After returning from Cheong Wa Dae, Simon rushed to his residence in Itaewon. After lunch, he took a short break and invited Peter Bernast, chief representative of the IMF's Korea team, and Michael Gate, his direct spokesman in the IMF team. drink coffee together.
The Westeros system was able to quickly control the South Korean economy, and the IMF team in South Korea was indispensable.
While Simon personally discussed the details of the follow-up operations of the IMF team in South Korea with the two people, he also recognized the work of this team in South Korea over the past six months.
After finishing the meeting with the two people, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Simon rushed to Daenerys Entertainment's Korean headquarters in Hannam-dong. In the office prepared for him in advance, he met with the three giants of SK Entertainment, Samsung Entertainment, Hyundai Entertainment and Showbox, Acrab Online, TD Soft, JY Entertainment, Mini6 Studio and a number of other entertainment company leaders are either key players or have achieved good results.
Unlike a large number of hidden pieces that are quietly planted, these are all clear moves and there is no need to avoid them.
Of course, there is nothing too specific. We listen to the work reports of each person in charge, talk about some ideas for the company's future operations, and even discuss some specific and subtle project details.
To put it bluntly, it is better to recognize the master.
Let these people know exactly who is their real boss.
After finishing this matter, we drove back to the mountain manor in the southeast of Seoul where the reception was held last night. It was already past seven o'clock in the evening.
After dinner, Simon came to the study, turned on the computer, and connected to the video communication with Chen Qing in China.
There is only one time zone difference between China and South Korea, and it is already night in China. As soon as Chen Qing showed up at her mansion in Maoer Hutong, Beijing, she begged pitifully for mercy: "Boss, I was wrong, I don't dare to do it anymore. "
"I'll settle the score with you later when I have time," Simon just glared at Nizi across from him and got down to business: "Have you read the list from the Blue House?"
Chen Qing also put away her playful expression, turned serious, and said: "The boss is too talkative."
From a stack of documents next to him, Simon found a list of factories that the Blue House had sent to him in the afternoon that he hoped to delay closure. While flipping through it, he said: "You are going a little too far. You want to speed up the transfer of the industrial chain to China and reduce costs. That's right. But, just like today, when I went to the Blue House, there were a bunch of people blocking the outside, which is not good. If turmoil breaks out in South Korea, our losses will only be greater."
"No, I have asked our team in South Korea to accelerate the promotion of the "South Korean National Minimum Living Security Law". It will be voted on and passed by February next year at the latest, before the Lunar New Year in Asia. By then, life will be guaranteed to a certain extent. The mood of the unemployed people in South Korea will stabilize. In addition, through this strategy, we can not only pass on the cost of layoffs to the Korean government to the greatest extent, but also prompt the Korean government to borrow more money from the IMF in order to extend the time of the IMF system. The boss should We also found that the recovery of South Korea’s economy has exceeded expectations.”
Simon nodded in approval of Chen Qing's idea, and said: "Jin Dazhong's idea is that these factories need to exist for half a year to a year longer. You can pick the half with more serious conflicts and delay it. We don't need to bear the expenses anyway, or Borrow from the IMF.”
Seeing that her boss had made up his mind, Chen Qing did not refute, but just bargained: "Boss, how about one-third?"
"Don't be so stingy, just half."
With the unemployment rate continuing to skyrocket after South Korea revised its statistical rules, if the pressure continues, it is inevitable that some unexpected things will happen, and even force the South Korean authorities to take extreme measures.
Simon made a decision. He was too lazy to hammer Chen Qing and don't push South Korea too hard. He wouldn't change it anyway. He just decided to pull back more in the future to prevent a certain girl from being too fast and too weak. Instead, he said: "In addition, Regarding South Korea’s rapid economic recovery, I am also considering today that we can promote the appreciation of the Korean won. You can discuss it with Cersei’s senior management, or you can contact some hedge funds to come up with a plan as soon as possible.”
The rapid stabilization and recovery of South Korea's economy in the past year is mainly due to two things.
The first is the positive effect that the Westeros System bet on South Korea for the country. Because of Simon's layout in South Korea and following suit, in just the first three quarters of this year, the scale of foreign investment inflows into South Korea reached 26 billion U.S. dollars. It is expected to exceed US$35 billion annually. Such a huge inflow of foreign capital quickly made up for the thirst for funds in all walks of life in South Korea.
The second reason is the depreciation of the Korean won.
Compared with the stable exchange rate of 800:1 against the US dollar in previous years, the recent exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar has remained around 1,600:1, depreciating by half compared with before the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis.
This is actually the reason why the Westeros system secretly suppresses it, mainly to absorb more of South Korea's assets at a lower price.
Although the sharp depreciation of the South Korean won has had a catastrophic impact on the South Korean economy, the most obvious one is that this year’s GDP is expected to be only equivalent to US$380 billion, which has shrunk by nearly 40% compared with the peak of US$610 billion two years ago, but On the other hand, it also greatly stimulated South Korea's exports.
You know, in the years before the crisis, South Korea, as an export-oriented country that has been maintained since the Park Chung-hee era, has been in deficit for several consecutive years.
This is obviously not a good sign.
As the crisis broke out, the Korean won depreciated sharply and exports surged. In the first three quarters of this year alone, South Korea had a trade surplus equivalent to approximately US$11 billion. This amount may not be enough compared to South Korea's current total foreign debt. It will not be enough to ease the impact of South Korea's economy. The embarrassment is tantamount to providing help in the snow.
If this good situation continues, unlike other countries that are still hesitant in the crisis, South Korea will be able to get out of the shadow of the crisis ahead of schedule next year.
Of course Simon doesn't want to see this happen too quickly.
There are many ways to stop it. For example, the Westeros system will randomly create some negative things, and suddenly it will no longer be optimistic about South Korea. The results will definitely be immediate.
The problem is that there are many sequelae.
The safer one is to re-promote the appreciation of the Korean won.
The appreciation of the South Korean won will not only curb South Korea's exports again, but also prevent the flow of international capital into South Korea. After all, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 1,600 won. If it suddenly can only be exchanged for 1,500, 1,400, 1,300 or even less, the investment of international capital will Motivation is bound to be frustrated.
Exports are once again blocked and capital inflows are reduced, which will inevitably delay South Korea's economic recovery.
Simon changed the topic directly, and Chen Qing stopped entangled. She lowered her head to write down what had just happened on the memo. When she heard her boss talking about promoting the appreciation of the Korean won, she quickly raised her head: "Boss, we have thought of it together, and I am also planning to do so." I’ll tell you about it tonight.”
Simon heard this and said: "In that case, I don't need to waste any more words. Do you have a plan?"
"Yes," Chen Qing showed a smiling expression again: "Since the boss's trip to Seoul, I have already thought about the title. Simon Westeros secretly visits Seoul, or increases investment in South Korea. How about it?"
Simon directly denied: "No, the exposure of the news may help promote the appreciation of the South Korean won, but it will also make more investors strengthen their confidence in South Korea. Therefore, in terms of suppressing South Korea's exports and reducing international capital inflows, it can only achieve one goal." .”
The key to inhibiting South Korea's economic recovery is capital.
If the foreign exchange funds earned by South Korea and the inflow of international capital into South Korea only inhibit the growth of one or even stimulate the growth of the other, the effect will not be very good.
In fact, Simon can also understand that most people who should know that he has been to South Korea already know.
The key is to keep information out of reach for most people who do not get similar information, and then, through the rapid appreciation of the South Korean won, the risk concerns of most international capital will be greatly increased. After all, capital must consider the rate of return. If you invest funds in a country, even if there are various favorable factors, due to changes in the exchange rate, the value of the country will have depreciated by more than ten or twenty percentage points before anything is done. Then the relevant market It’s definitely going to be intimidating.
When Chen Qing heard what Simon said, she reacted: "I only thought of the first one, the boss. I was negligent, or the boss is great."
Simon ignored the flattery from the girl opposite him and continued: "Anyway, the Forbes list has just been released, and the media will be very lively next, so don't use me as a gimmick anymore. Apart from that, you can use other methods yourself. , now... still calculated according to the Chinese Lunar New Year, there are still three months left. I hope that before the New Year, the Korean won will increase by more than 20%, at least back to around 1,300."
Chen Qing said: "20% for three months, is the boss a bit conservative?"
Simon emphasized slightly: "20% for three months, no matter how high it is, I will settle the score with you."
Chen Qing shrank her neck, knowing that her boss was still criticizing her for doing something too radical, so she could only nod.
In fact, we certainly know that if a country's currency rises by 20% in just three months, the impact on import and export will already reach catastrophic levels. Even if the Korean won is too cheap due to last year's crisis and the deliberate suppression of the Westeros system, a 20% fluctuation will seriously affect South Korea's exports.
This is enough.
No matter how high it is, the interests of the Westeros system itself will also be affected.
Just like Nokia and Tinker Bayer are currently increasing their efforts to purchase various components from South Korea. If the exchange rate rises too fast, each company's component procurement costs will also rise, affecting their own profits.
For the sake of the overall situation, the increase in related costs is inevitable, but even so, Simon cannot help but explain it to each company.
If the Korean won exchange rate rises beyond the upper limit of what each company can bear, and becomes more expensive than Japan or North America, even Simon himself will not be able to demand each manufacturer to maintain the overall situation, at least not for too long.
Speaking of which, many things Simon has done in the past two years are actually seeking balance.
Golden mean.
The main reason is that the Westeros system is expanding too fast, making money is too easy due to the Matthew Effect, coupled with its own size and the fact that Western capital is king, the entire Westeros system is like Chen Qing. There are many executives who remain aggressive in this way.
Everyone is working hard to move forward. In order to avoid losing control, Simon, the boss, can only step in personally to hold back the situation.
All kinds of delays.
After all, there are too many cases in people's memory that prove that you can't make enough money, and many wealthy tycoons who have failed are often too aggressive and their business empires get out of control.
If the Westeros system, which currently controls trillions of dollars in assets, gets out of control, Simon himself can't even imagine the outcome.
Therefore, Simon will take the initiative to restrain himself, give in as much as possible, and avoid making more profits as much as possible.
This is definitely not an easy task.
Human nature is greed engraved on the genetic level. Going against the deepest instinct to constantly backhand is similar to cutting one's own flesh.
It can even confuse those around you.
We can obviously get more, why should we give up
Then they talked about some things in South Korea, and Chen Qing talked about China: "Boss, just today, the Press and Publication Administration issued a new "Interim Measures for the Management of Electronic Games." Simply put, it is to strengthen the regulation of games. It has been approved, and it nominally covers stand-alone games and online games, but it is actually for our online games.”
"This is also a good thing," Simon said, but he didn't have any objections: "Several companies in China also took the initiative to collect some money."
Chen Qing blinked: "Actually, I want to say that this is a good thing for us."
When Simon heard what Nizi said, he thought about it for a while and came to a conclusion.
The so-called management, after all, is still managed by people.
When approvals are tight, the unlucky ones are only those small game publishers who don’t have money. In the Westeros system, of course, they get whatever they ask for.
Smiling, Simon subconsciously warned: "Don't go too far. I'll give you a task. Within half a year, mainland China will foster at least one cutting-edge game company that has nothing to do with us."
Chen Qing grimaced: "Boss, this kind of thing is very difficult for me."
Simon said nothing nonsense: "Half a year, remember?"
"Remember."
"So, is there anything else I need to know?"
Chen Qing nodded and continued to talk about some things. After another half an hour, the call ended.
Simon then processed another batch of work emails, focusing on replying to an email to Pat Kingsley, the head of the Westeros family’s media and public relations team, to discuss the public relations strategy for the next period after the release of the Forbes list. .
After finishing all this work, it was past ten o'clock in the night.
The next day, Simon still got up early. After breakfast, he also packed up and set off directly to fly back to Los Angeles.
Arriving at the West Coast of the United States, due to the time difference, it was still the morning of November 10th.
The time is Tuesday.
Just the day before on Monday, Forbes' 1998 list of the 400 richest people in the United States was released. Not only the physical magazine, but also the official website released the list that morning, which inevitably triggered a wave of public opinion again. .
Fortunately, under the operation of the Westeros family public relations team, this noise does not appear to be high-profile.
Even... For example, on online platforms such as the Yigrit Portal, the new year's list of the 400 richest people in the United States is not the most popular news.
The hottest topic is, of course, the President in the White House.
About Clinton's settlement with Paula Jones over the weekend.
Plus, there's Newt Gingrich's resignation.
Take Facebook's community hot news list. Within 24 hours of the list being released, Simon's net worth of $1.8 trillion slipped from third place to seventh place when Simon returned to Los Angeles. It is difficult to arouse public interest. Posture.