Chapter 212 July
Chapter 212 December
When Mike, Macaulay, and Jin Bingzou came over, it was already twelve o'clock. Although An Rushong knew about Jin Bingzou in his previous life, this was the first time he saw him in person. Therefore, he was quite curious about this person.
Today, Jin Bingzou has just entered middle age. Although he has a square head and a big face, he looks younger than his actual age. At first glance, one would think that he is just thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, with the demeanor of a successful young man.
Before this, An Rushong had learned some basic information about Jin Bingzou from Macaulay and knew that this guy's success was not without reason. He was a top student at Harvard Business School, and his first job experience in life was from Goldman Sachs.
Of course, personal talent is secondary. The most crucial point is that he married an extraordinary wife.
Kim Byung-jo's wife is Park Jung-ah, who was the Prime Minister during President Kim Dae-chung's administration, a former major general of the South Korean Army, the founder of POSCO, South Korea's largest steel conglomerate, and the daughter of Han Tae-joon, former president of the Liberal Democratic League.
In addition, Kim Byung-jo is Park Jung-a's second husband. Her ex-husband was named Jeon Jae-yong, the second son of the then President Jeon.
It was with the support of his wife that Kim Byung-jo was able to develop so quickly and smoothly. During the Asian financial crisis in 1998, he participated in the issuance of foreign debt by the Korean government, and took this opportunity to officially join the Carlyle Group.
In the second year after joining Carlyle Group, he personally led Carlyle Group's acquisition of Korea America Bank. Who would believe that there was no strong support from his father-in-law?
Furthermore, two years ago, Kim Byung-jo returned to Seoul from the United States and founded the private equity fund "MBK Partners". In just two months, he obtained 1 trillion won in financing. Even if part of this money came from the Carlyle Group, how could he have gotten the remaining part without his father-in-law's endorsement?
Of course, all of this is secondary. For a person, one's own intelligence and talent are certainly necessary resources for personal development, but interpersonal relationships, social circles, and even nepotism are also necessary resources for personal development.
No matter what, for a person, the most important result is success. As for how much unbearable and dirty things are in the process of success, it is obviously not that important.
For today's gathering, Kim Byung-joo should be the main character among the four people. After all, one of the two purposes of Luo Quanyi returning to Seoul is to get in touch with him. And Mike and Macaulay also seem to be very interested in MBK controlled by Kim Byung-joo.
But what's interesting is that after hearing that An Rusong was the chairman of NGN, Jin Bingzou showed great interest in him. He even asked about the second round of financing of NGN in front of Macaulay. It can be seen that Jin Bingzou has paid attention to the development of NGN and is interested in participating in the second round of financing of NGN.
Although Jin Bingzuo was suspected of poaching employees in person, Macaulay obviously did not mind. First of all, NGN had just completed its first round of financing. The financing of 6250 million US dollars was enough to support it for a long time. Starting the second round of financing in a short period of time would not only damage the interests of Defeng Jurer and Apple, but also An Rushong's personal interests. Considering that he held the most shares, the damage to his interests would be the most serious.
Secondly, the financing agreement signed between DFJ and NGN includes funds for priority in the second round of financing. Therefore, even if An Rusong starts the second round of financing, DFJ will have absolute priority if the valuation is the same. Even if the private equity fund controlled by Jin Bingzou participates, it can only be ranked behind DFJ unless they offer a higher premium.
An Rusong will certainly not start the second round of financing in the near future. Therefore, in response to Jin Bingzuo's indirect criticism, he could only say that if there is an opportunity in the future, he will definitely choose to cooperate with "MBK Partners".
This lunch was the first time that An Rusong met Jin Bingzou, and the two of them established a preliminary connection. Also during this lunch, neither An Rusong, Luo Quanyi, or Macaulay directly discussed any cooperation issues with Jin Bingzou.
After all, these people were just meeting each other for the first time. If they started talking about cooperation and financing right away, it would not only seem too rash, but also show their own eagerness, which would definitely be detrimental to subsequent cooperation.
However, now that we have had initial contact, it will be much easier to keep in touch in the future. And establishing initial contact is also the real purpose of this lunch.
Also during this lunch, Kim Byung-joo, the founder of a large private equity fund, introduced to everyone several currently popular investment projects, of course, all in South Korea.
For example, the Celltrion Group, which is actively preparing for its IPO, is a biopharmaceutical company that mainly produces monoclonal antibody biological drugs. It is also the largest pharmaceutical production outsourcing company in South Korea. Kim Byung-jo is very optimistic about the future development of this company. Therefore, he believes that purchasing a certain share of its shares when the company goes public will be a very smart investment.
An Rusong had some knowledge of Celltrion Group, because in his previous life, this biological preparation company was very powerful, and its founder, Seo Ting-jin, was one of the top ten richest people in South Korea. In fact, in the era before An Rusong's rebirth, most of the rich people in South Korea began to emerge in this era, such as Kim Byeong-jo and Seo Ting-jin. Of course, if NGN Company did not encounter any major problems, after more than ten years, the name An Rusong would probably have a place on the rich list in South Korea.
No, it’s not the rich list of South Korea, but the rich list of the world.
Just like today's NGN companies, which have just completed their first round of financing, their overall expansion and development can only be considered to have just started. However, in the international investment community, NGN has become a relatively hot topic.
What does this mean?
There is no doubt that this shows that the development prospects of NGN companies are very bright and it has already attracted the attention of the international financing and investment community.
The next day after this meeting, Luo Quan also took a nine o'clock flight back to the United States. Although the two had only known each other for a short time and had only met twice, An Rusong still asked Macaulay about the departure time of the other party's plane and went to the airport to see him off.
The life of ordinary people is dull. An Rushong may not be considered an ordinary person today, but his life is not full of excitement every day.
In the few days after seeing Luo Quanyi off, An Rushong focused all his energy on the company.
On November 11, NGN software underwent a minor version update, and the emoji package applet was officially launched. At the same time, NGN software users around the world also received the first official pop-up window since the installation of NGN software. The content of this pop-up window pushed to NGN users was the method of using the emoji package.
On the day when the pop-up function was launched, Macaulay called An Rushong specifically and asked him whether NGN Software was preparing to launch an advertising business. After all, pop-up windows are the best carrier for advertising. Considering the number of registered users of NGN Software today, if the company officially launches the advertising business, it is estimated that it will obtain a considerable revenue channel.
But An Rushong gave a clear negative answer. He once again explained to Macaulay that NGN would not, at least in the short term, use advertising as the company's profit point, and the pop-up function introduced in this version update was not originally used for advertising.
Today, even without considering the rule of unequal voting rights, An Rusong is still the largest shareholder of NGN. He holds absolute control over the entire company. Therefore, Macaulay, who represents the interests of DFJ, can only make suggestions to him indirectly but cannot ask him to make any decisions.
Furthermore, DFJ has no intention of interfering with NGN's business decisions. It can even be said that DFJ will not interfere with NGN's business decisions before entering the second round of financing. The two parties are now in an absolute honeymoon period of cooperation.
Also on November 11th, two bodyguards arranged by Blackwater officially arrived in Seoul. In the first few days after arriving in South Korea, they did not immediately start working, but instead wandered around several major areas of Seoul to familiarize themselves with the situation there.
At the same time, An Rushong spent another sum of money to buy the property downstairs of the Songquandong mansion and used it as the residence of the two bodyguards so that they could protect him nearby.
To be honest, if the courtyard in Fangbeidong was not too eye-catching and had not been promised to be used for Wen Caiyuan, An Rushong really wanted to move there. The only other reason was that the courtyard was not only in good condition but also spacious enough. Most importantly, An Rushong himself really liked it there.
In this dull time, time slowly entered December.
This December is destined to be a noisy and lively month for the entire Republic of Korea. The competition for the new presidential candidate has entered a fierce stage this month, and the open and covert struggles between conservatives and progressives have also become increasingly fierce.
First, at the beginning of the month, progressive lawmakers passed the so-called "BBK Special Prosecution Law" in the absence of Grand National Party lawmakers. Then, President Roh signed and approved the passage of the bill despite strong opposition from the opposition party. Subsequently, the Grand Prosecutor's Office formally established a special task force to launch a series of investigations on Lee Min-bo, the presidential candidate.
(End of this chapter)