel Mill next year.
As a result, these four banks will support Hansei Steel with a total of 4 billion won each this year alone—4 billion won in total—for facility and operating funds.
Meanwhile, rumors circulate in the Yeouido Securities District that Hanwha Group is facing difficulties with bill settlements ahead of the Dangjin Steel Mill’s completion, and that this cooperative loan was hastily executed to prevent bills due to Ilhan Bank, its primary bank, from coming due by year-end.]
Meanwhile, in the Yeouido Securities District, there were rumors that the Hanwha Group was facing difficulties with upcoming bill settlements ahead of the completion of the Dangjin Steel Mill, and that this cooperative loan was hastily executed to prevent bills coming due at Ilhan Bank, their primary bank, by year-end.

“A conglomerate ranked 14th in the business world borrowing a mere 180 billion won—not 800 billion—and that’s through cooperative loans from four banks combined. It’s proof that Hanwha Group has been driven to the brink.”

As Seok-won contemplated the catastrophic chain of defaults about to engulf South Korea, beginning with Hanwha Group, his expression grew bitter.

“At least Father and my older brother heeded my advice. They’ve implemented austerity measures, converting as much short-term debt to long-term as possible, and exchanging all surplus capital for dollars.”

Had they not done so, the Daeheung Group would have been severely shaken by the shockwaves of the cascading defaults.

“Still, I should warn Father and my brother about Hanwha Group’s impending default and help them prepare in advance, just to be safe.”

If my memory served correctly, the loans from banks and finance companies tied to the Dangjin Steel Mill alone amounted to 3.6 trillion won.
When combined with the debts of other Hanwha Group subsidiaries, the total default amount easily exceeded 5 trillion won.

“No matter how normalized debt-driven management had become in this era, this far exceeded all reasonable bounds.”

None of this would have been possible without Chairman Choi Byung-moo wielding his considerable lobbying power to distribute money throughout political circles and banking institutions.
Yet I recalled how he later appeared before a National Assembly hearing and brazenly claimed that if the Industrial Bank had extended an additional 300 billion won in loans, Hanwha Group would never have defaulted—a statement that made me shake my head in disbelief.
Regardless, when credit of such magnitude defaulted, banks would inevitably tighten corporate lending, draining liquidity from the market.

“That would only worsen the already precarious financial situation of struggling companies.”

When the massive tsunami of the International Monetary Fund crashed down on top of such conditions, corporations being swept away helplessly was perhaps inevitable.
Though I’d already given them a heads-up, another warning could help minimize the damage further.
While I was contemplating this, my mobile phone on the table began to ring.

“What’s Roy calling about?”

Seeing the name on the screen, I murmured softly and pressed the answer button.

[It’s me. Do you have a moment to talk?]

Noticing the unusual tone in his voice, I furrowed my brow slightly and asked.

“Is something wrong?”
[Something’s come up. Something really big.]
“I don’t follow. Explain it so I can understand.”
[We’ve received an acquisition offer.]
“…!”
[Microsoft is proposing to buy our company for 300 million dollars.]

Seok-won’s eyes widened in shock, and for a moment, he found himself speechless at this unexpected revelation.
More precisely, based on my memories from before the regression, I knew that Microsoft would eventually acquire Hotmail, which Roy and his friends had developed.
But I never expected them to move this quickly.

‘If my memory serves me right, Microsoft should have swallowed Hotmail around the end of next year.’

If Roy’s words were true, the acquisition proposal had come a full year earlier than the original timeline.
I pushed aside my initial shock and thought it through calmly—it was entirely plausible.

‘Since I got involved and Hotmail’s founding happened earlier than originally, this cascade effect makes perfect sense.’

Indeed, the Hotmail service, which launched by allocating 2MB of storage space per account, had captured the public imagination so spectacularly that it amassed 9 million subscribers in less than a year.
Given this explosive growth, it would have been strange if Microsoft—currently locked in fierce competition with Netscape over web browsers while launching its MSN service—hadn’t taken notice.

[Are you listening to me?]
“Yeah. I am.”

Seok-won cleared his mind and continued listening with keen interest.

[So they’ve formally proposed acquiring all the company shares for 300 million dollars.]
“That’s not a bad offer at all.”

Roy emphasized again, reacting to my rather composed response.

[300 million dollars, not 30 million!]
“Yeah. I understood correctly.”
[Seriously. Billionaires really are different. We nearly fainted when we heard the amount, but how does your voice not even change?]
“I was shocked too.”
[Sure you were.]

Hearing his grumbling tone brought back memories of those days in the Harvard Dormitory, and Seok-won smiled faintly.

“So what do you want to do?”
[Your opinion matters more than anyone’s since you’re the largest shareholder. That’s why I’m calling.]

Seok-won, who had initially invested 3 million dollars and received a 30% stake, had poured in another 6 million dollars as Hotmail’s user base exploded and the service skyrocketed, acquiring additional shares for a total of 40% ownership.
This made him the largest shareholder, surpassing Roy and his friends, who each held 20%.

“I’m just an investor. What truly matters is what the founders want.”

Seok-won deferred the decision-making authority, demonstrating respect for Roy and his friends.
Roy’s tone softened noticeably, as if the gesture had mollified him somewhat.

[Actually, before I contacted you, we discussed it among ourselves. Everyone agreed to sell the company.]

It was an unexpected answer—venture founders typically harbored fierce attachment to the companies they’d built.

“You’ve barely gotten started. Doesn’t that feel like a waste?”
[I won’t lie—there’s some regret. But no matter how much you support us from behind, Hotmail surviving alone in a war between giants like Microsoft and Netscape has its limits. And now Yahoo, which just went public on NASDAQ and made a splash, is jumping into the email service market too. The competition’s only going to get fiercer.]

When Yahoo went public on NASDAQ, Seok-won—holding a 40% stake—had struck it rich himself, so he understood Roy and his friends’ concerns perfectly.
The Yahoo shares he’d acquired by investing just two million dollars had ballooned to nearly three billion dollars in value.
Seok-won, harboring similar thoughts, nodded in agreement.

“Competing against companies that own portals, operating systems, and web browsers—Hotmail doesn’t stand much of a chance.”
[So you were thinking the same thing.]
“Exactly. As they expand their territories, it’ll inevitably become a cutthroat battle.”
[Right. That’s why we want to sell while our valuation is at its peak.]

Roy chimed in agreement.

“We could go public and list on the stock exchange—that might bring in even bigger money.”
[We considered that too, but if we lose the competitive race before then, we’d crash and burn. Besides, if we sell at the price they’re offering, we’d all become multimillionaires. That’s a solid deal.]

With Microsoft offering three hundred million dollars, simple division meant Roy and his friends could each pocket sixty million dollars.
To earn this much in less than two years of operation—that was nothing short of a jackpot.

‘Knowing their limits precisely, refusing to be greedy, and cashing out at the right moment—that’s wisdom.’

Seok-won, aware that the internet services market would become a bloodbath as Microsoft, Netscape, Yahoo, and countless other competitors clashed, believed Roy and his friends had made a sound decision.
In his assessment, Hotmail’s valuation would peak within the next one or two years at most.
After that, competitors would likely launch their own email services and surge ahead.
Having organized his thoughts, Seok-won picked up his coffee cup, still warm, and posed a question.

“Would you mind if I took the lead in negotiating the sale with Microsoft?”
[I’d need to ask the others, but they won’t object. You’d handle it better than us—we only know computers, after all.]

A broad smile spread across Seok-won’s face.

“Okay. From now on, I’ll reach out to Microsoft and conduct the negotiations. Of course, I’ll share all the progress with you guys.”
[I never worried in the first place—I know you’re not the type to stab us in the back.]
“That’s right. Trust me and wait. I’ll turn you all into multimillionaires instead of mere millionaires.”

Roy asked, sounding startled at the low chuckle.

[Wait—are you trying to squeeze out a higher acquisition price?]
“The fact that they came to us with an acquisition offer first means they’re desperate. So I need to extract every last penny I can.”
[What if the deal falls through because of that?]
“That won’t happen. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your severance packages are extremely generous.”
[Sigh….]

Though invisible through the phone, I could picture Roy shaking his head on the other end.

[Fine, I give up. Do whatever you want.]

Roy hung up, telling me to handle it as I saw fit.
Though he seemed to be leaving everything to me, both of us understood that such trust could only exist because of the foundation of confidence between us.
I sipped my coffee and briefly considered how to create favorable conditions before the negotiations began.
Then, as if remembering something, I picked up my phone again and dialed a number.
After a brief ring, the other party answered immediately, and I spoke in a bright tone.

“Tom. It’s been a while. How have you been?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————