American Scandal King

Chapter 203 Negotiation with Samsung

Hong Hotel.

Kim Hee Sun sat in front of the dressing mirror with a pale face.

The beauty in the mirror had a dim look and looked pitiful.

Not far behind her, a middle-aged man in a black suit shouted angrily, "Shit! This concerns the glory of the country. You have no right to refuse!"

Kim Hee Sun could no longer contain her grief and anger.

She looked back angrily: "Why does it have to be me?"

The middle-aged man in the black suit roared, "Do you think you can avoid this just because you're a celebrity? Your status only qualifies you to serve men of higher status! Ian Carr is American! He now owns CBS, Fox Entertainment, and Gannett. His Carr Media is now one of the most powerful media groups in the world!"

Kim Hee Sun said sadly: "Is it better than Samsung?"

The other party shook his head slightly. "Of course he can't compare. He's not as strong as Samsung, but he has a loud voice! He can make his words spread throughout the world! Only he can wash away the shame endured by the Republic of Korea. Xishan, this is for the honor of the country!"

Jin Xishan looked at the other party coldly: "Even if it's not for the country, you will do this."

"At least it won't be you!"

Kim Hee Sun lowered her head in despair.

She knew she was lucky.

She didn't debut as a trainee.

If it's a Korean trainee who debuts, don't even mention national honor.

If the big boss needs you, you have to go and accompany him.

Her experience was better than those trainees. She was less controlled and became famous early, so she didn't have to go through this kind of thing.

She thought she could escape, but she found that even if it came to this point, she still couldn't escape!

The more famous she is, the more likely she is to be chosen.

After all, there is never a shortage of beauties, and only beauties with a halo have added value!
And the reason she was chosen was because Ian Carr was said to not like women who were too promiscuous, which was very un-American.

So, she was chosen.

And there is no right to refuse.

Because this time it is not just Samsung's intention, but also the Blue House's intention.

They urgently need to resolve this World Cup scandal and restore their international reputation.

Sad and helpless.

She sat there, staring at herself in the mirror.

I murmured in my heart: As expected, actors are actors. No matter how high they reach, their fate cannot be avoided from being controlled by others!
Even with the so-called rise of women's rights in South Korea, these women are still commodities after all! They are resources to be bargained for!

The man in the suit also saw her mood and said coldly: "Wipe your tears and don't make our distinguished guest angry!"

With that he left.

Half an hour later, Kim Hee Sun finally finished dressing up.

She was wearing a Korean traditional costume, walked out of the dressing room and came to the waiting room.

There, she suddenly saw Song Hye Kyo and Choo Ja Hyun.

This made her slightly stunned.

Are they here too?
There were still tears in Song Hye Kyo's eyes, and she was slightly startled when she saw Kim Hee Sun.

Then she chuckled: "You're here too?"

Jin Xishan smiled helplessly and looked around: "Ji Xian is not here?"

Qiu Xiaxuan, who was standing by, replied, "Also, in the other room."

Kim Hee Sun was indignant: "So all the famous actresses in the Republic of Korea were called here? Just to satisfy Ian Carr?"

"Hush!" Song Hye Kyo gently raised her finger: "Not all of them. Some people are busy filming and don't have time. But we can get away with it this time, but not next time. Now our only hope is that he doesn't like us."

Kim Hee Sun sat there in a daze.

She knew that this expectation was a little ridiculous, like a straw for a drowning man.

They were in the waiting room at the moment, and could see the reception hall in the distance from the window next to them.

In the luxurious reception hall, Lee Kun-hee, accompanied by several senior officials of the Blue House, was talking to a young man.

It was Ian Carr, whose photo Kim Hee Sun had seen.

Even as the boss of Samsung, Lee Kun-hee's face was filled with enthusiasm when facing Ian.

Kim Hee Sun has met many group bosses, and their faces are always full of pride.

That is the arrogance of treating everything as straw dogs.

Only in front of Americans does he start to act like a dog.

Ian Carr’s net worth may not be as great as Lee Kun-hee’s now, but so what?

Now the whole of South Korea is begging him, not to mention that he is an American and his biological father!
What comforted her a little was that Ian Karl was at least a handsome guy, which alleviated a lot of her inner resistance and pain.

She couldn't hear what they were talking about and could only wait silently.

A moment later, a middle-aged woman came in and said, "Xishan, go and deliver the fruits."

Kim Hee Sun understood.

She stood up gently, picked up the bowl of fruit that had been prepared long ago like a waiter, and followed another waiter over.

Carrying the fruits to the center of the reception room, Kim Hee Sun followed the previous maid's actions, knelt on one knee, and placed the fruits one by one.

The translator's voice came from my ear: "Mr. Karl believes that Samsung Group will have great development in the future. He plans to buy ten points of Samsung Group's shares, but his current funds are limited and he can only afford 2 billion."

Li Jianxi chuckled and said, "This price is indeed a bit cheap."

Kim Hee Sun was secretly surprised.

In the future, Samsung Group's value will appreciate to more than 300 billion US dollars, but now its market value is only more than 40 billion US dollars.

Even so, that's not something that can be bought with 2 billion.

The translator passed the message on. Kim Hee-sun's English was pretty good, and she heard Ian Carr say, "If the Bank of Korea can lend money, the price can be negotiated."

It would cost 130 billion to purchase Fox Entertainment, a sum that Lino alone cannot come up with - Lino Bank has been working hard to develop recently, but the funds it has at its disposal are only around billion.

Not to mention that the bank doesn't have that much money now, even if it did, it wouldn't be given to him alone. The bank won't put all its eggs in one basket.

So Ian also contacted Ankang Insurance Company, Dubang Group, etc., and needed the support of multiple companies to acquire the shares.

In this case, he doesn't have extra money to buy Samsung shares.

But Ian didn't care.

To be precise, what he wanted from Samsung was never equity. The Lee family had its own equity structure, and even if they only had 4%, they could still control the company. Their market value had only increased five or six times in the past 30 years. As for now, the Lee family still owned more than % of the shares.

In terms of return on investment, it is not as strong as those future Internet companies... But on the one hand, those Internet companies do not need so much investment, and on the other hand, Ian needs to establish his own position in South Korea.

Status and influence are always the most important.

So for Ian, it means using Korean money to buy Korean companies and infiltrate them at the same time.

He doesn't care whether it succeeds or not, anyway, it's you who need me now. He said this and looked at Kim Hee Sun.

Wow, even Kim Hee Sun was sent here to be a waiter. In addition to Song Hye Kyo, Choo Ja Hyun, and Jun Ji Hyun who appeared before, the Koreans really brought out everything they could.

The problem is, this is a big deal.

Is it worth spending tens of millions or even hundreds of millions on a few female stars?
Anyway, for Ian Carr, it’s not worth it!

Although Ian had many women in the past two years, few of them required him to spend money, especially hundreds of millions of dollars.

Starting a business is not easy, and every penny must be spent wisely.

Kim Hee Sun's name is not Golden Blade.

An official sitting next to Lee Kun-hee said, "South Korea can lend you money, but how do you plan to clean up our reputation?"

Ian spread his hands. "Don't expect any special methods. What's important is long-term brainwashing. We can instill this concept in people around the world: every country has villains. This World Cup is just an individual incident, not representative of all Koreans. Koreans are generally good people. We can report more on the good deeds of Koreans around the world. For example, bravely saving an innocent girl, caring about the environment, being humble and polite, and all the other good things."

When talking about the humility of Koreans, Ian almost vomited, but fortunately, his professional qualities as a businessman allowed him to quickly adjust his mentality.

As long as you give them benefits, Koreans are good people!

Koreans are very humble and they never steal other people's history...that statement is worth two billion!

In fact, it is very difficult to clear the reputation of Koreans.

Because first of all, this cannot be written into the contract.

You said the contract states that "Carl Media must promote Korea in a positive light." What are the standards?
If Carl Media publishes a positive report on a large page, saying a few words about Koreans being nice, would that mean the agreement has been completed?
Secondly, there are no standards for this matter itself. National reputation is something that has no scale and is difficult to evaluate; it is a very subjective and idealistic thing.

To what extent is the agreement considered complete?
If I just pick up a few people on the street and yell “Koreans are all good people”, would that count as meeting the target?

Without clear quantitative indicators, this is difficult to do.

But you have no choice yet!
Because at the moment, no one can help them except Ian Carr - the other media are also shaking their heads, it is really too difficult.

They can only hope that Ian will do it, and they can only pursue the process, not the results - that is, as long as Ian Carl does what he promised, he is not responsible for the results!
This is also why they are always discussing what Ian Carl should do... They can only discuss the operation methods, but cannot discuss the results after the operation.

As for Ian, his ideas were much simpler.

You can say nice things, but as to how far you can salvage the situation, doesn't that depend on you Koreans?
You are asking for trouble. It is none of my business. At most, my company will not report any negative news about you.

So for him, this is a pure profit.

At this time, Kim Hee Sun had already placed the fruits and vegetables and was about to leave.

Li Jianxi noticed that Ian looked at Jin Xishan a few more times, so he waved his hand and said, "Go, stand next to Mr. Karl and be at your service at any time."

Kim Hee Sun had no choice but to lower her head and stand behind Ian.

Glancing at Kim Hee-sun's slender figure, Ian smiled slightly and continued, "You can't undo the impact of an explosive event with just another piece of explosive news. Only through long-term accumulation can the impression be gradually transformed. It's like being shot; the damage takes a long time to heal. That's the situation in South Korea right now. You expect me to fix it all in one go, but that's impossible and unrealistic. Otherwise, it wouldn't be me sitting here now, but Summer Redstone, Ralph Roberts, or Rudolph Murdoch."

Ian paused and continued, "The Jews went to the Middle East and killed people wantonly, but why don't they have a bad reputation? Because the media has always glorified them. They killed so many people, but in the end they were still the poor victims! The World Cup cheating incident is a trivial matter and can be easily resolved. People forget things, and even news like this will be over in a few months at most."

Ian did not intend to make any big news to clear the reputation of the Koreans. On the contrary, this kind of publicity that requires a long time is easier to control.

After finally saving some face, he turned around and made another vicious revelation.

Just like the stock market.

Trading is about ups and downs!

Lee Kun-hee laughed and said, "It doesn't sound like you can do more."

At this moment, Ian looked at the tea in the cup and found it was empty.

No waiter came to serve tea.

A man in a black suit glared at Kim Hee Sun: "Shit! Hurry up and pour tea for the gentleman."

Kim Hee Sun finally reacted and hurriedly poured tea for Ian.

Ian patted her little hands and smiled, "If you're not used to this, don't force it."

Very moist!

He poured tea himself, saying calmly, "The media can make people forget, or they can prevent them from forgetting. With so many people in a country, there are always both ugliness and kindness. You can choose to report on the ugly side, or you can choose to report on the truth, goodness, and beauty. The right to choose news is the media's greatest power."

Lee Kun-hee was speechless.

Are you saying that if I don't agree to your request, you will report our bad side?

In fact, Ian really wanted to have a good talk with Lee Kun-hee, and try not to use threatening methods.

But some things are just habits.

As they were chatting, they accidentally started using threats again.

The key point is that Ian is really threatening now!
He controls three major media outlets at the same time, and his voice is so loud that any word he says is known to the whole world.

After thinking for a moment, Lee Kun-hee looked at the Blue House officials beside him.

The official said, "45 billion, 3% interest."

Ian shook his head: "32 billion, 2% interest, only interest paid within 5 years."

In 02, South Korea's interest rate was only 2.25, while Japan's interest rate has been around 1 point or even 0.1 for a long time.

The most profitable way to do international finance is to borrow money from these low-interest countries and then deposit it in a high-interest bank. You don’t have to do anything and just make the difference in a year - the premise is that the handling fees are low and the exchange rate fluctuations are not large. However, the exchange rate fluctuations can rise or fall, so if the operation is good, the overall gains will outweigh the losses.

The famous Buffett is an expert in this area and has made a lot of money by taking advantage of the interest rate gap between countries.

Of course, low-interest countries are not fools, so there are restrictions. For example, the money borrowed from me can only be used for investment here, or there are a lot of cross-border fees, and even currency exchange restrictions.

For example, in China, ordinary people are limited to exchanging US$50,000. Of course, for wealthy people, this restriction does not exist. They have many ways to circumvent it, and it is the same in every country.

The amount of the handling fee depends on the country, and the highest fees are in Europe.

For example, if Germans want to remit money to South Korea, they must first deposit the money in a local bank in Germany, transfer the money from the local bank to the German central bank, then transfer the money from the German central bank to the European Central Bank, and then transfer the money from the European Central Bank to the United States. It must be sent through the international payment system before it can reach South Korea. If the Americans do not agree, the money cannot be transferred out.

And each process has a handling fee.

But the US-centered payment system does not have so many checkpoints, which means huge profits.

No matter how many checkpoints Japan and South Korea set up, it will be useless. After all, Japan and South Korea are dogs of the United States, and the restrictions are only on ordinary people. Americans have plenty of ways to get money from these two countries - this is why the interest rates in Japan and South Korea are so low.

Later, when the Japanese raised interest rates, the United States directly declared it a betrayal of Americans.

Ian didn’t have the ability to borrow money from Japan and South Korea before, but now it’s easy.

I borrowed money directly from Korean banks and invested in Korean companies. You have nothing to say, right?
Yes, that's right. But Samsung shares aren't that easy to give away! Besides, you're only paying interest for five years! And you're only counting 10% of Samsung as 32 billion?
Hey, that’s a matter of asking for a high price and paying it back on the spot!

Everyone was silent at the same time.

Lee Kun-hee looked back at the people behind him, then stepped back. A moment later, the girls in the waiting room came out and stood on both sides of the reception room.

Li Jianxi looked at Ian with a smile and said, "Big deals can't be concluded in one go. Why don't you enjoy our hospitality, Mr. Karl?"

Ian smiled.

His eyes swept over Song Hye Kyo and the others, and he nodded: "I've experienced Korean hospitality. It's really sincere and warm. I like it too."

Li Jianxi smiled brightly: "Which one do you like?"

Ian didn't answer, but his eyes stopped on Kim Hee Sun, Song Hye Kyo, Choo Ja Hyun and Jun Ji Hyun one after another.

They are all beauties, but those with halos are just different!
He chuckled and said, "I like them all!"

(End of this chapter)