God of Money

The mocking TV ads made Jun Taewon crazy.

“Should I give up, or should I keep going? Give up? Keep going?”

He murmured like this all day. Should he stop now, or go a little bit further?

The bid was now at five billion dollars.

“Sir…”

They had only one hour left until they had to make a decision. XFeed’s last bid was 5.2 billion dollars. TK had to decide whether to raise it or give up. The new rule also stated that if they wanted to bid, they had to prove 80% of the bid was available in cash. This meant that they needed four billion dollars in cash. This was too much.

“Did you look into short-term loan options from the credit unions?”

“Right Capital is the only one that replied back to us, and they said they are willing to lend us money.”

“How much?”

“Up to five billion dollars.”

Jun Taewon’s eyes widened.

“Five billion?”

“Yes, as long as you use your company shares as collateral.”

“Is it a trustworthy lender?”

“I looked into it and yes, it has enough money. It even has a hedge fund in the US.”

Jun Taewon sighed deeply.

“I guess we can do this then.”

4:30 pm.

They had to make a decision in 30 minutes or else, it was over for them.

“Daeyang wants us to go for it. They lost the mobile carrier business to XFeed and they are angry. They appear to want to help us in any way possible.”

“Daeyang told us that XFeed will probably go up to seven billion dollars, right?”

“Yes, and our own TK research lab has confirmed this number. That is why Daeyang wants us to go up to seven billion.”

“But seven billion dollars…That would mean we need to have about six billion dollars in cash ready…”

“If we borrow money from Right Capital, it’s possible. If we can really make XFeed spend seven billion dollars for this frequency, it would be great.”

“…”

Jun Taewon sighed again. What should he do?

Finally, Jun Taewon replied slowly, “How do other mobile carriers feel?”

“Both KG and LU want us to go for it. If XFeed becomes successful, it will affect all of them negatively. They also promised that they will let us have the best frequency at the next auction.”

Seven billion dollars.

It was a huge amount. If XFeed gave up before TK did…

“If this doesn’t go as we hope, it will be detrimental for us.”

“It’s true. We will have to charge additional fees to our customers. Thankfully, if it happens, KG and LU promised to cover the extra fees for us for a while. If we end up with the golden frequency, XFeed will be in trouble since they won’t be able to use their 4G. They have been advertising a 20% faster service.”

“Were we able to steal their 4G technology yet?”

“Not yet. We are trying but it’s not going very well.”

4:45 pm.

It was time to decide. The assistant looked at Jun Taewon. He bit his lips and finally told his assistant the amount.

***

The auction was at its 20th round with the bid of 6.5 billion dollars.

The public thought both companies lost their minds. The media claimed that whoever wins this auction would be paying way too much.

Woosung couldn’t believe it was going according to his plan. He was excited.

Jang Gwangchul looked at him nervously and asked, “We’re done, right? You will back out now?”

Woosung clenched his fists.

He asked, “If we back out now and let them win, what will happen to TK stocks?”

“It’s at about 200 dollars and it will immediately drop to 150 or even 100 dollars.”

“And they will have to increase their fees?”

“Yes, at least 5%. It will be great for us. We don’t have to go any further. We won.”

“Haha, I know.”

“So you will stop now, right?”

Woosung walked to the window and replied slowly, “6.5 billion dollars. It’s a lot of money for a person.”

“It’s a lot even for any company.”

“Hmm…”

“Stop this nonsense and make a decision! I’m dying here. Just tell me you will stop!”

“Do you really think we should back out now?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are they expecting us to bid again with a higher amount?”

“It’s because you fed them fake info. They think we will go up to seven billion.”

“It worked too well.”

“So what? Stop second guessing yourself.”

4:30 pm.

They had to make a decision in 30 minutes. Woosung finally replied, “This is it then.”

“So we’re done?”

Woosung nodded. “Yes. Call them.”

Jang Gwangchul stood up.

“Alright!”

***

“183 dollars.”

“179 dollars.”

“162 dollars.”

TK stocks declined quickly. 1.8GHz was purchased by TK for the final price of 6.5 billion dollars.

Winner’s curse.

“158 dollars.”

Right after the auction, a piece of breaking news was announced.

“XFeed develops a new band technology to increase its speed. Golden frequency is unnecessary.”

“20% decrease in fee and 20% increase in speed plan still on.”

The number of users leaving the existing three mobile carriers increased quickly.

TK->XFeed : 35,133

KG->XFeed : 21,418

LU->XFeed : 10,951

They were losing customers to XFeed. Another reason for XFeed’s popularity was because it was the only company that offered the brand new Blue S3.

“Meet your new Blue S3 only at XFeed.”

“2GB memory. LTE included.”

“Qualcomm Snapdragon included.”

The commercials worked wonders. More and more people left their own mobile carriers to join XFeed.

300,000 people.

500,000 people.

1,000,000 people.

3,000,000 people.

In only 3 months, over 10 million people joined XFeed.

Finally, in January 2011, XFeed owned 20% of the Korean mobility market. TK still owned 35%, but it was decreasing fast. Many users were waiting for their contracts to end with TK. The TK stock also continued to decline.

“143 dollars.”

“131 dollars.”

XFeed hasn’t listed itself yet, but its value was nonetheless increasing exponentially.

TK was worth ten billion dollars.

XFeed was now valued at five billion dollars. It was only a matter of time before XFeed became bigger than TK.

Jun Taewon was frustrated.

He said to his assistant, “Is there anything we can do to improve this situation? Are we going to just watch our customers leave us?”

“We have other problems. We paid 3 billion dollars so far for the frequency and within the next 5 years, we have to pay back the rest of the 3.5 billion dollars. If we lose any more customers, it will be very hard for us to make these payments.”

“Are you saying we may go bankrupt?”

The assistant hesitantly nodded.

Bankruptcy!

He never thought he would have to worry about such an event.

“I can’t believe this is happening…”

Jun Taewon wished he could go back in time. If he did, he wouldn’t have entered the auction at all, but it was too late.

The assistant asked, “What did the Chairman say?”

“Nothing, which is even worse.”

“If we sell our assets, we might be able to get by for a little while, but what do we do after that?”

“XFeed’s new band technology will ruin us.”

“Exactly. The other companies probably feel the same way. In the past, the three companies have been operating in harmony, but now it’s a dog-eat-dog world.”

“It’s a war.”

“More like a massacre by XFeed.”

Jun Taewon sighed deeply. Suddenly, Chairman Jun Junghee stormed into the room. Behind him was the man Jun Taewon hated the most in the world.

It was XFeed’s Kang Woosung.