The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 317



Only Krnovel

317. At the end of the wait (1)

I had a brainstorming session with Steve for two full days.

It was Steve who tortured me as if he was planning to extract every single idea that was in my head.

“It’s a shame. I’d like to continue the idea meeting for at least another week, but neither Chairman Kim nor I have time to do so…”

“Next time you come to the U.S., why don’t we hold more idea meetings?”

“I’d rather go to Korea. Let’s visit Korea once before the year ends.”

Steve got up from his seat and said scary words.

When he went outside, David, who had been waiting, quickly came inside.

“Are you alive? I brought you a cold Americano. Hurry and pour it down your throat.”

“Do you know that Americano is a panacea? Why drink coffee when you’re so tired? Can’t you just let me get some rest?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to drink coffee than drink alcohol? Phew!”

David blowing his breath.

The strong smell of alcohol instantly filled the room.

“Have you been drinking all this time?”

“I had a drink with the ruling party politicians. It seems like GM’s story about collaborating with Apple worked well. I received a verbal promise that they could provide up to $7,500 in subsidies for electric vehicles.”

$7,500 was a little less than 10 million won.

This meant that if a car usually costs 50 million won, 1/5 of it could be subsidized by the government.

“Once the electric vehicle subsidy policy is announced, the popularity of Apple Car will skyrocket once again.”

“The price of electric vehicles is a little more expensive than internal combustion engine vehicles, but if you receive subsidies, you can purchase them cheaper. If that happens, it will become a huge storm!”

Because of the cost of batteries, electric cars were bound to be expensive.

However, if the US government provides support, it will be ahead in price competitiveness.

“The U.S. government needs to announce a subsidy bill before the Apple Car is officially released. Is that possible?”

“It’s already reached its peak of popularity. As long as it maintains its current popularity, there will be no problem. But just in case, I’m continuing to oil many people.”

This means that they are lobbying hard.

Although he had already made a promise to the government and the political world, he was a politician who did not find it strange if he changed his words at any time.

Therefore, there was a need to lobby continuously.

The more David drank and walked around, the faster the subsidy bill could be passed.

“What about in Europe?”

“France and Germany, which care the most about the environment, are making moves. They say they plan to provide subsidies of at least 6,000 euros.”

6,000 euros was a little less than 9 million won.

Compared to the US government, there is a difference of about 1 million won, but where is this?

“Please move the entire euro to subsidize electric vehicles.”

“We are in the process of lobbying against the EU. In fact, isn’t the EU the one that brought up the environmental issue first? If the US pays subsidies in a situation where they are the first to do so, they have no choice but to pay subsidies to save face.”

It was the EU that was talking about carbon tax.

They could not refuse subsidies for electric vehicles, even if only to give strength to their voices.

“Finally, all we have to do is advance into China.”

“The Chinese market is actually the most profitable market. However, when I talked to the Chinese side, I heard that they are planning to provide subsidies in a completely different way than other markets.”

Taewoo Group also had many connections in China.

Naturally, we were in close talks with the Chinese government to advance into electric vehicles.

And China was unexpectedly friendly to electric vehicles, and there was even talk of providing large-scale subsidies.

“How else are you going to subsidize it?”

“While the United States and Europe provide subsidies to people who purchase electric vehicles, China says it will provide subsidies to companies that produce electric vehicles.”

“This means that the company should receive subsidies and launch electric vehicles at a lower price.”

“Yes, and they are indicating that they will only provide subsidies for electric vehicles produced in China.”

The reason why China pursues this policy is simple.

The goal was to make China the world’s factory.

“This means building an electric vehicle factory in China.”

“You can use the Chinese factories owned by Taewoo Group and GM. The key is how many Chinese customers purchase the Apple Car.”

“The Apple Car is definitely expensive to sell in China.”

China’s GDP per capita has now reached $2,400.

In Korea, it was over $20,000, so it was only 1/10th of that.

However, because the population was so large, if you were to consider only the people with the economic conditions to buy an Apple car, the number was actually larger than in Korea.

“We need to release a large amount of Apple cars to China, even if it means acquiring a new factory.”

“There is no problem with taking over the factory and producing, but won’t it remain as bad inventory?”

“If we have leftover inventory, we can just sell it to other regions. And to save the face of the Chinese government, shouldn’t we at least pretend to build a new factory? That way, they will open their wallets to build electric vehicle infrastructure.”

Before the regression, China’s electric vehicle market was overwhelming.

The response to electric vehicles was so enthusiastic in China that it accounted for about half of global electric vehicle sales.

And the same was true for iPhone sales.

The country where the most iPhones were sold in the world was China.

Since China’s love for Apple is extraordinary, there is a high possibility that the electric car released under the name Apple Car will also be loved.

“Do you mind? If we build an electric car factory in China, there is no way to prevent technology leakage.”

“It doesn’t matter. No matter how similar it is, you can’t copy the brand image.”

The Chinese market was a double-edged sword.

Because it has a huge population of 1.4 billion people, it can generate large sales.

However, it was also a market fraught with various problems, including technology leaks.

But it didn’t matter.

Because fake can’t beat the real.

“Then, we will adjust production by acquiring a Chinese automobile factory and expanding the existing factory.”

“Once inventory accumulates, you can sell it to other countries, so don’t worry and definitely increase your scale.”

“Okay! Then you should go to your next schedule now, right? Dimon is anxiously waiting for you.”

“I guess I can get some rest while I’m moving.”

* * *

Dimon was waiting in the chairman’s office at CITI Group headquarters.

When we arrived at the chairman’s office and the door closed, it was Dimon who greeted us with a smile.

“The response to the Apple car is really good! Taewo Group’s stock price is rising every day, and there are even articles saying that Apple has created another innovation.”

“There are still about two months left until launch. The key is to maintain the current atmosphere until then.”

“Two months is not a very long time. And we decided to build a large-scale electric vehicle charging facility at the CITI Group headquarters and fintech bank.”

Dimon loved it as if it were his own work.

As expected, the fintech bank was also a shareholder of Apple because it had transferred Apple’s shares held by SAVE Investment Company.

“Even if the Apple Car is not selling in large numbers right now, the era of electric vehicles will come soon, so there is no harm in installing charging facilities now.”

“There are rumors going around that GM is collaborating with Apple to create the Apple Car. Is this true? Thanks to those rumors, GM’s stock price has risen significantly in a few days. Thanks to this, Berkshire and we are having some fun.”

GM’s major shareholders were Taewoong, a fintech bank, and Berkshire Hathaway.

We bought the stock at the lowest point, and we were making a big profit because GM’s stock price rose more than 30% due to the Apple car rumor.

“Soon, GM and Apple will announce that they will be making an Apple Car in the form of a large SUV. So this is not just a rumor.”

“Then GM’s stock will soar once again. It won’t solve the accumulated deficit, but it will still be a big help.”

“This won’t happen just because the stock price rises. Only by launching the Apple Car and actually increasing sales can GM’s deficit problem be solved.”

“Anyway, I decided once again to unconditionally believe and follow whatever the Chairman says. Who in the world would have thought that the automobile industry and the mobile phone industry would collaborate to create cars?”

“That’s enough praise. More than that, I’m curious about how much the price of Bitcoin has risen compared to GM’s stock price.”

Bitcoin was the reason I wanted to meet Dimon even though I was busy.

Among commercial banks, the only bank that allowed Bitcoin transactions was a fintech bank, and now it was time for the Bitcoin price to be formed.

“The price is definitely rising faster than before. As of yesterday, it was trading at a little over $2.”

“Has it already broken the $2 mark? That’s faster than you think.”

“Isn’t it thanks to the Taewoo Group? Items can be traded through Bitcoin on gaming platforms, and Bitcoin can also be used in music, OTT, etc., so the number of users is increasing considerably. There are even companies that specialize in Bitcoin mining.”

It was much faster than before regression.

At that time, the price of Bitcoin was not even 25 cents, let alone $1.

However, due to my intervention, the price of Bitcoin more than quadrupled and continued to rise rapidly.

“People are starting to realize that Bitcoin can be money.”

“The number is still not large, but there are still people who mine Bitcoin on their personal computers as a hobby.”

“There will come a time when you will realize that the Bitcoin you mined recreationally is a winning lottery ticket.”

“But is it okay to just hold on to Bitcoin? Wouldn’t it be better to realize profits little by little? Wouldn’t it be a big help if we sold just 30% of the Bitcoin we hold?”

The price of Bitcoin has finally been formed.

From the perspective of Dimon, who had been running a Bitcoin exchange without making any profit, it was natural to want to realize profits.

“Why do you want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? If you sell it now, each Bitcoin is only worth about $2.”

“Chairman, how much do you think the price of Bitcoin will rise?”

“Wouldn’t it be at least $30,000?”

“… Are you talking about $30,000, not $3? The price would have to rise 10,000 times higher than it is now. I also predict that the price of Bitcoin will rise steadily, but does it really have to rise that much?”

I smiled.

It was a smile that was possible because I saw with my own eyes that the price of Bitcoin was over $30,000 before the regression.

“Who would have predicted that the IT bubble would rise that high? Who would have predicted that the U.S. real estate market would rise that high?”

“Do you think Bitcoin will become a craze like IT or real estate?”

“It is structured so that it cannot help but happen. And for that to happen, we need to increase the trustworthiness of Bitcoin.”

All financial investment products depend on reliability.

In some ways, Bitcoin was also close to a financial product, so trust had to be increased.