231. dream car
Chairman Kim Joong-woo of Daewoo Group, who received a large loan from Gaia Investment, gradually increased the size of the group.
While acquiring a construction company to build strength in Daewoo Construction, he spared no money in technology development and new car development for Daewoo Motors under the slogan of ‘Down with Daehyun’.
Ho-yeong, who saw that, was only laughing.
‘How can the companies I acquire are all insolvent companies, and the company I invest in is a car that will eventually become mine.’
However, since this move would eventually benefit Ho-young, Ho-young decided to quietly support (?) from behind.
.
July 1998.
Hoyoung finally succeeded in acquiring Kia Motors.
According to the original history, Kia Motors was decided on an international open bid in June 1998, and Daehyun Motors, Daewoo Motors, and Myungsung Motors and Ford of the United States had to jump into the bidding.
However, this time it was a closed bid, not an open bid, so the opportunity was not even given to other companies except for Hoyoung.
Anyway, the Myungsung car wasn’t even made at the moment, and even if it was an open bidding, Hoyoung was confident enough to win, but there was no need to go the easy way.
So, just one month after the private bid offer came in, Hoyoung finished negotiations with the creditors.
And there was another big difference from the original history.
In negotiations with the creditors, Daehyeon Motors acquired Kia Motors on the condition that its debts amounting to 3.28 trillion won were forgiven and 2.5 trillion won converted to equity. could receive
Whose influence was involved in this condition was obvious without saying.
‘The president has a hotter personality than he looks.’
Unlike his outward image, President Kim Jung-dae was a man with a very manly appearance.
Well, with that level of strength, it would have been able to pay back all of the money it borrowed from the IMF in 2001 by carrying out decades of struggle for democracy and implementing strong measures in response to the foreign exchange crisis.
Anyway, with this, Hoyoung, who acquired both Samryong Motors and Kia Motors, established a new automobile company and incorporated the company into the Hermes Group in earnest.
In this way, Hermes Motors took the first step on that great journey.
First of all, Hoyoung, who completed the takeover of a domestic automobile company that was possible immediately, decided to leave the domestic situation as it is for a while.
This is because Korea, which was damaged by the foreign exchange crisis, needed time as a medicine to recover.
Even so, Hoyeong had no intention of just playing around.
September 1998.
Hoyoung and Miru were at the San Francisco Airport in California, USA.
“President. It feels like I came to America after a very long time.”
“Iknow, right. It’s the first time since I came to see President Bush the other day, so it’s been almost a year.”
“yes. The construction of optical cables connecting the US and Korea, which started with the meeting at that time, is already halfway done.”
Hoyoung left the airport with Miru and stopped by ‘Supa Dupa Burger’ in the downtown area of San Francisco for a quick meal.
“As expected, if you come to San Francisco, you must come here.”
“haha. He said he likes hamburgers in Korea too. I thought you would come back here.”
Even now, when Hoyoung became unimaginably rich, he occasionally enjoyed junk food such as hamburgers and pizza.
This is because Hoyoung, whose hobby is programming, prefers simple meals on days when he has no appointments.
In particular, pizza was a food that he ate a lot from his previous life to the point of being the staple food of true developers, and he even liked hamburgers to the point of making sophistry that it was a perfect food that had all of the burnt, sweet, and fatty ingredients.
Hoyoung liked hamburgers so much that in early 1998, when the domestic contract expired, he even acquired the right to sell ‘Wendy’s Burger’, which was about to withdraw from business, and maintained stores nationwide.
“In Korea, Sumin is so obsessive that I can’t even eat what I want.”
“haha. Sumin’s management is thorough.”
“yes. Seriously, these days, you even take time to exercise for an hour a day?”
“Oh, I don’t like it when I say things like this, but shouldn’t the president be a little tougher?”
Hoyeong looked at Miru for a moment before opening her mouth.
“How are you and Heejin?”
“yes?”
“Do you think you are going out hard on Heejin, who is procrastinating like that? I should ask one more time.”
“Oh, that, that.”
Miru had a very embarrassed face, which is rare.
Hoyoung saw that face and stopped laughing.
At first glance, it seemed that the relationship between Kim Hee-jin and Mi-ru, who looked much more energetic than Su-min, was guessed.
“Well, what we lose is for peace. isn’t it?”
“haha. you’re right. You know me well.”
Hoyeong saw Miru’s face and giggled a little more before finishing the meal.
.
After a while, they arrived in front of an office in San Francisco.
“Seeing the two of them come to a venture company like this reminds me of the old days.”
“Even if it was a long time ago, hasn’t it been a few years?”
“haha. is that so. It has changed so quickly that it feels so old.”
Hoyoung and Miru got into the elevator while chatting.
The elevator stopped, and they knocked on the office door with a plaque reading ‘Noomo Media’.
“ah! You are here. nice to meet you This is Martin Everhard.”
“Nice to meet you. This is Yun Ho-young.”
What greeted Hoyeong and Miru was a clean-looking white man.
Martin Everhard led Hoyeong and Miru to the drawing room inside the office.
“To be honest, I never thought we would meet like this. When I first got the call, I thought it was a prank call.”
“haha. I have always enjoyed investing in promising companies. I thought ‘Noomo Media’ was one of them.”
Martin Everhard’s eyes twinkled at the word ‘promising company’.
Noomo Media was an e-book reader company founded in 1997.
With the spread of the Internet in North America, the book market was gradually expanding from paper books to e-books. It was a stage where people were very well received.
“Thank you very much for looking at us well. Even if it’s not, these days, sales are getting more and more. However, we were not able to achieve great growth at once, so it was also a time when we had a lot of worries about the next direction of the company.”
“Looks like I came at the right time.”
Martin Everhard had a very pleasant face.
The name Yoon Ho-young was already famous in the IT world.
It was a rumor that all the companies that Gaia Investment invested in were going to hit the jackpot, or that astronomical investments would be made if Chairman Ho-Young Yun rose to fame, and in fact, most of the rumors were close to the truth.
“By the way, I understand that this company was not founded by Martin alone.”
“ah! That’s right. I founded the company with Mark Tarpenning, who is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) on the front line of management. Right now, I am on a business trip to New York due to other schedules, so I can’t be with you here.”
Hoyoung nodded and continued.
“Then I guess I’ll just tell Martin. Actually, the reason I came is not to invest in this ‘Numo Media’.”
“yes? Then why…?”
“But it is true that I came here for investment.”
“Well···. I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Martin Everhard had a confused face.
He came to invest, but he said he would not invest in his own company, Numo Media.
“The reason I came is because of an article that Mark Tarpenning posted on the Gate America webpage a while ago.”
“What did Mark post?”
Martin Everhard had a really puzzled face.
Hoyoung smiled and sighed.
“Tesla.”
“yes?”
“You posted your plans for Tesla on your website. He said he would build up a lot of money from Noomo Media and establish a car company called ‘Tesla’.”
Martin Everhard’s eyes widened.
What Hoyoung was saying was true.
In fact, the company Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning dreamed of was not an e-book reader company.
They were making plans that could change the world.
just an electric car.
They thought that the end of the internal combustion engine car would come one day due to the earth’s environmental and resource problems, and predicted that the era of electric cars would come without using oil at all.
However, the automobile business was a business that required astronomical money.
There was no investor anywhere to invest a large amount in their electric vehicle plan, which seemed absurd at first glance, so they first started an e-book reader business that seemed like they could touch money right away.
“I am also really interested in the automotive industry. In fact, in Korea, they own a finished car company with a large production scale. I would like to share a little more detail about Tesla, is that okay?”
“ah! that, yes Can I call you for a minute? This is not a matter for me alone to decide…”
“haha. Wasn’t it Mark Tarpenning who posted on Gate America? You can call and come slowly. I have no other plans today.”
“yes. thank you please wait for a moment!”
Martin Everhard hurriedly left the parlor.
Hoyoung felt that he was cute.
It was like watching Blizzard’s Michael Morhaime when I first met him.
‘This is why I can’t stop investing in venture companies.’
Young people’s creative and colorful ideas change the world.
But most of those young people look at the money and don’t want to realize this idea.
They pursue their dreams, and Ho-young gives them wings.
This was one of the things Hoyoung found most rewarding in his life.
‘In the future, people will think of Elon Musk rather than these two founders when they think of Tesla.’
However, Hoyoung was well aware that it was Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning who had solidified the basics of Tesla.
Martin Everhard later retained the position of CEO for a while even after receiving investment from Elon Musk, but since Tesla had not produced any results for a while, he took responsibility and left Tesla, which he had created.
Mark Tarpenning also left the company right after Martin Eberhard left, and in the end, people only remembered Elon Musk.
‘This time I will take over the role. But, so that I can think more freely and creatively.’
Hoyeong thought to herself as she looked at the door Martin Everhard had left.
Meanwhile, Martin Eberhard calls Mark Tarpenning as soon as he returns to his office.
Mark Tarpenning did not answer the phone at once, but Martin Eberhard continued to call him, and eventually Mark Tarpenning answered the phone.
“Martin! What the hell is going on? Right now, we were in the midst of negotiations on investment in our Numo Media.”
“Oh, Mark. I think you can stop negotiating and come back now.”
“why? Did something big happen?”
“right. Something great has happened!”
Mark asked seriously, as he hadn’t shown his emotions this intensely in the years he’d been with Martin.
“What the hell is going on? Is this what I need right now?”
“right. We need to get on the plane as soon as possible and return to work.”
“What’s so urgent?”
“Santa. Santa is at our office.”
Mark couldn’t answer Martin’s words for a moment.
For a moment, he thought Martin was crazy.
“Martin… Have you ever been drinking? Or maybe… approximately?”
“Oh, please Mark. You know very well that I don’t drink. Yun Ho-Young. Ho-Young Yoon, the chairman of Gaia Investment, is at our company. He said he saw what you posted on the website. I want to talk about Tesla!”
“What?!”
Mark Tarpenning understood what Martin was saying and immediately hung up and went back to the investment negotiations.
This is because now was not the time to make such a small investment.
He politely apologized to the financial side and ran to the airport.
In order to recognize a fast plane even if it is 1 minute 1 second.