NBC Acquisition and the Steam Coupon Surprise
The call from Ted Turner, to whom Yoo Jae-won had granted full authority over the NBC acquisition, had come the day before.
“-33 billion!” It seemed as though speaking in short numbers had become the latest trend. The moment Yoo Jae-won said, “Mr. Turner,” Ted Turner proudly announced the figure of 33 billion. What was remarkable was that even with such brevity, Yoo Jae-won understood everything perfectly. It meant the final acquisition price for NBC had been confirmed at 33 billion dollars. Since Yoo Jae-won had been prepared to go as high as 40 billion, Ted Turner had effectively knocked the price down by a full 7 billion dollars.
“Heh heh, you should have played it smarter.” Ted Turner laughed like a villain and began explaining how he had managed the squeeze. “Once the bidding competitors disappeared, the price competition naturally vanished too, didn’t it? With the Universal-GE consortium shattered, dealing with those fools who were just trying to break even was child’s play.”
He truly was a villain. In the end, Ted Turner’s villainy turned into a massive profit for Yoo Jae-won. Even though Yoo Jae-won had 100 trillion won in cash on hand, 7 billion dollars was still an enormous sum. Moreover, with considerable expenses looming ahead, that 7 billion could plug several holes in the budget.
“You can look forward to a nice incentive.”
“Good heavens, if you say that, it sounds as though I only hammered NBC down for the money. It was out of loyalty to Time Warner Nextcom and my regard for you. Thanks to you, these days have been nothing but delightful. Let’s not talk about incentives.”
In truth, Ted Turner was enjoying a second golden age. His longtime rival Murdoch was currently on trial in Britain. Despite assembling an enormous legal team, it was widely believed he would not escape a prison sentence. Furthermore, the various News Corp channels that Lachlan Murdoch had forcibly inherited were seeing their viewership plummet. Upon taking the helm, Lachlan had declared that the lessons learned from the global newspaper scandals meant toning down sensational reporting, and he had launched internal investigations into every channel and newspaper under News Corp’s umbrella. As a result, Fox News, once known for its provocative flavor, had become bland. While the political leanings of Fox News viewers would not change overnight, the channel’s ratings had dropped. Time Warner Nextcom, with its own massive channels, was also feeling the ripple effects.
“Really?” Yoo Jae-won asked, visibly pleased.
“Haha, I’m joking. Just make sure I’m taken care of appropriately.” Only then did Ted Turner’s true intentions surface. In any case, having saved 7 billion dollars left everyone in good spirits. The NBC shareholders, on the other hand, had suffered a painful blow, though even at the current NBC stock price they were still realizing substantial gains, given the acquisition premium exceeding 100 percent.
“Anyway, the NBC board is chomping at the bit right now. They say the asking price drops with every passing day. If you summon them to Seoul to sign, they’ll come running immediately.”
Ted Turner’s words made Yoo Jae-won consider the idea. Traveling to America while everything was going so well would be a hassle. Yet his mind quickly changed. Holding the signing ceremony at the NBC headquarters, where the NBC logo hung prominently, would create a far more impactful image than doing so at the ID Global Headquarters building in Seoul. Thanks to that realization, Yoo Jae-won and his wife decided to make the trip to the United States.
“How are things progressing with North Korea?”
“Ah, I was wondering when you’d ask. Now’s the time.”
Yoo Jae-won’s journey to America would include another companion: former President Clinton, who was also serving as a special envoy to North Korea. These days he was popping up everywhere like Hong Gil-dong, making his presence felt. The United States was showing great interest in the joint recovery of war remains in North Korea. America had always placed special emphasis on honoring its soldiers, and this was a matter it consistently addressed at the policy level. Moreover, after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. had been actively promoting patriotism. Although the Korean War had long been dismissed in America as “the forgotten war,” this initiative was bringing it back into the spotlight. The same was true in Korea. After the repatriation of six abductees, a large-scale ceremony had been held. At the same time, the decision was made to immediately send the six unconverted long-term prisoners back to the North. With the armistice between the two Koreas, the ambiguous status of the unconverted long-term prisoners had been clarified as that of prisoners of war. Discussions about a prisoner exchange had begun to surface, but with both sides currently focused on the 2002 World Cup, concrete talks had yet to materialize. Since six abductees had already been returned, it was decided that the six unconverted long-term prisoners would be sent back as well. Ordinarily this would have sparked considerable controversy in political circles, yet it was confirmed with little opposition.
In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party was taking self-serving interpretations to the extreme. They claimed that the return of the abductees was thanks to the LDP’s persistent raising of the issue with both North Korea and the United States, and that the return of these four individuals was merely the beginning—they would not stop until all hundreds of abducted Japanese citizens had come home. At the same time, they were actively building up Clinton as a hero.
“Japan is making things incredibly awkward for me.”
For Clinton, who had no intention of returning to politics, it was a troublesome situation. In reality, Clinton had not been the one to first raise the abductee issue; it was something the North Korean side had prepared in advance.
“That’s just how Japan is.”
Yoo Jae-won, who prided himself on knowing a great deal about Japan, readily empathized with Clinton’s complaint. After chatting at length about various matters, they finally reached the main topic.
“North Korea shows no sign of halting its space development project called the Gwangmyeongseong Plan. While every nation has the right to peaceful use of space, North Korea is not just any nation, so it remains an uncomfortable matter for us. Yet forcing a dictator to change his mind is impossible, and regime change is even more difficult. Washington gets a headache just thinking about North Korea.”
“That’s true.”
Yoo Jae-won agreed once again, then continued.
“That’s why I have a good idea. Joint development.”
The idea Yoo Jae-won proposed was essentially a public-private partnership tool.
“When it comes to North Korea, no one holds a stronger card than South Korea. Besides, South Korea’s own space development is still at square one. That’s why we’re working with Russia on the Naro-ho Plan. If we bring North Korea into the joint launch vehicle development this time, there are many advantages. With Russia in the middle, the awkwardness between North and South Korea will be reduced as well.”
“Ah! That sounds promising.”
Clinton responded positively to Yoo Jae-won’s idea right away. Given his considerable experience, he immediately grasped the implications of joint development. Under the pretext of joint development, they could obtain a list of North Korea’s rocket technology scientists and assess their technological level in one stroke. If North Korea refused, it would serve as evidence that their intentions regarding space development were not purely peaceful. The variable was Russia, but Russia was no longer a major threat to the United States. Still struggling after the moratorium, Russia seemed unlikely to reclaim its former glory.
“When I return to Washington, D.C., I’ll pass it along.”
Clinton, apparently also finding the idea worthwhile, added a few more words.
“Yes, I appreciate it.”
Yoo Jae-won concluded by saying that the more people involved, the better. Still, the fact that the idea of including North Korea in the Naro-ho development plan had not yet been communicated to the Korean side weighed on him slightly. Even so, he was confident that President Kim Dae-jung, whom he knew well, would accept it without issue. Thanks to that, Yoo Jae-won was able to set foot on American soil with a very comfortable mind.
The next day.
New York State, USA — the mixed-use complex on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. Though the full address was lengthy, New Yorkers needed only one short phrase: Rockefeller Center. It was where NBC’s headquarters was located, and it was also where Yoo Jae-won would sign the NBC acquisition contract today. As its name suggested, the building had been constructed by oil magnate Rockefeller II and completed in 1939. Ownership had changed hands many times since. During the peak of Japan’s bubble economy in the 1980s, Mitsubishi had purchased it for 220 billion yen. After the bubble burst, it was immediately put on the market and passed through several owners. Even so, it had never been owned by NBC itself. NBC had merely been a tenant under a lease agreement, and until yesterday its owner had been GE. From today onward? Naturally, it belonged to Yoo Jae-won. While acquiring NBC, he had also purchased the Rockefeller Building itself. GE’s business performance had been deteriorating day by day, and after being forced to take the fall because of Murdoch in the NBC bidding war, its stock price had fallen even further. The Rockefeller Building had been listed for sale around two years earlier to secure liquidity, but no suitable buyer had appeared.
“I will sign.”
There were two signing ceremonies. The first was the 33-billion-dollar contract with the chairman of the NBC board, and the second was the 3.3-billion-dollar purchase agreement for Rockefeller Center with GE’s CEO. A brief commemorative photo session followed, and the balance was paid immediately. The contract had been meticulously prepared by ID Group’s legal team in collaboration with a major external law firm after thorough due diligence, so there was no reason to drag things out. After completing the transaction, Yoo Jae-won ascended to the Sky Lounge of Rockefeller Center. His expression as he gazed down at the New York skyline held a mixture of emotions.
“What are you thinking about?”
Tiffany, who had linked arms with him, asked cautiously, noting the unfamiliar look on his face.
“A long time ago, when I had just started doing business in America, I came to New York at the invitation of the Heritage Foundation. It reminded me of that time.”
It was the memory of standing atop the Empire State Building’s observation deck, looking out at New York’s skyscrapers, and resolving that one of them would someday be his. Ten years later, he had finally achieved it. In truth, if Yoo Jae-won had simply decided to buy a few skyscrapers, he could have done so long ago, but acquiring them without any burden—almost as casually as buying property in a game of Monopoly—was not something that happened easily.
“Shall we take a commemorative photo?”
“Sure!”
At Tiffany’s cheerful reply, Yoo Jae-won took the Android Phone from his inside pocket. He tapped the lens-shaped icon to open the photo app and framed the shot. He captured a photo with both his and Tiffany’s faces centered, clearly showing the peacock logo of the NBC broadcast station hanging on the roof of Rockefeller Center. Then he naturally opened TokTok, typed a single short word, and uploaded the photo.
News articles about the signing of the NBC acquisition contract were pouring out, so there was no need for a long message. The reaction was immediate. Even without hashtags optimized for search visibility, countless retoks began thanks to his status as the world’s third-most-followed account.
ding!
After taking the commemorative photo with Tiffany, they were about to return to Korea when Yoo Jae-won’s Android Phone rang. It was an ID Talk message. The sender’s name was one he had not seen in quite some time.
“Huh? It’s been a while since Gabe sent me a message first.”
“President Gabe? Ah, Steam?”
Tiffany, who loved games, immediately thought of Steam upon hearing the name Gabe.
“Yeah!”
She was right. It was an urgent ID Talk from Gabe Newell, who had been promoted from Android Corporation to president of Steam, the online software distribution system.
“What happened? Tell me in detail.”
Yoo Jae-won asked urgently as well. If Gabe Newell said something serious had occurred, it was likely quite grave. Had one of the games Steam was developing fallen through? Or had they been hacked and a large amount of data leaked? Even before the regression, Steam had once suffered a data theft incident that delayed a game’s release by an entire year.
“There’s been an accident.”
“Don’t tell me it’s a hack?”
By now, all of the group’s systems had been integrated into one, and powerful firewalls were provided uniformly to every affiliate, dramatically strengthening security. It was a firewall that had withstood China’s cyber warfare; if it had been breached, the problem would be serious indeed.
“Ah! It’s not that kind of accident. A critical flaw was discovered in the coupon created for the 2002 World Cup event! If left as is, it will result in astronomical losses.”
The event coupon President Gabe referred to was the one that increased its discount rate by 10 percent every time the Korea team won. But a critical flaw?
“The event coupon was supposed to apply only to a single product, but it’s applying to the entire shopping cart! If you put dozens of programs or games in the cart and apply the coupon, the discount applies to the total amount, easily exceeding hundreds or even thousands of dollars!”
“Even at the current 30 percent discount rate, this is happening. On top of that, once the trick was posted on communities like 2CH.com, the number of coupons issued has skyrocketed! At this rate, the 3 million dollars budgeted for the coupon event will be wiped out in an instant!”
President Gabe’s message was extremely urgent. Yoo Jae-won understood the problem with the coupon. Yet the sense of urgency did not transmit to him. On the contrary, it occurred to him that this might turn into an interesting surprise event.