Chapter 299 I want

Chapter 299 I want

Chapter 299 I want

As the new president, it was not easy for Lee Min-bo to win the election. He encountered many setbacks and accidents along the way, and was almost sent to prison by the investigation of President Roh. What has supported him to where he is today is definitely not his personal charm or ability, at least that is not decisive. What really supported him to where he is today and to victory is the forces that provide him with various support behind the scenes.

For example, people like An Rusong, chaebols like SK, and planners like Bai Jinjun.

As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, everyone around him will benefit. Since Lee Min-bok has won the election today and become the new president of the Republic of Korea, the first thing he has to do is to give corresponding feedback to those who support him. He has to let everyone see that he, Lee Min-bok, will not let those who follow him suffer.

People like Bai Jinjun who give him advice will get the power they want. Therefore, Bai Jinjun has a predetermined position: Chief of the Blue House Secretariat and Chief Steward of the Presidential Palace. Therefore, Cui Taiyuan will receive a special pardon from the president and he will no longer have to hide in the gutter like he did in the past three years. Therefore, An Rusong, the chairman of NGN, will receive some policy and financial support from the national level, which will be a great boost to the development of NGN.

Just by looking at this draft plan, An Rushong could guess that the ultimate profit point of NGN in the plan must be the government funding support of a total of 15 trillion won. This money will most likely be deducted from NGN companies in the form of interest-free loans or even direct policy support funds.

The people in charge of allocating the money will not give much money directly to NGN, after all, that would be too shameful. They will first come up with such a policy of financial support, and then publicly announce various prerequisites for obtaining the funds, such as: the company that can enjoy the financial support must be an IT company, and must be an IT company established in the past two years; the company size must meet certain standards, such as the valuation must be more than US$5 million and less than US$15 billion; the software developed by the company must have more than 1 million registered users, etc.

In short, any IT company in the Republic of Korea can apply for financial support, but any company that applies must meet the various conditions listed by the government. However, what is certain is that the number of companies that ultimately meet the conditions for financial support will not exceed 10, and NGN will definitely be one of them.

An Rushong's appetite was not very big, he was not too greedy. He thought that as long as he could get one tenth of the 15 trillion won in government funding mentioned in the draft, it would be enough. After all, the 1 million US dollars in policy support, even if the money was just an interest-free loan that would need to be repaid in the future, could already help him solve a big problem at the moment.

As for those private investments, An Rusong would not have any idea. Those things were not used to give money, but were specifically used to give to certain people to reasonably avoid taxes. For example, the Samsung Lee family, who were planning to transfer their inheritance, really needed this policy.

"How about it? Do you have any ideas?" Bai Jinjun, who had been quietly drinking coffee beside him while watching him read the entire draft from beginning to end, finally asked.

After glancing at the other party, An Rusong closed the draft document and thought for a moment before saying, "From the perspective of people working in the information industry, Mr. Qingxi's idea is clearly a good policy. To be honest, perhaps it's a policy bias, or perhaps it's influenced by the bursting of the Internet bubble, our country's emphasis on the information industry is far from enough."

Bai Jinjun looked at him with a smile, did not interrupt, but waited patiently for him to continue speaking.

"The situation in our country is very similar to that in Japan," An Rusong brought the coffee from the desk in front of him, held it with both hands, brought it to his lips and took a sip, and said, "That is, the development of information technology has seriously lagged behind. Even if we only look at East Asia, China's domestic information technology development is far ahead of ours."

He was not speaking nonsense. Although China's economic development scale is not so impressive these days, in terms of informatization, due to the attention from the national level, its development speed can really be described as rapid. As for Japan and South Korea...well, this is also directly related to the small domestic markets of Japan and South Korea, but the lack of attention in national policies is definitely one of the key points.

Especially in Japan, even in this day and age, people still use floppy disks to store files, and fax machines to transmit files remotely.

"Mr. Qingxi's inauguration as the new president and his decision to make the information industry a new growth point for the national economy is indeed a far-sighted decision." However, An Rushong said this not to give advice to Lee Min-bo, nor was he motivated by public interest to promote the development of Korea's information industry. He just wanted to flatter Lee Min-bo and point out the importance of NGN Company.

Therefore, after these two simple sentences, he changed the subject and said directly: "As one of the newly developed information technology companies in our country in the past two years, NGN Company is looking forward to the official promulgation of this draft. Of course, NGN Company also has full confidence and full assurance that it can become a key link in the layout of the Republic of Korea's information industry."

What this meant was that NGN was very interested in the government's policy support and was determined to get it. "Hahaha" Bai Jinjun couldn't help laughing after hearing what he said. He put the coffee cup back on the desk, then reached out and patted An Rusong on the shoulder, saying, "Rusong, we are not outsiders, there is no need to speak in this tone."

He squeezed An Rusong's shoulder firmly and added in a more serious tone: "I treat you as my younger brother. Don't say those inappropriate words in front of your brother."

An Rusong smiled innocently and said, "Well, Brother Jin Jun, I'll be frank. Although we just completed the first round of financing not long ago, NGN is currently in a critical period of development. The promotion of software localization is very capital-intensive. At the same time, the company is building a new headquarters and data center, which all cost money."

After a pause, he continued, "The most important thing is that I am planning to carry out a series of overseas promotional activities in the future, which will also cost money, and a large sum of money. Therefore, I really need these policy supports, especially financial support."

Bai Jinjun nodded, and after he finished speaking, he asked, "I've paid special attention to it. Your NGN is indeed developing at an astonishing rate. In just a few months, the market valuation has exceeded 15 billion US dollars. In fact, can it really reach that high?"

"It's hard to say," An Rusong said honestly. "The current valuation is so high for two main reasons: first, the software is developing at a relatively fast pace, and the rising curve of the number of newly registered users is very attractive. In addition, the software has already generated some income through some additional services, which means it has a profit point, which is very important to investors."

He swallowed and continued, "Second, there is a lack of similar and competitive products on the market. To be more precise, the launch of the photo wall function has differentiated NGN from existing instant messaging software such as MSN. It is no longer a simple instant messaging software, but has become a comprehensive software with both instant messaging and community functions."

“It is because of these two points that the market is generally optimistic about it, thereby pushing up the company’s valuation,” he concluded.

"The profit point is unique," Bai Jinjun thought for a moment and said, "In other words, with these two points, the company's valuation effect is very good."

"If you think about it simply, you can say that," An Rushong nodded in agreement.

"So, when will NGN prepare for the second round of financing?" Bai Jinjun asked, "How high are your expectations for the second round of financing?"

"My idea is not to conduct the second round of financing at least before September this year," An Rusong thought for a moment and said, "At present, the competitive relationship between NGN and MSN has already emerged. There is news that MSN is preparing to launch corresponding versions for the specific languages ​​and customs of East Asia and Southeast Asia. In addition, it may also launch a function similar to the photo wall. Therefore, in the next six months, the company's main task is to consolidate the market share of the software in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and squeeze out MSN's influence from this region as much as possible."

At this point, he thought for a while and said, "As for the expectations for the second round of financing, I am still relatively optimistic. If the B round of financing can be scheduled for the end of this year, I estimate that by then, the market valuation of NGN should be more than US$20 billion, or even more than US$25 billion."

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but An Rushong felt that when he said the last sentence, Bai Jinjun’s hand seemed to tremble and his eyes seemed to glow.

"So confident?" After two or three seconds of silence, Bai Jinjun asked with a smile.

"Haha, I do have this confidence," An Rusong said with a relaxed smile, "mainly because I have enough confidence in the next two updates of NGN software. MSN does not pose a threat to us. Their ideas are too outdated and can no longer keep up with the times."

(End of this chapter)