Hollywood Hunter

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Seoul, Korea.

On the morning of Monday, December 29, the last investment agreement for Samsung Electronics among the three major Korean conglomerates was signed in a conference room at the Samsung Group headquarters on Taiping Road, Central District, Seoul.

One side of the agreement is a Western consortium dominated by the Westeros system, and the other side is a group of shareholder representatives of Samsung Electronics.

There were no reporters at the scene.

This is a tacit understanding reached by the two parties, because if the scene of the signing is exposed, it is easy to remind people of the scene when Western powers ravaged Asia at the beginning of the century and forced various countries to sign various unequal treaties.

The recent mood of the Korean people is still restless, and everyone does not want to cause any trouble.

The main clause of this investment agreement involves an investment with a total amount of 3.975 billion US dollars.

Taking the average stock price of Samsung Electronics in the past 30 days as a benchmark and calculating at the current exchange rate, it is equivalent to Samsung Electronics' valuation of about 4.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Among the US$3.975 billion investment, US$1.175 billion was used to purchase about 25% of Samsung Electronics shares in the hands of the original shareholders of Samsung Electronics, and the other US$2.8 billion was used as an investment to obtain another new share issued by Samsung Electronics.

After the transaction is completed, five investment entities, including Apollo Management Company controlled by the Westeros system, will hold a total of 53% of Samsung Electronics shares, achieving absolute control.

However, in the specific agreement, the five investment entities controlled by the Westeros system do not hold more than 15% of the shares individually. Samsung Group holds a total of 21% of the shares of Samsung Electronics through various subsidiaries, which is still on the bright side. largest shareholder.

After the signing ceremony at ten o'clock in the morning, the Westeros system team led by Chen Qing decisively began to take over Samsung Electronics.

Even if the control of Samsung Electronics will still belong to the Samsung Li family on the surface, this is a promise made by Simon himself, but in fact, the Westeros system must of course ensure its influence and control over this company.

Because this is not a world where good will be rewarded if you do good to others, especially in the business world, weak investors who delegate power usually do not end well.

The remainder of the day saw a flurry of announcements from the Westeros Systems team as Samsung Electronics' newest absolute controlling shareholder as the deal was signed.

The first is the dissolution and reorganization of Samsung Electronics' board of directors.

Immediately thereafter, the list of the new board of directors that the Westeros system has already been brewing was announced directly, with a total of nine members.

Jiang Jinqiu, the former chairman of Samsung Electronics, was promoted to the chairman of the board of directors in this reorganization and continued to serve as the chairman of Samsung. In fact, it is equivalent to the chairman meeting the CEO.

This arrangement is mainly for peace of mind.

Another stabilizing strategy is to introduce Lee Kun-hee's 29-year-old only son, Lee Jae-yong, to the board of Samsung Electronics.

Two stable hearts, one for the employees of Samsung Electronics, and one for the Lee family of Samsung.

The remaining seven people are all from the Westeros system.

One of the pawns that Simon has cultivated is the Korean-American lawyer Zheng Shoudong who was born in Mackenzie International Law Firm and is good at corporate mergers and acquisitions. One of them is Zheng Shoudong. Zheng Shoudong also serves as a director of the Bank of New York Mellon.

Zheng Shoudong joined the Samsung board of directors this time and will be responsible for supervising the subsequent business restructuring of Samsung Electronics.

Another local pawn, Zong Zhenghao, an executive from the finance department of Han Bao Steel, which went bankrupt at the beginning of the year, will join the board of directors of Samsung Electronics at the same time, and will also serve as the financial director of Samsung Electronics, responsible for sorting out the financial status of the entire Samsung Electronics and Subsequent supervision.

The remaining five people, according to the original strategy, are all Korean faces.

It’s just that compared to Zheng Shoudong and Jong Zhenghao, these are either former government officials or new members of Korean university professors. They are more just decorations, get a good salary, and then honestly act as voting machines.

After the reorganization of the board of directors, the second measure is to seal up the accounts of Samsung Electronics and start an in-depth financial review.

This is mainly to clarify and control the financial rights of Samsung Electronics.

Then, the third measure.

All senior executives of Samsung Electronics at home and abroad at the sub-ministerial level or above will give a written report to the new board of directors within one week, and within one month, the new board of directors will conduct a face-to-face report by random roll call.

This measure, to put it bluntly, is to ask for a statement.

The weather has changed.

The master has changed.

to be or not to be.

Choose yourself.

It just so happens that Samsung Electronics is carrying out all-round layoffs again, and the new board of directors will not interfere too much with the dismissal of the lowest-level employees. As for the management, of course, they must choose to be clear about the current situation and be loyal to the board of directors of Samsung Electronics instead of the senior members of the Samsung Li family. Tube.

This measure will ensure that the Westeros system holds the personnel rights of Samsung Electronics.

Mastering the two aspects of finance and personnel basically completed the control of an enterprise.

Of course, in practice, things are not that simple. But still the same sentence, the sky is long and the water is long.

Simon is patient with this.

Li Jianxi, who has confirmed that he can win Kia Motors, expressed silence about the vigorous declaration of control of the Westeros system.

If any enterprise has two owners at the same time, the end is often infighting and internal friction.

Simon knows this very well, and Li Jianxi, who was born in a chaebol and has been in the business world for many years, also knows this. Give up Samsung Electronics, develop Samsung

The car is Li Jianxi's choice and a tacit understanding between the two parties.

In addition to the measures related to the agreement, in the afternoon of the same day, the electronic giants of the Westeros system such as Tinkber and Nokia began to negotiate urgently with the Samsung Electronics team on the procurement of components in the first quarter of next year.

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Not only that, most of the 2.8 billion US dollars injected into Samsung Electronics by the Westeros system this time will also be invested in Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business for technology research and development and investment in the construction of semiconductor factories.

The semiconductor industry has not yet come out of the trough of the 1996 slump. It seems unwise to do so now. However, the key to Samsung’s semiconductor business being so strong later lies in this counter-cyclical operation method. Through investment regardless of cost during the industry's downturn and fierce price wars, competitors in the industry are constantly driven out.

The last family dominates.

Once you have the pricing power, you can make up for any losses in the early stage through price increases and achieve huge profits.

As for another LCD screen business that Simon is also interested in, it will be put on hold for the time being, and after LG completely surrenders, it will be spun off from Samsung and integrated into LG.

This is also a strategy that was finalized very early.

Even if he absolutely controls Samsung, Simon will not allow this electronic company rooted in South Korea to be too large and must be restricted.

Samsung Group and Westeros Systems signed an investment agreement for Samsung Electronics The next day, December 30, under the interference of the South Korean government, Samsung Motors signed a memorandum of merger with Kia Motors, which was under government control. Representatives of the consortium controlled by the Westeros system also appeared at the scene, announcing that they would provide financial support for Samsung Motors' merger with Kia Motors.

When the news was announced, Hyundai Group, which had reached a tacit agreement in private, remained silent, while Daewoo Group reacted strongly.

Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-jung even held a press conference that afternoon, publicly accusing the authorities of handing over Kia Motors to Samsung, which has no experience in car manufacturing, as an irresponsible act. Such an approach may lead to a complete collapse of Kia Motors. More people lost their jobs.

Samsung quickly responded with a tit-for-tat attack, attacking Daewoo Group for preventing Samsung from accepting Kia purely for its own benefit, to hinder industry competition and pursue monopoly.

There is a war of words in the media, and the two parties are also making frequent moves off the stage.

After all, the signing between Samsung and Kia is only a memorandum of intent, and the specific details are still being negotiated, so it means that Daewoo still has the opportunity to snatch Kia over.

Hyundai, Daewoo, and Kia previously accounted for roughly 422 shares in the Korean auto industry, with a total of more than 80%.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why Daewoo would have such a violent reaction.

For Daewoo, if it can win Kia and merge the two, it will be able to officially stand shoulder to shoulder with the previous largest auto giant in South Korea, each with a 40% market share. On the contrary, if Kia is lost, or even in the worst case, Kia is taken by Hyundai, Daewoo will completely lose the qualification to compete with Hyundai.

However, the reality is that Daewoo's Kim Woo-joong is obviously still somewhat confused about the current situation in South Korea.

On the political level, the South Korean general election has passed.

In the South Korean general election on December 18, after experiencing the ravages of the Asian financial turmoil, the ruling party lost the hearts of the people, and Kim Dae-jung won the throne of the new president without any suspense.

Without election constraints, the Kim Young-sam administration, which has only two months left in power, does not need to worry too much. To put it bluntly, how to deal with Kia is more beneficial to Kim Young-sam's political party, and even more beneficial to Kim Young-sam's family, Cheong Wa Dae will choose how to deal with it.

Compared with Daewoo, the Samsung Group currently stands behind the Westeros system and even more American political and economic forces.

How to choose, almost without any hesitation.

Even if the Korean people don't know much about it, these people at the top of the Korean pyramid really know how strong the actual control of the United States over South Korea is. Although Kim Young-sam's party has lost this time, if it wants to regain power in the next term, in the final analysis, it still cannot do without the support of the United States, or, even if there is no support, it cannot be targeted.

Besides, what can Daewoo give them?

money?

In addition, on the economic level, whether it is Daewoo's internal financial problems, or some arrangements that Chen Qing has hinted to Kim Young-sam, it is confirmed that the authorities do not have to worry about Daewoo's thoughts at all.

For politicians, these chaebols who are becoming more arrogant and unscrupulous in the country should indeed be wiped out to make an example to others.

Therefore, the day after Kim Woo-jung held a press conference to criticize the authorities' decision to target Kia, on December 31, South Korea's "Chosun Ilbo" suddenly exposed in detail the huge debts of Daewoo Group totaling up to 70 billion U.S. dollars in a special issue, pointing out that Daewoo's business The situation is actually in jeopardy, and may collapse at any time like Kia, Han Bao and other consortiums.

Other media quickly followed up, and immediately plunged Daewoo into a storm of public opinion.

You know, even though the media has frequently exposed the poor financial conditions of bankrupt conglomerates such as Kia and Han Bao over the past year, such a huge debt scale of 70 billion US dollars is still unique. Even, if it wasn't for the deliberate collection and very detailed evidence materials, the public might not believe that Daewoo Group's debts would be so huge.

The biggest feature of Korean conglomerates is their intertwined roots.

Even some insiders may not be able to figure out the messy debt disputes among the large number of subsidiaries of the consortium.

For the South Korean people, the bad situation of the country at this time,

The forfeiture agreement that was forced to sign with the imf is the evil result of these chaebols wanton borrowing.

When the news came to light, Daewoo, who was already simmering with anger, quickly became the target of criticism.

In response to the media and public opinion surrounding Daewoo, the IMF team in South Korea, which has been relatively silent during this period, also unexpectedly made a public statement, claiming that considering the serious financial risks of Daewoo Group, the IMF and related rescue capital will carefully consider the transfer of funds to Daewoo.

This is the real killing move.

Under the IMF's statement and public criticism, on the last trading day of 1997, the stock prices of Daewoo Group-related companies plummeted across the board, and even dragged down South Korea's Kospi market again after the IMF bailout agreement, with a single-day high of 3.8%.

The crisis in South Korea, or the crisis in Asia as a whole, is largely due to the domino effect formed by panic, which led to the overwhelming short-selling and flight of capital, just like a bank run.

Now, this panic effect has hit Daewoo Group, the latest target.

The long-term wanton expansion has made the Korean conglomerate firmly believe in the principle of "too big to fail".

Probably due to staying in the smooth water for too long, the chaebol families behind these consortiums have gradually overlooked one point. The so-called big but not collapsed, does not mean that the enterprise itself will not collapse, but that in order to avoid huge negative social impact, the government will often try its best Rescue and prevent these big companies from collapsing.

Simpler.

It's not that you can't fall by yourself, but that the government is behind you so that you can't.

However, when the government is unable or unwilling to take care of the bottom line, once the big chaebols get into trouble, the consequences can be imagined.

For South Korea, in the first half of 1997, which was full of disasters, giants such as Hanbao and Kia went bankrupt successively. After the financial turmoil swept South Korea, the current South Korean government is helpless if it wants to cover the bottom line.

This time it was the turn of the Daewoo Group.

The government was unable to cover the bottom line, but the IMF and related international capital, which was able to cover the bottom line for Daewoo, not only had no intention of covering the bottom line, but even stabbed it with a knife.

The ending of Daewoo Group is already doomed.

Time soon came to January 1, 1998.

new year.

Inside the mansion in Itaewon.

Chen Qing didn't return with a little drunkenness until after one o'clock in the morning.

Tonight, I participated in the New Year's Eve reception hosted by President-elect Kim Dae-jung. Although Kim Young-sam also extended an invitation to her, Chen Qing ignored it, and she only stood on the side of the winner.

Moreover, Kim Dae-jung has also been very enthusiastic about the Westeros system recently, much more enthusiastic than the ruling party.

The reason is also very simple, Kim Dae-jung needs a backer.

This is a very real problem.

Even if Kim Young-sam won the ruling power from the military government and established the first civilian government since the founding of the Republic of Korea, he still inherited the mantle of the military government and has a deep foundation in South Korea.

In contrast, Kim Dae-jung, who is 73 years old this year, spent most of his time in the opposition. Later, people called Kim Dae-jung "Korea's Mandela", which is very appropriate.

However, compared to Mandela's idealism, Kim Dae-jung is much more practical. He knows very well that the position of president that he has united with a bunch of small parties is not stable. If he is not careful, he may be taken away by the power of the former ruling party that is still deeply rooted in the government system.

As for winning over the forces of the former ruling party to join him, if Kim Dae-jung has enough time, of course it is feasible.

Too bad he didn't.

The president of South Korea can only serve one term.

In this case, it is very important to find an immediate backer.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why the former Kim Dae-jung was scolded by the South Korean media as "the running dog of the United States".

On the other hand, Kim Dae-jung is also smart.

The overall backing of the United States is too large and too close, and it is likely to become a puppet. If there is no other choice, to be a puppet is to be a puppet. Now, there is another option, the Westeros system, which seems just right.

At least Kim Dae-jung thought it was just right.

Therefore, during the period after being elected, Kim Dae-jung has quietly reached some tacit agreement with this side, planning to install some people recommended by Chen Qing in the next Cheong Wa Dae cabinet.

The Westeros system of senior officials at the cabinet level is not pursued, it is too conspicuous, and it is too easy to become a target, and it will even embarrass Kim Dae-jung.

What we want here are only a few key positions in key positions.

For example, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Information and Communication that manages the Korean telecommunications industry, or one of the five standing members with voting rights in the Broadcasting Commission that is responsible for formulating and supervising the Korean radio and television industry, and so on.