Nam Jiajun brought Nam Youqiong to the KBS building in Yeouido. When he was about to take Nam Youqiong into the building to take a look, he was stopped by Nam Youqiong.
"Brother Jiajun, you don't have to go in, just take a look outside."
Nan Youqiong looked at the office building of KBS, South Korea's first TV station, curiously, thinking about the conversation between Nan Yi and Scarlett about why his family wanted to sell 20th Century Fox and the TV network, and when they would have control over certain public opinion tools again in the future.
"The world is so complicated. You can't just do whatever you want."
Nan Youqiong sighed in his heart, turned around and said to Nan Jiajun: "Brother Jiajun, is KBS a private company?"
Nan Jiajun: "No, it's a state-owned TV station."
Nan Youqiong: “Are there any private television networks in South Korea?”
"Yes, MBC was established a long time ago, and SBS was established in 1990. Both are large TV stations."
Nan Youqiong asked again: "Can private investors invest in these two TV networks?"
Nan Jiajun thought for a moment and said, "It's difficult for MBC to acquire shares. 70% of its shares are held by the major shareholder, the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, which is a very troublesome organization and difficult to deal with. SBS's shareholders include SBS Media Holdings , the National Pension Service, Investment Securities, Investment Trust Management, and Daehan Flour Milling. Except for Daehan Flour Milling, the others are very complicated groups. It's not a good idea to acquire shares in SBS."
"If you must invest, the best target is Daehan Flour Milling?"
"Yes."
"Daehan Flour Milling was established in 1952 and is the largest wheat flour importer in South Korea. It is also one of the four largest flour processing manufacturers. It is mainly engaged in flour processing business, with more than 80 product types, including wheat flour, fried flour, bread flour, and cake flour.
A variety of noodles are also available, including spaghetti and macaroni.
The company has two production plants, an overseas organization in the United States, and three subsidiaries that are engaged in the manufacture of animal husbandry medicines, animal feed, and the provision of port loading and unloading services.
Nan Youqiong suddenly recited the basic introduction of Daehan Flour Milling, which made Nan Jiajun realize that Nan Youqiong was asking about SBS's shareholders for no reason, "Dad wants me to merge with Daehan Flour Milling?"
"PaPa said it's not a merger, it's a shareholding. I just need a little say, not too much." Nan Youqiong said with an innocent smile, "Brother Jiajun, please contact PaPa yourself. I forgot some words."
"Okay." Nan Jiajun responded and said, "Do you want to take another look?"
"No, let's go to the Stock Exchange."
Brazil is the world leader in sugar production, and São Paulo state is the main sugarcane growing area in Brazil, accounting for more than half of Brazil's sugarcane production.
Sweet Sugarcane Farm in São Paulo State, a subsidiary farm of the Indigenous Brothers Farm.
Nicholas Fuller, president of Houji Agriculture, is taking Sun Funan, chairman of CheilJedang Co., Ltd., to visit the Tianmi Mi sugarcane farm.
CheilJedang Co., Ltd. is one of the major customers of Houji Agriculture's sugarcane and raw sugar. Since the start of the cooperation, Sun Funan has come to visit every year to inspect Brazil's sugarcane production.
CheilJedang is a South Korean company, and an extraordinary one at that.
Sun Funan’s husband is Li Mengxi, Li Jianxi’s elder brother from the same father and mother, and he was once the prince of the Xing Group.
According to South Korean tradition, the eldest son Lee Mong-hee must be the first-line successor. However, after Lee Mong-hee tried to take over the company, many management problems arose. His father Lee Byung-chul finally chose the third son Lee Kun-hee as his successor.
In 1973, seeing that his position as crown prince was in danger, Lee Mong-hee, together with his second brother, launched a rebellion, which was eventually suppressed by Lee Byung-chul and did not cause much trouble. Lee Mong-hee was driven out of the Lee family by the furious Lee Byung-chul.
Although he was very disappointed with Lee Mong-hee, Lee Byung-chul could not treat his eldest daughter-in-law and grandchildren badly. Lee Byung-chul gave his eldest daughter-in-law Sun Funan and three grandchildren most of the shares of CheilJedang and a small portion of the shares of Xinghuozhai Property and Casualty Insurance.
In 1987, Lee Byung-chul passed away and Lee Gun-hee completely took over Star. Lee Mong-hee was naturally unwilling to accept this and started fighting with Lee Gun-hee for the inheritance. The two brothers were too lazy to maintain their superficial brotherhood and became mortal enemies.
Compared with Li Mengxi, Sun Funan still remembers the kindness of his father-in-law and is not too concerned about Xing's property. He is only thinking about running First Sugar well and turning it into a diversified enterprise.
Today, Sun Funan is over 60 years old, and his daughter Lee Mi-soo and son Lee Jae-hyun have grown up. Lee Jae-hyun is in charge of the headquarters, while Lee Mi-soo follows Sun Funan as an assistant, harboring the idea of ​​extending CheilJedang's tentacles into the cultural field.
"President Fuller, the global supply of white sugar this year will be even more surplus than last year. The profits of First Sugar will be greatly affected. Can we negotiate the supply price this year separately?" After walking around the sugarcane field, Sun Funan suddenly said to Nicholas Fuller.
"As long as President Sun agrees to negotiate the supply price even in years with insufficient supply, we at HJ Agriculture will have no problem with that." Nicholas Fuller gave Sun Funan a soft rejection.
Houji Agriculture and Cheil Sugar have signed a long-term supply agreement. No matter how the international white sugar price fluctuates, the supply price will be stable within a certain range. When supply exceeds demand, Houji Agriculture will take advantage of it, and when demand exceeds supply, Cheil Sugar will take advantage of it. By extending the price line, adding up the annual supply prices and averaging them, we can get a reasonable average price.
In short, the agreement is to reach a balance between the interests of both parties, and there is no question of who is taking advantage of whom. Relatively speaking, Houji Agriculture is on the weaker side because it is a seller of non-monopolistic products under the market economy, and it is impossible for buyers to beg it to sell in the long run.
"The weather is a bit hot, President Fule, let's find a cool place to rest." Sun Funan said naturally, as if the scene just now had never happened.
"President Sun, please follow me."
Nicholas Fuller took Sun Funan to the guest villa on the farm and had drinks prepared.
“President Sun, we have been cooperating for eight years and have always had a very pleasant cooperation. Previously, we only cooperated in the field of sugar production. President Sun may not know us comprehensively enough. Please allow me to introduce HJ Agriculture to President Sun in detail.”
As soon as Nicholas Fuller's opening remarks came out, Sun Funan immediately smelled something unusual. The other party's words were indicating that he wanted to expand the areas of cooperation with CheilJedang.
Sun Funan extended his hand and gestured, "President Fule, please speak."
Nicholas Fuller nodded and said, “Although HJ Agriculture is relatively young, having only been established for 12 years, it has been expanding rapidly since its inception. We have farms in Brazil, Australia, France, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Chile, Peru, Ukraine and other regions;
It also involves grain, vegetables, pesticides, fertilizers, seeds, food, food chemistry, catering, agricultural financial investment and other fields. In addition to the pharmaceutical field, HJ Agriculture is involved in the fields you are engaged in. If President Sun is interested, you may wish to take some time to visit our HJ Agriculture subsidiaries. "
Nicholas Fuller paused, pretending to have forgotten, and added: "One more thing, we at HJ Agriculture have never worried about working capital. We have always had huge cash reserves. In fact, our biggest profit each year comes from investment profits and interest generated by idle funds."
As Nicholas Fuller finished speaking, Sun Funan's eyes flashed with a strange light, "President Fuller, I wonder if it would be convenient for me to inquire about how much idle funds you have?"
Nicholas Fuller spread his hands and pretended to be helpless and said, "President Sun, I can't tell you the specific number, that is a business secret, but I can tell you that it is more than 10 billion US dollars."
When Sun Funan heard the number "10 billion", he instantly wanted to jump up and criticize. Is this running a business or playing house, letting 10 billion US dollars just lie there and sleep?
Sun Funan had no doubt that Nicholas Fuller was bragging. He knew what he meant by the other party. The other party's intention was very clear. What he meant by in-depth cooperation between the two sides was obviously to invest in First Sugar. Since he was talking about investing, the other party would naturally show off his strength.
Sun Funan does not object to the increase of shareholders in First Sugar. As long as the right to speak is in her hands, it is not a bad thing to have a powerful shareholder. Of course, annoying shareholders like Xing are not included in this list.
"President Fule, I'll be able to spare some time after August."
Sun Funan had the idea of ​​kicking Xixing out of First Sugar a long time ago, and he had a general plan in mind. The reason why he set the time later was to leave time to resolve Xixing’s share issue first.
"No problem, President Sun, you can contact me anytime when you are free." Nicholas Fuller smiled faintly.
…
Itaewon-ro 54-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul.
This street is a commercial street with several commercial and residential buildings in the middle. In between them is a two-story house, which is the Seoul Office of the South Office.
A single move can affect the entire body. Nan Youqiong, as the successor of the Nan family, came to Seoul, and he definitely needed someone to escort him, not only in terms of personal safety, but also in terms of his actions. Ueto Masami brought Elena to Seoul and sat in the office, just to be someone Nan Youqiong could rely on behind the scenes.
Holding a coffee cup in her hand, Masami Ueto leaned out the window and looked down at the women walking between clothing stores on the street below. She glanced at each of them wearing clothes that were full of youthful vitality but not suitable for business occasions, and felt a mixture of emotions in her heart.
"Elena, after this year, I plan to change my position."
Elena walked up to Ueto Masami and said, "Secretary General, are you leaving the Southern Office?"
"Yes, I am already thirty-five this year and want to get married. If I want to get married, I must leave my current position."
"Why?"
"Women are too emotional. Once they are tied down by emotions, it is easy to affect their judgment at work. My position is too important. If I don't devote myself to it, I simply can't do my job well."
"What does the boss think?"
"That's my own idea. When I leave the South Office, the president will definitely arrange for me to be the president of a company. I don't know which one it will be."
Elena thought for a moment, "Secretary General, if you get married you can't hold your current position?"
Ueto Masami turned around and looked directly at Elena, smiling brightly, "For women, yes, the president has no prejudice against women's work ability, but he extremely distrusts women's emotional thinking. Elena, if you want to take my seat, find a man later."
"clear."
Ueto Masami raised her head, letting her face fully bathe in the sun, shook her hair, and said lazily, "I really want to finish work early and go to London to watch a game. I found a very promising player in the Japanese youth team, Hidetoshi Nakata, a handsome boy. I must get him to play for Chelsea in the future."
Elena knew that her boss liked to watch football games. She had been dragged by him to watch football games at night several times in Moscow. She asked, "Is he as handsome as the young Manchester United player Beckham?"
Hearing this, Ueto Masami's face instantly turned cold, "Don't mention Manchester United in front of me, damn, the Red Devils are blocking Chelsea's progress."
Gongyan, a Korean set meal restaurant located near Gyeongbokgung Palace, is very high-end. It does not do business openly and is famous only in a small circle. The prices are very expensive, with the minimum per capita consumption of 500,000 won (more than 600 US dollars).
At dinner time, Nan Ruoyin and Nan Youqiong were taken to the palace banquet by the Li family. This time, all the Li family members were present, including the second daughter Li Xuxian and the third daughter Li Yinyun.
Perhaps because of their similar age, Li Yinyun was arranged to sit next to Nan Youqiong, and Nan Ruoyin was still a little short of having an equal dialogue with Li Jianxi. Originally, it would have been most appropriate for Li Zairong to accompany her, but the Li family raised the reception standards, and also in order to make it easier to find out the details, Hong Luoxi was directly invited to accompany her.
Korean set meal is said to be the South Korean banquet, but in fact it is nothing more than dried vegetables and kimchi as appetizers, with some water kimchi, pumpkin porridge, cold jellyfish, salad and cold beef; main dishes include 90% off plate, fairy pot, ginseng chicken soup and some seafood; staple food is five-color bibimbap, seafood pancake, buckwheat cold noodles, spicy stir-fried rice cakes, etc., followed by some desserts.
It looks quite impressive when put together, but it's just that full when you break it down.
After taking a few bites of the unique-flavored seafood kimchi, Nan Ruoyin became more cautious, as she knew that the main part of the show would soon begin.
The banquet at the moment is not as lively as it should be. The two guests are relatively young, so wine naturally cannot be the theme. It is unlikely that there will be a lively atmosphere if they only eat without drinking.
After the two little guests started eating, Hong Luoxi began to speak.
"Miss Nan, is your father very busy with official duties?"
Nan Ruoyin nodded and said harmlessly, "Yes, my father is very busy. He is busy with the semiconductor business in South America."
The word "semiconductor" was a wake-up call to Li Jianxi. Some problems that he had been unable to figure out before now became clear to him. The reason why Weir Bank took the initiative to invest in the Xing Group was because of the group's business strategy adjustment.
Mixing was able to appear because of Lee Byung-chul, but the greatest credit for Mixing's development to where it is today should be attributed to Lee Kun-hee. It can be said that Mixing Electronics was founded by Lee Kun-hee.
Although Xingxing Electronics was established as early as 1969, at that time, Xingxing Electronics was just an electronics factory that assembled some junk televisions and made some money in South Korea by keeping Japanese televisions out of the country.
Even though it has finally gone abroad, it is still relying on low prices to seize the market. The parts of the Xixing TVs are more than others, but the price is cheaper than others. Xixing is just a low-priced, low-end brand with no technical content.
In December 1974, Lee Kun-hee, then a director of Dongyang Broadcasting System, said to his father Lee Byung-chul, "Dad, even if I am alone, I must try that."
"That thing" refers to taking over South Korea's first wafer processing plant, the Korea Semiconductor Bucheon Plant.
At that time, Lee Kun-hee firmly believed that it was imperative to enter the semiconductor business, so he suggested to Lee Byung-chul that he take over the Bucheon factory once operated by the American Kamco company. The cautious Lee Byung-chul could not make an immediate judgment.
Therefore, the confident young Lee Gun-hee stepped forward and said, "Then let me try it directly!"
A few days later, Lee Kun-hee acquired South Korea Semiconductor in his personal name, which later became the Bucheon Semiconductor Factory of Apollo Electronics and is also the representative factory of Apollo Semiconductor.
Therefore, it can be said that the first person in the Li family of Xingxing who reached out to semiconductors was Lee Kun-hee. He was well aware of the importance of semiconductors and created his own business from them. He can be called the number one "silicon fanatic" in South Korea.
At present, the memory business of X-Star Electronics is quietly becoming the world's number one, which is also the result of Li Jianxi's persistence and hard work. After the transformation from quantity to quality, the X-Star Li family's business began to shrink and only focused on several high-tech (semiconductors) and high-profit fields, which was also because of him.
"South American semiconductor business?" Hong Luoxi was a little confused.
Compared to Hong Luoxi who knew almost nothing about semiconductors, Li Jianxi was much more proficient in them. Seeing his wife lose her composure, he quickly filled in the gap, "Miss Nan, is your father in Tijuana, Mexico?"
"Ah? President Li, how did you know?" Nan Ruoyin said with a surprised and slightly puzzled expression.
"Haha, as far as I know, Tijuana is building a professional electronics industrial zone. Miss Nan, you said your father is in South America. Tijuana happens to be the closest place to the United States in South America, and it is related to semiconductors . So I tried to guess, and I didn't expect to guess it right."
Li Jianxi didn't know whether Nan Ruoyin was really confused or pretending to be confused, so he treated her as if she was half confused.
"I see. Sorry, I know nothing about semiconductors and I overreacted." Nan Ruoyin said apologetically, and then turned to complain: "I don't know what Dad is thinking. He has invested so much in the semiconductor field, but the returns are very few. If the funds were invested in finance, it should have multiplied several times by now."
"Does your father have a lot of investments in semiconductors?" Li Jianxi couldn't help asking again.
"Yes, there are many. Companies in London, Taiwan, Eindhoven, San Diego, Ontario, Santa Clara, and many other regions have invested."
Others didn't understand what companies these place names corresponded to, but Li Jianxi quickly made a table in his mind, arranging all the semiconductor companies involved in the place names - London Acon, Taiyuan Dapian, Eindhoven ASML, San Diego's two giants Intel and AMD...
As the names of various companies floated through his mind, Li Jianxi suddenly grasped something.
"Ikon, no, it should be ARM shareholders, ASML shareholders, Intel shareholders. The only overlapping one is Pan American Investments... Adam II Taylor Nan, Taylor... Scarlett Taylor? Yes, Scarlett Taylor."
With this discovery, Li Jianxi thought more deeply, "Why didn't Pan American Investment come to me, but Weir Bank? If Pan American Investment wants to invest in Star Electronics, I will definitely welcome it. Pan American Investment has a good reputation in the industry. They only invest money and never interfere.
Is it to bypass the supervision of the US government or to suppress Xingxing Electronics?
Or maybe you haven't figured out whether Xingxing Electronics is worth investing in yet, so you want to borrow money to test my waters first?
And... what are the intentions of New Miracle Group and Nan Jiajun?"
Li Jianxi could use the wine glass to cover up and think, but Hong Luoxi could not let the situation cool down. She still had to fulfill her obligation to accompany the guest. However, it was not possible to continue "sniffing" for the time being. She could only change the topic and talk about the field of art that she was good at.
From shallow to deep, step by step, she tested whether Nan Ruoyin liked it and whether she could pick up her topic.
Although brother and sister Lee Jae-yong and Lee Fu-jin did not intervene in the topic, they kept their ears open and did not miss a single word. Lee Jae-yong, who knew something about semiconductors, was slightly thoughtful, and Lee Fu-jin, who knew nothing about semiconductors, was also slightly thoughtful.
However, her thoughts were not on the "right path" of the moment, but on worrying about "Nan Jiajun". She felt that she was getting closer and closer to a marriage, which she was extremely unwilling to do.
Li Xuxian had long noticed that her elder brother and second sister had signs of fighting over the family property. Knowing that she could not win and not wanting to fight, she could only pretend to be invisible. Li Yinyun chatted with Nan Youqiong in a random manner and was indifferent to everything else.
A banquet, seven people, seven different states and mentalities.
After the banquet was over, Nan Ruoyin returned to the hotel and began to savor and chew on every word and every reaction of everyone, reflecting on her own shortcomings.
After finishing her self-reflection, she washed up and watched TV for a while, and then called Nan Yi at the right time.
"dad."
"Yeah." Nan Yi picked up a bun, dipped it in the vinegar dish, took a bite and put it on the dish, "Is Youqiong asleep?"
"Not yet." Nan Ruoyin said, and then told Nan Yi what happened at the banquet just now, "Dad, do you think Li Jianxi guessed it?"
"How could I not guess? You've almost made your cards clear. If the other party doesn't bring it up, don't bring up the investment either. Now is not the best time to invest."
"Dad, are you waiting for South Korea's economic bubble to burst?"
"You're right. Stay in Seoul for a few more days to learn more about South Korea's economic situation and find out its weaknesses. Each of the Four Little Dragons is full of holes. Whether you can achieve another substantial increase in wealth before graduation depends on them."
"Hehe, Dad, my greedy eyes are open, my pockets are open, I want to put a lot of small coins in it."
"Haha, you little girl, go to bed early. The sun has come to the northern hemisphere, and it's my turn to go out to work and work hard."
"Dad, do you need me to cheer you up?"
"Sing me a song. You've been to North Korea, right? Sing me 'As Long as Mom Smiles' from the opera 'Sea of ​​Blood'."
"Okay, I'll sing, NA, TU, SAI, as long as daddy smiles, smiles, the sun in the clouds shines, shines, as long as daddy smiles, smiles, the beautiful flowers bloom, bloom, my good dad who has gone through hardships, my good dad..."
"Haha, North Korean songs make you sing with a South Korean accent. Be careful that Room 35 sends agents to hunt you down."
"No way. I sang 'We Can't Live Without Him' in Pyongyang and was photographed. I want to be used as a role model for international friends."
"Go, go, go to bed."