In the spacious, elegantly decorated chairman's office of the Daehung Group, Chairman Park Tae-hong sat at an antique wooden desk, wearing reading glasses as he reviewed a report. As he aged and his eyesight weakened, he often wore magnifying glasses to read documents.
Knock, knock.
Breaking the silence, the sound of a knock came, but Chairman Park Tae-hong didn't lift his head and simply said,
"Come in."
The large wooden door opened, and his closest aide, Secretary Gil Seong-ho, entered, approaching the desk and bowing deeply.
Looking at Secretary Gil straightening up behind the magnifying glasses, Chairman Park Tae-hong asked,
"What is it?"
With a smiling face, Secretary Gil replied,
"I have something to report."
Removing his glasses and placing them on the desk, Chairman Park Tae-hong leaned back and said,
"Go ahead, tell me what it is."
Secretary Gil placed a magazine he was holding on the desk in front of Chairman Park Tae-hong.
Peering down at the magazine, Chairman Park Tae-hong furrowed his brows slightly before looking up at the standing Secretary Gil.
"What is this?"
"As you can see, this is the newly issued American TIME magazine for this week."
"I know that. But why is that guy Seok-won's photo on the cover?"
Indeed, the upper-body photograph of Seok-won, dressed impeccably in a suit, was featured on the cover of TIME magazine.
TIME, a current affairs weekly magazine published in the United States, is the largest and one of the most influential weekly magazines in the world.
On its cover, TIME always selects the most prominent issue or person of the week to deliver a powerful message to readers.
Having the photo of his youngest son prominently displayed on the cover of such a globally influential magazine was nothing short of startling for Chairman Park Tae-hong.
Reading the look in his eyes pressing for answers, Secretary Gil smiled and explained.
"As you know, the American economic magazine Forbes publishes the global billionaire rankings every March."
"Yes, that's right."
"Until last year, Bill Gates, the founder and chairman of Microsoft, had been ranked number one for six consecutive years. Although Forbes's announcement has not yet been made, it seems likely that the rankings will change this year."
Realizing the implication, Chairman Park Tae-hong's eyes widened as he sharply asked,
"Surely you're not saying that our youngest son has surpassed Chairman Bill Gates to become number one?"
"That's correct. That's why he's on the cover of TIME magazine," replied Secretary Gil.
Hearing this, Chairman Park couldn't help but let out a breath of surprise.
"Wow."
He lowered his gaze and studied the photo of his youngest son on the TIME cover with a newly curious expression.
Secretary Gil, noticing this, summarized the article's key points.
"Recently, due to the dot-com boom, internet-related companies surged dramatically on the U.S. stock market."
"That's right."
"Among them, the internet portal Yahoo saw its stock rise 584% this year alone, pushing its market cap to over $23 billion. Amazon, an internet commerce company, has also skyrocketed since its IPO last year, reaching a valuation of $17 billion."
The magnitude of these staggering company values left Chairman Park Tae-hong exclaiming admiringly.
"Wow. That's incredible."
Then he paused as a thought suddenly struck him.
"Wait. Yahoo and Amazon, you say..."
Secretary Gil smiled and replied,
"Our young boss invested early before the stocks were listed, personally owning 40% of Yahoo and 25% of Amazon."
"Just how much is that worth?"
"Combining the shares, it amounts to approximately $13.45 billion."
Instinctively sitting straighter, Chairman Park muttered in astonishment,
"Let me see. In Korean won, that means..."
"At today's exchange rate, it's 18.83 trillion won."
"18 trillion won? That can't be real?"
"It is."
Shaking his head with a helpless expression, Chairman Park Tae-hong said,
"I knew Seok-won had made a lot of money, but this is on a whole other level."
"That's not all."
"What do you mean?"
Looking up, Secretary Gil continued.
"The Eldorado Fund, which the young boss owns, holds stakes in several American companies including Enron Energy and Qualcomm. It also includes a 10% stake in Microsoft."
"You mean he owns that much Microsoft stock?"
Chairman Park Tae-hong asked, astonished.
"Yes. I was surprised myself when I read the article."
Leaning forward, Chairman Park asked seriously,
"What's the market cap of Microsoft?"
"$344.6 billion. So 10% would be $34.46 billion."
"Wow."
Unable to find words, Chairman Park Tae-hong kept exclaiming in awe as Secretary Gil spoke.
"According to the TIME article, the stock value held by the Eldorado Fund easily exceeds $100 billion."
"My goodness."
"Adding the fact that the young boss owns 100% of the Eldorado Fund, Forbes and TIME estimate his total asset value to be over $90 billion."
"Ninety billion dollars... That's an unimaginable number."
Although Seok-won's uncalculated assets were even greater beyond this, this information alone was enough to astonish Chairman Park Tae-hong.
Then, struck by a thought, Chairman Park looked at Secretary Gil and asked,
"How much was Kwak Dong-hoon, chairman of the Saseong Group who appeared on last year's Forbes billionaire list, worth?"
"I believe it was $4.3 billion."
Hearing this, Chairman Park smiled slightly at the corners of his mouth.
"So our Seok-won is a much bigger billionaire than Kwak, chairman of Saseong Group, who is said to be the richest man in Korea."
"Not only that. He's not just the richest in Korea but the richest in the world. There's nothing more to say."
"Ha ha ha!"
Chairman Park burst into hearty laughter that filled the room.
"You're right. I can't believe my son is the richest man in the world!"
Then he picked up the TIME magazine on the table, looked down at the cover, and smiled proudly.
"That guy… must've inherited something. He photographs better than most actors. Don't you think?"
Secretary Gil quickly agreed, catching the cue.
"Absolutely. He looks just like you did when you were young."
"Ha ha. You think so too?"
Satisfaction filled Chairman Park Tae-hong's expression.
"A while ago, he surprised everyone by acquiring four Hansan Group affiliates at once, and now he's the world's richest man. Ha ha ha, the student surpassing the master indeed."
Nodding his head, Chairman Park looked extremely proud.
At the same time, Seok-won leaned back in the back seat of a large Mercedes-Benz sedan, speaking on his cellphone with John Porter, the branch manager in Japan.
[We have finalized the agreement to acquire all the owner's shares of Sumimoto Chemical, adding a 50% premium on the controlling stake.]
Upon hearing the awaited news, Seok-won showed a satisfied expression and said,
"I heard they were very adamant about never giving up control. Good work."
[Haha. As you said, it was tough. Even their main bank, whom they firmly trusted, turned against them, leaving no other option.]
"You only attempt a battle for shares if you see some chance of winning. That makes sense."
[We already secured over 36% of shares through on-market purchases and block deals. Plus, when the main bank holding 15% sided with us, surpassing majority was certain, so fighting was pointless.]
Since they couldn't win anyway, they decided to take the management premium.
It was clear without further explanation that Porter had worked hard behind the scenes to create those conditions.
He also played a decisive role in convincing the main bank that helped sway the owner family.
'Of course, promising to buy shares at a 30% premium over the owner's shares must have been a key factor.'
With the bank struggling due to bad debt issues, it was an offer they couldn't refuse.
From the Sumimoto Chemical owner's perspective, it felt like betrayal by a trusted ally, but the bank had urgent needs and no time to consider that.
"What are the next steps?"
[After acquiring all the owner's shares, we will convene an extraordinary general meeting to replace the management, simultaneously resolve voluntary delisting, and announce a public tender offer.]
Seok-won wanted to delist from the stock market, own 100% of shares, and bring Ajinomoto and Sumimoto Chemical fully under his control.
"Do we have enough funds?"
Porter answered confidently.
[We made substantial profits recently through Nikkei and yen short bets, so we have ample liquidity.]
"That's a relief."
[And Ajinomoto is likely to be disposed of soon.]
"That's good news. We've already laid the groundwork, but to avoid troublesome interference, spread some extra money around to the Japanese government and the LDP.]
[Understood.]
Branch Manager Porter spoke as if leaving the matter in Seok-won's hands.
[And as you requested, the shares of the two companies will be placed under Frey.]
"Make it so."
Frey was the holding company established by Seok-won in the Cayman Islands.
If Seok-won or the Eldorado Fund directly owned the shares, it would cause many complications from the Japanese government's perspective, so the shares were placed under Frey, which was not publicly known yet.
It was essentially a way to hide the ownership, but it also reduced the tax burden, so there was no downside.
[By the way, I saw the article in TIME magazine. Congratulations on becoming the richest person in the world.]
Seok-won chuckled lightly into the phone.
"Well, I don't exactly want to brag about it, but thanks anyway."
[But I'm disappointed TIME only estimates your assets at $90 billion.]
"If they had guessed the exact amount, that would mean they know our portfolio in detail—which could be more problematic, right?"
[Ah, that's true.]
"Rankings of the world's richest are just gossip, so I don't pay much attention to them."
[You may say that, but the general public feels differently. Soon, no one around the world will be unfamiliar with your name.]
"That won't really change much."
Seok-won replied indifferently.
"Let's focus on finishing what's currently underway."
[Yes, understood.]
After ending the call, Seok-won turned his head sideways to look out the car window at the apartment buildings stretching along the Han River.