Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 76

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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76. You can look forward to it.

Seok-won and Landon Shore stepped into the waiting limousine as they exited the building.
As the limousine glided smoothly along the path, cutting across the Campus, Landon Shore glanced at Seok-won, who was sinking into the plush leather seat, and opened his mouth.

“Do you think they’ll accept our proposal?”
“Why do you think it would be difficult?”

Landon Shore held his gaze for a moment before his expression turned skeptical.

“To be honest, I don’t think it will be easy. Mosaic is a technology they take great pride in as their research achievement. Why would NCSA hand over the intellectual property rights to Mosaic?”

At that, Seok-won lifted one corner of his mouth slightly and spoke.

“I think it will be the opposite.”
“…?”
“Mosaic is certainly a remarkable achievement that NCSA has finally secured, but at the same time, it’s also a major headache.”

Seeing Landon Shore tilt his head in confusion, he continued.

“You must know that while Mosaic’s user base continues to grow, there are also significant complaints due to frequent errors.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“What do you think the reason is?”
“Wouldn’t it be the problem caused by the mass exodus of key development personnel, including Tom Harper?”
“That’s not a wrong answer, but there’s a more decisive reason.”
“What is it?”
“Because it doesn’t make money.”
“…!”
“Fundamentally, Mosaic is a web browser provided free of charge. But as the user base grows, the maintenance costs inevitably increase.”
“That’s true.”
“From NCSA’s perspective, with a limited budget, it’s not easy to allocate unlimited funds and personnel to the Mosaic project. After all, Mosaic isn’t the only development project they have.”

Landon Shore nodded slightly, as if he understood.

“Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case.”
“But because it’s a research institute established for the public good, it’s also difficult for them to monetize Mosaic and generate revenue.”

After much deliberation, NCSA had devised a workaround: entrusting the intellectual property rights related to Mosaic to an external company and collecting royalty revenue.

‘Fortunately, they haven’t thought of that method yet. The chances of acquiring the intellectual property rights will be higher.’

Watching Landon Shore listen intently, I spoke.

“Even if we were to brave the criticism and attempt a paid conversion, given the current state of the internet where revenue structures are inadequate, it won’t be easy to generate profits. In fact, considering the ever-increasing maintenance costs, we’d be fortunate if we don’t end up in the red.”

At that, Landon Shore asked with a worried expression.

“Isn’t that the same situation Netscape faces?”
“For now, yes.”

When I readily admitted it, Landon Shore’s expression grew even more puzzled.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to withdraw now before losing more?”
“I said we can’t make money now, not that we’ll never make money in the future.”
“Pardon?”

Landon Shore blinked, not immediately grasping my meaning.

“Would I really be foolish enough to burn money without any benefit?”

Seok-won spoke with confidence, a meaningful smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Right now it’s a leaky vessel, but before long it will transform into a golden one. Just wait and see.”

Though Landon Shore had doubts about whether it would truly happen that way, since it was Seok-won’s undertaking and no one else’s, he refrained from objecting further.

“Now that I think about it, it does seem possible that NCSA might sell the intellectual property rights as you say. But isn’t five million dollars a bit steep?”

The amount Seok-won had proposed to the other party for acquiring the intellectual property rights was five million dollars.

“Does it seem like I’ve asked for too much?”
“Honestly, yes.”

Seok-won continued speaking, still wearing a smile.

“That may be true, but to ensure the other party commits to the deal, shouldn’t we offer a sum that’s perhaps a touch excessive?”
“It’s certainly an amount that will capture NCSA’s attention.”

Landon Shore shrugged his shoulders.
Five million dollars was undoubtedly a substantial sum, but compared to Seok-won’s wealth, it was relatively modest, so Landon let it pass without further comment.
Even as they spoke, bonds and the U.S. stock market were plummeting in tandem, and Seok-won’s coffers were swelling by tens of millions of dollars in real time.
Seok-won, who had been sitting with one leg crossed, suddenly spoke as if a thought had just occurred to him.

“Ah, and while we’re at it, let’s establish a separate corporation to professionally manage the patents.”
“Understood.”

The plan was for Seok-won personally, not Netscape, to acquire the intellectual property rights related to Mosaic.
Therefore, if NCSA accepted the proposal, it would be far more convenient to create and manage a separate entity.

‘Creating a patent management company as an NPE this time around and turning it into a new revenue stream wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.’

An NPE, commonly referred to as a patent troll, was a company that acquired multiple patents from individuals or corporations without engaging in significant production activities, and collected royalty income.
As Seok-won envisioned the numerous patents that would become an inexhaustible wellspring of extraordinary wealth, his smile deepened.

* * *

After several more meetings.
Just as Seok-won had anticipated, NCSA decided to sell all intellectual property rights related to the Mosaic web browser for 5.5 million dollars—500,000 dollars more than the initial offer.
In the same conference room where they had first met, Seok-won sat across from Jason once more, withdrew his fountain pen, and signed the contract before him.
Jason, who had just finished signing as well, rose with a broad smile and extended his hand first.

“Though we started off on uncertain footing, I’m grateful we can end this with smiles.”

Seok-won stood and grasped the offered hand with a smile, exchanging a firm handshake.

“I share that sentiment entirely.”

While the two exchanged brief words, Landon Shore carefully reviewed the contract to ensure everything was in order, then gathered the documents.

“Once the 5.5 million dollars from the sale is deposited into NCSA’s account by end of day, the contract will be fully finalized.”

Jason then looked toward him and spoke.

“Now that I’ve handed over all the intellectual property, I must confess there’s a bittersweet feeling to it.”
“I imagine so.”

Despite his words, the Mosaic intellectual property—which had generated no revenue and would have been wasteful to simply discard—was clearly a source of secret delight now that he’d sold it for a substantial sum.

‘But it won’t be long before he regrets this transaction bitterly.’

Once he realized he’d sold an enormous golden asset for a pittance, he would undoubtedly cry foul and rage at the injustice—yet every bit of this was NCSA’s own doing.
Seok-won offered Jason a subtle smile without betraying his true thoughts.

“I’d love to continue our discussion, but I have another appointment, so I should be going.”
“Oh, how unfortunate—I’ve kept you when you’re so busy. Since it’s come to this, I do hope your new web browser finds success.”
“Thank you.”

With the contract finalized, he and Landon Shore left the Conference Room.

The limousine carrying them headed straight for the Airport, where a business jet awaited.
Landon Shore glanced toward the driver’s compartment, separated by a partition, and broached the subject casually.

“As for Jason—he’s probably sneering inwardly, thinking that even if you launch the new web browser, it won’t generate proper revenue and will hemorrhage money instead.”
“Likely.”

Seok-won chuckled softly, then spoke with absolute conviction.

“But he’ll come to deeply regret it soon enough.”
“After investing 5.5 million dollars and acquiring the intellectual property, he certainly should.”

Then Landon Shore recalled something and added:

“Oh, and NCSA plans to disband the Mosaic development team.”

Seok-won’s expression shifted slightly in surprise.

“Is that truly the case?”
“Yes. They’ll keep Mosaic as is, but they’re dissolving the development team and won’t be releasing any further upgrades.”
“The browser already suffers from frequent bugs and users are already criticizing it—and now no upgrades? That’s essentially abandoning Mosaic altogether.”
“Exactly. They’ve been plagued by these error issues, and now that they’ve transferred all the intellectual property, it seems they’ve decided to wash their hands of Mosaic entirely.”
“That would make sense.”

Although I had sold all intellectual property rights, NCSA included a clause allowing them to continue using the related source code and patents as they currently do, so there were no issues with operating Mosaic as a service.

‘I thought they would maintain the Mosaic service for a while, taking pride in being the first properly functioning graphical web browser capable of opening images and documents together. This is truly unexpected.’

Although it had gradually lost market share to latecomers and weakened, the service continued until the mid-1990s.

‘Did the flow change because of my involvement?’

While I could continue using the intellectual property rights related to Mosaic, there were restrictions on using it for commercial purposes.

‘In other words, if they tried to make money from Mosaic, they would have to pay me licensing fees instead.’

So it was quite likely that NCSA, having determined that there was no profit to be made, decided to fold at this point, causing Mosaic to exit the stage earlier than in the original timeline.
Seok-won, who had been feeling bitter about the premature departure of a meaningful web browser that had left its mark on internet history, snapped out of his reverie at Landon Shore’s words.

“Either way, a formidable competitor is conveniently disappearing on its own. That’s a good thing for us, isn’t it?”
“Indeed.”

At my calm response, Landon Shore narrowed his eyes and asked.

“Was this something you intended, boss?”
“How could it be?”

I shook my head, but Landon Shore still regarded me with suspicious eyes as he spoke.

“I thought you had foreseen this entire situation and acquired the intellectual property rights with that in mind.”
“I wish that were the case, but unfortunately not this time.”

Yet Landon Shore’s expression still showed lingering doubt.
Though I was deliberately denying it, based on my track record so far, it seemed natural for him to suspect that I had orchestrated everything from the beginning.

“Then it seems fortune truly favors you, boss. The goddess of luck appears to show such blatant favoritism that it’s almost enviable.”

As I let out a small chuckle at those words, my cell phone rang from my inner jacket pocket.
I pulled out the phone and answered the call, and Tom from Silicon Valley immediately asked in a slightly tense voice.

[How did the contract go? I couldn’t wait and had to call.]
“I was about to call you anyway. The contract went through without a hitch.”
[So now there are no problems at all?]

Seok-won adjusted his grip on the phone in his hand, his voice tinged with excitement.

“That’s right. I’ve secured all the intellectual property rights related to Mosaic, so don’t worry. Feel free to develop the web browser.”
[I knew you’d be able to pull it off!]

Tom’s voice rang out with jubilation.

[With the obstacles cleared, I should be able to have a beta version ready by July at the latest.]
“That quickly?”

Seok-won asked, a note of surprise in his voice.

[I got fed up with what those NCSA guys are doing, so I’ve been pushing the accelerator harder.]

Hearing this, Seok-won recalled the office scene he’d visited not long ago.
The employees were halfway to becoming zombies, and Tom—he wasn’t even going home anymore, just eating and sleeping at the company.
The already chaotic office must have transformed into something resembling a pigsty by now.

“Aren’t you pushing too hard? It’s good to finish development quickly, but if the quality suffers, it’ll actually be counterproductive.”
[Do I look like I’d do something that stupid? I’d rather delay the schedule than put out half-baked work. My pride won’t allow it.]

Seok-won, who had been slightly worried, nodded after hearing the confidence in Tom’s voice.

“I’m leaving the web browser development entirely to you, so I trust you’ll do it well. I’m already curious to see what kind of impressive creation you’ll build.”
[It’ll definitely be far superior to Mosaic, so you can look forward to it.]

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