A crisis has hit the fund company Natural Standard Fund on Wall Street.
“How could you only now find out that Jungle is raising investments?”
“It happened very suddenly.”
“That’s just an excuse. I’ve always told you to stay alert. Jungle is our company’s primary investment target above all others!”
The person scolding the subordinate was Alfred Baker, the chief fund manager.
He was always stressed in his position as the successor to Joe Murphy.
That’s because being compared to the legendary fund manager Joe Murphy was a given for the chief fund manager at Natural Standard Fund.
“If only Joe had informed us sooner.”
Resentful that Joe Murphy, who had left the company, did not provide information, Alfred dismissed his subordinate and quickly picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
(Hello?)
“Ah, it’s me, Alfred.”
(Oh, right, you called about Jungle’s investment raising, didn’t you?)
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Joe Murphy had already grasped the situation, having received calls from various places.
(If you’re asking why I didn’t inform you earlier, I just found out about it myself.)
“Oh… I see…”
(It seems CEO Lee didn’t want to receive funds from a professional fund company.)
“Why is that?”
(Why do you think? If you start nitpicking over this and that, it might result in unfavorable contracts. Frankly, Jungle USA received a $100 million investment and secured various options. Isn’t that so?)
“Well, that was all written as per your instruction…”
(There’s no need to mention individual names here. Just make Jungle USA and Natural Standard Fund the subjects of the conversation. Anyway, your company went too far. Even after listing, you plan to exercise various options and secure a substantial share of Jungle USA.)
It was a favorable interpretation for him.
To think that he would criticize the contract he created after moving to another company.
Whatever the case, Joe Murphy’s words were true.
After the listing of Jungle USA, Natural Standard Fund planned to secure a significant share of that company.
It was already being evaluated that Jungle USA’s value exceeded $5 billion, and Natural Standard Fund secured a 35% share through the contract.
In terms of money, this amounted to $1.75 billion.
Additionally, Al Ta Biest, which merged with Jungle USA, held 33%, and Korea’s Jungle held 32%.
“Joe, at that time, everyone said it was a win-win. Jungle, which didn’t invest a penny, could hold a 32% share, and Al Ta Biest’s shareholders, who were scheduled to collapse due to declining market share, were allocated 33%.”
(Yes, yes. Your company may claim that, but our company feels like we got the short end of the stick.)
“Let’s not digress. The reason I called today is simple.”
(To ask me to put in a good word with CEO Lee, right?)
“Yes, indeed. In pre-IPO, the investor is usually in the driving seat, isn’t it?”
(Since when did that rule exist? It’s usually the financer who’s in charge.)
“It varies. If the company has high investment value, they’re in charge.”
(I’m curious. What’s Jungle’s value according to Natural Standard Fund? They don’t disclose much these days.)
“Yes, that’s confidential.”
Now fully a part of Jungle USA, he couldn’t share information detrimental to Natural Standard Fund.
But as a legendary fund manager, Joe Murphy continued to probe like a fox.
(You know that after Windows 97 was distributed, Internet Ex Cross’s market share in Korea was expected to return to nearly 100%, but it kept losing share to Forest, right?)
“Did that really happen?”
(Because of that, Macro Soft is developing a search engine in partnership with Pineapple and Give & Take. They realized that bundling it with Windows 97 wouldn’t suffice against Jungle’s portal download model. That battle will soon occur in the U.S. too.)
“I heard rumors about an English version of Forest, but still, it won’t topple Internet Ex Cross’s dominance.”
(You’re insensitive to information. This time, Forest can be downloaded not only from Jungle USA but also from Yaho. Yaho even agreed to prominently feature it on their front page.)
“Is that… really true?”
(It is. It’s about to hit the news. Why would I lie?)
“So, the rumors about Jungle and Yaho partnering were true!”
(I can’t give you any more information. You’ll have to judge for yourself. Forest, appearing as a competitor to Internet Ex Cross, and the global Jungle portal sites providing the service. This should ensure a market cap akin to Yaho, if not Macro Soft.)
His words were true.
Even if Macro Soft didn’t lose the lead to Jungle in the web browser war, Jungle was bound to win as long as it appeared competitive.
After all, they started from zero.
Jungle’s arsenal was diverse.
Recently, Jungle Shopping USA and Jungle Music USA were also doing quite well.
‘I have to invest in Jungle no matter the cost, even if it means bleeding.’
Opportunities like this wouldn’t come again.
After hanging up, Alfred immediately booked a flight to Korea.
Meanwhile, Lee Hyun-woo received a call from Japan.
It was Son Jung-yi.
(CEO Lee, I heard Jungle decided to raise investments before listing?)
“Yes, that’s correct. I couldn’t manage to inform foreign partners. I should have told you.”
(Have you already decided on all the investors?)
“No, only 2% out of the 10% has been decided.”
(Ah, what about the remaining 8%?)
From the way he asked, it was clear he had a strong intention to invest.
‘To continue business in Japan, I must maintain a good relationship with Son Jung-yi.’
Lee Hyun-woo decided to accept another 1% allocation for Son.
“I think I can allocate about 1% to Chairman Son.”
The remaining percentage keeps decreasing.
‘There are quite a few domestic and foreign entities interested in investing; it’s going to be fiercely competitive.’
Shin Dong-woon had already informed Wall Street, and dozens of fund companies expressed their desire to invest.
As the percentage decreases, the competition naturally becomes fiercer.
(1% is satisfactory. The amount is 50 billion won in Korean currency, right?)
As expected, he had already done his homework before calling.
Lee Hyun-woo couldn’t help but acknowledge with a bitter smile.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
(I will send my staff soon.)
“I will prepare the contract and wait.”
After finishing the call, Lee Hyun-woo pondered.
Why are there so many places willing to invest 50 billion won without hesitation?
It seems there are quite a few ultra-high net worth individuals in the world.
After thinking this, Hyun-woo called Shin Dong-woon.
“Chairman Son Jung-yi contacted us.”
“Ah… so, there too…?”
“Yes, to facilitate our future entry into Japan, I thought this much was necessary.”
Seeing Lee Hyun-woo say he was being generous, Shin Dong-woon couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.
‘He’s talking about securing shares legitimately with money.’
But the word “generous” wasn’t entirely wrong.
Because many places currently wanted a share in Jungle.
Just this morning, several sovereign wealth funds from Middle Eastern countries expressed their interest.
Before that, there were contacts from the U.S., Japan, and even Europe.
The world had started to acknowledge the information revolution, and it was clear they saw Jungle as one of the leading companies.
“I really don’t know which places to choose.”
“As I mentioned before, we need to apply Jungle’s own subscription rules.”
“Ah, yes…”
“I’ve already printed the specific method. Here you go.”
Lee Hyun-woo handed the document on his desk to Shin Dong-woon.
Shin took the document and began reading through it.
“The first part needs modification. It’s 7%, not 8%, right?”
“Yes, that’s because it was written before Chairman Son contacted us.”
Even though it was unlisted, acquiring shares meant buying issued stock with money.
The first part listed the shares to be issued in proportion to the share percentage.
Then Shin read the second part.
“The investor proposes the desired investment amount. However, it must not exceed 50 billion won. Oh? You don’t plan to raise the amount?”
He asked, thinking 50 billion won represented 1%, and Lee Hyun-woo nodded immediately.
“Yes, I initially considered it, but it seems we’ve already secured the desired amount, so I plan to distribute it among many places.”
“Then there will be many places proposing 50 billion won.”
“Yes, I intend to distribute it equally.”
The remaining percentage was 7%.
So, if seven places proposed 50 billion won, they could invest 1% each.
However, according to Shin’s assessment, there were dozens of such places.
In other words, if not seven but seventy places proposed 50 billion won, they could only invest 0.1% each.
‘I’m curious. How many places will actually propose 50 billion won?’
After pondering this, he read the third part.
“The deposit is 50% of the desired investment amount, and it must be deposited in a domestic bank in won. If it cannot be verified, investment is impossible… Ah, this might eliminate a few places. If they are not domestic investors, they have to send money to Korea, which might incur losses due to exchange rates.”
“Recently, exchange rates have been unstable. I believe it’s the investors’ responsibility to manage that risk. If a few places drop out, it can’t be helped.”
Was he expecting that to be unlikely?
As always, Lee Hyun-woo’s voice carried strong confidence.
“Fourth, the subscription date is three weeks from now, i.e., from 8 AM to 4 PM on December 13.”
The details from the fourth part onwards were quite similar to general subscriptions.
As he felt last time, Lee Hyun-woo’s financial knowledge seemed substantial, having set out these unique subscription rules for Jungle.
“Really impressive. CEO, you seem like someone who worked in a securities firm or bank.”
“Is that so? Thank you for the compliment. I didn’t know I had such talent either. Maybe I’ll venture into finance later.”
“Excuse me? Haha…”
Shin’s awkward laugh carried a silent message: ‘Please don’t joke about that.’
But was it a joke? In Hyun-woo’s previous life, a portal site company owned an internet bank.
That’s why Hyun-woo’s expression was quite serious.
‘Should I advance Fintech too?’
