The God of Coding, Becoming an IT Conglomerate

40. next(3)

The food that Steve Jobs served for breakfast was tofu salad.

He opened his mouth while eating the salad.

“How much time do you have in America?”

“I think it will be fine for the next week or so.”

“I’m glad.”

“What are you happy about?”

Jobs smiled and said.

“It means we have plenty of time to talk about NeXT and our stake in Pixar. A day or two is not enough to tell such an important story.”

“haha. Is that so.”

Hoyoung let out an awkward laugh.

He didn’t think that negotiations with Jobs would be easy, but it was the first time that he had negotiated with Jobs off schedule for several days.

“Then it would be better to set the standard and start the negotiations, right? How much of NeXT are you going to buy?”

At Jobs’ words, Hoyoung nodded and said after swallowing the tofu he was chewing.

“I’m thinking about 20%.”

“20%…”

Jobs was lost in thought for a moment.

Hoyoung did not miss Jobs’ corners of his lips slightly rising.

Obviously, it would be to choose which company’s stock to buy back and exclude from management.

Soon he said with a smile that he had made up his mind.

“All right. Then, we can choose who to execute the buyback on our own, right?”

“yes. I just need to be able to bring the stakes safely.”

“good.”

“And there is something I would like to ask for in return for not exercising my 20% stake.”

“What is?”

“I want to use the patents of Nextstep’s technology.”

Jobs’ eyes widened slightly at the unexpected request.

Jobs looked into Hoyoung’s face to see what he was thinking, but there was no way to know.

“I introduced myself earlier. H&H is a company that makes operating systems.”

“okay. He said he created an operating system called Kronos. I heard about ECEC.”

“yes. I want to further develop Kronos with Nextstep’s technology.”

Nextstep is the operating system of the Next computer that Jobs created after much thought.

As an operating system that will later become the foundation of MacOS, Hoyoung’s purpose was to resolve the patent dispute of the technology to be used in Cronos to some extent through this negotiation.

“Hmm… Five million dollars.”

“yes?”

“I own most of Nextstep’s patents. I’ll give you a license for five million dollars. This is not a transaction between the company and the company, but a transaction between Hoyeong and me.”

Jobs said patronizingly.

He asked for a large amount of 5 million dollars, but the tone was that Ho-yeong liked it and let him use it.

“I am not a money-grubbing person. However, I think the value of my skills should be thoroughly recognized. It’s a technology that I normally thought would cost 10 million dollars.”

Seeing Jobs smiling and talking, Hoyoung stuck his tongue out.

He was also not an ordinary person.

“thank you. For five million dollars, I will purchase the license.”

“Thank you for recognizing the value.”

After the meal, Hoyoung went over to the cafeteria to continue talking with Jobs.

Instead of sitting in the office with the contract in front of you and making hard negotiations, slowly find a compromise through natural conversations like now.

That was the negotiation method Jobs pursued.

‘Except for the fact that it takes a long time, it is a fairly reasonable method.’

Hoyoung thought he could learn something from Jobs.

Hoyoung, who coordinated the details throughout the morning, left the company after promising to meet with Jobs again tomorrow morning.

“Director. Are you out?”

“You’ve been waiting a long time? Aren’t you hungry?”

“Somehow, I thought it would be long, so I took care of it.”

Miru realized that Hoyoung’s expression was very bright.

“I think you went in and did a really good job.”

“How did you know?”

“It’s written on your face.”

Hoyoung and Miru looked at each other and laughed haha.

After laughing for a while, Hoyoung opened her mouth.

“I think I’ll have to come every morning for the next three or so days.”

“Are we not done talking yet?”

“As expected, Jobs was Jobs. He was really meticulous and stumbled upon every detail.”

“It’s true that you’re strict.”

Hoyoung nodded and said.

“We’ve got the big picture. Now we just have to check the details.”

Hoyoung couldn’t hold back the burst of laughter.

In fact, Hoyoung could not have expected that things would go this well.

Because the intimidation of the name Steve Jobs is not easily shaken off.

‘I dug into the timing really accurately.’

Really, the story wouldn’t have gone this way if it hadn’t come at this time, when his self-esteem was at rock bottom.

If he was the usual Jobs, he wouldn’t do a deal if he didn’t, because he wasn’t the type to negotiate.

“What’s your next schedule?”

“I don’t have any plans other than meeting Jobs again tomorrow morning. Shall we go sightseeing for a while?”

“good.”

After an hour’s drive from Redwood, downtown San Francisco came out.

“Shall we go over there? I’ll treat you today.”

“Oh. Is the director shooting you?”

“That’s right.”

Miru parked her car in the parking lot and followed Hoyoung, who was leading the way.

Hoyoung walked down the streets of San Francisco as if visiting a familiar neighborhood.

“Wow. Director, have you been here before? How do you know the road so well?”

“Haha. It’s because I read a lot of books.”

It was a street I had visited numerous times in my past life for a conference, but I couldn’t say that.

When Hoyoung came to San Francisco, he ordered a hamburger from [Supadupa Burger], which he enjoyed eating.

“I heard you bought me something delicious, but it’s just a hamburger?”

“Let’s try it once and talk.”

After taking a bite of the hamburger, Miru’s eyes widened.

“Oh, how delicious is this?”

“Yes?”

“Wow. Bread, gravy…”

Miru frantically finished a hamburger.

“You can order more, so please eat slowly.”

“Oh thank you!”

Seeing Miru frantically eating a hamburger, Hoyeong said something she had been thinking about for a long time.

“How long has Miru been hanging out with me?”

“It’s been two years now.”

“Yes. It was my first time in Dallas two years ago.”

At Hoyoung’s words, Miru looked at Hoyeong with puzzled eyes.

Because the atmosphere was different from usual.

“Director, do you have anything to say?”

“What do you think is the most important virtue for a procrastinating secretary?”

“A secretary?”

Miru made a puzzled expression at Hoyoung’s sudden question.

“Well···. Shouldn’t it be smart?”

“Right. And what?”

Miru pondered and said.

“You have to act fast. That way, I can do the work you asked me to do right away.”

“you’re right. So I thought about it, and I want Miru to be my secretary.”

“yes? A secretary?”

“The two things Miru said are important, but I think the most important thing is trust. After going together for two years, I thought I could trust Miru.”

Hearing Hoyoung’s words, Miru briefly showed her moved face, but eventually made a puzzled expression.

“But shouldn’t a secretary be someone who has studied a lot? I didn’t learn much, I didn’t even finish college…”

“Actually, a secretary doesn’t really need an academic background. All you have to do is do what I asked you to do. And in fact, you don’t have to judge. I will make all the decisions and direct them.”

“Then, while I’m on duty, the security work…”

Looking at Miru, who was speechless, Hoyoung smiled and said.

“haha! You can hire another bodyguard. That’s a lot of money. Speaking of money, I’ll raise your salary to twice what you get now.”

“Can I think about it for a minute?”

“sure. You don’t have to tell me right now.”

I just ate hamburgers without saying a word as if I was worried the whole time I was procrastinating.

Eventually, when the two hamburgers were finished, Miru cautiously spoke out.

“First of all, thank you so much for looking at me so well.”

“What do you have to be thankful for? That’s what Miru usually did.”

“Then I wish you better in the future. There may be many things I lack, but I will learn a lot and do it.”

Miru’s eyes were serious as she spoke to Hoyeong.

Security work is important, of course, but it must be the responsibility that comes from being entrusted with a more important task.

“And I want to continue driving. Wherever you go, I will go with you.”

“Then thank you even more. I can save on the driver’s salary.”

Hoyeong laughed in a genuinely good mood.

I felt like I had easily dealt with the secretary problem, which was one of the things I was most worried about.

He had interviewed a few secretaries in Korea, but it was difficult for Ho-young to find someone he could trust.

Meanwhile, Miru caught my eye.

I could feel that he was a smart person, always diligently carrying out security work, never complaining, and basically having a conversation.

“Miru will do really well. My eyes are not wrong.”

“The director’s eyes are accurate.”

Hoyeong laughed out loud at Miru’s words.

However, Hoyoung did not give 100% of his heart to Miru.

No, it was Hoyoung who could no longer give 100% to anyone.

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.

.

Hoyoung went to Next as he went to work every morning for three days after meeting Jobs for the first time.

3 days after that.

Eventually, I was able to reach a final agreement with Jobs.

‘It was the toughest negotiation out of all the negotiations so far.’

Hoyoung sighed inwardly as he stamped the contract.

No matter how depressed he was psychologically, Jobs was not at ease.

His attitude of trying not to lose as much as possible in the current situation made Ho-young a little fed up.

“Hoyeong. Thank you very much. It was a really good deal.”

“no. The mere fact that I was able to meet you was a meaningful transaction. We hope that you will further develop your abilities in the future and develop NEXT and Pixar. Oh, is this also a performance request?”

“ha ha ha! no. That’s enough to say it’s a request.”

Jobs laughed out loud at Hoyoung’s joke.

Hoyeong also smiled at Jobs and got up from his seat.

“Then we will contact you periodically.”

“yes. Please go in.”

After breaking up with Jobs, Ho-young asked Mi-ru to go back to the hotel.

“Didn’t you ask someone to meet you this evening?”

“you’re right. But now I want to stop by the hotel for a while.”

“Yep. All right.”

From the day Miru decided to become a secretary, she abandoned the habit of jokingly asking Hoyeong’s words.

He only asked questions to the extent of confirming Hoyeong’s schedule.

The car driven by Miru arrived at the hotel right away.

“Then I will go up and come down in about two hours. Please check once again to make sure the appointment for tonight is in there.”

“yes. If there’s anything wrong, I’ll tell you right away, and if there’s nothing wrong, I won’t bother you.”

“thank you.”

Hoyoung nodded and went up to the hotel room.

He even sorted out the details of his deal with Jobs.

Hoyoung decided to take a 20% stake by acquiring NeXT’s shares with a buyback clause.

In addition, they agreed to use some of the patent rights of the operating system called ‘Next Step’ owned by NeXT.

In the Pixar-related negotiations, they promised to invest 15 million dollars in the production of feature-length animations in addition to the 30 million dollars that they had previously decided to invest, and signed a contract to own a whopping 30% stake.

It’s not money going out right away, but it’s a huge investment of 45 million dollars.

However, Hoyoung’s expression was not bad.

“Kuh-kuh….”

It wasn’t bad, but laughter was coming out of Hoyoung.

“ha ha ha!”

It was a hotel room anyway, so no one was going to hear it, so Hoyeong laughed out loud.

And immediately, his expression hardened.

“It’s not very pleasant to take advantage of people’s favor.”

Hoyoung remembered Jobs.

In front of Steve Jobs, he pretended to be a huge fan of his, but in reality it was just a delay to facilitate a deal with Jobs.

What he wanted to get from California this time was the shares of Next and Pixar after all.

Hoyeong opened the screen through Gaia and began to organize the future impact of this transaction.

“NeXT continues to be in the red, but it is absorbed by Apple anyway.”

As Hoyoung said, NeXT would later be acquired by Apple Computer.

At that time, he would receive a whopping $400 million in cash and 1.5 million shares of Apple stock, and since Hoyoung had a 20% stake, it was no different than securing a whopping $80 million in cash and 300,000 shares of Apple stock.

Since there had been no stock split at the time Apple acquired NeXT, those 300,000 shares were later worth millions of shares.

“And Next Step is the origin of macOS.”

Next Step can also be said to be a collection of operating system patents owned by Jobs and NeXT.

Since Hoyoung obtained the right to use this patent, he was able to develop Kronos without the restrictions of the patent.

“But the highlight is Pixar!”

Pixar was going to invest a whopping $45 million, but Hoyoung didn’t care.

And he had no intention of interfering with the chapters and short animations that Pixar would produce in the future.

What he’s aiming for is Disney.

Later, Disney acquired Pixar, and the condition of the acquisition at that time was a stock exchange.

With 14% of Disney’s total shares, 100% of Pixar’s shares were acquired, and 30% of Pixar’s shares belonged to Hoyoung.

“If that happens, it’s like having 4.2% of Disney stock.”

Hoyeong clenched her fists.

There was no doubt that Disney, a global company, would become a super heavyweight among individual shareholders at 4.2%.

Through his meeting with Jobs, he secured stocks in Apple and Disney, which are difficult to obtain even with money in the future.

In this way, Hoyoung prepared for the future step by step.

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.

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After finishing organizing the contents, Hoyoung suddenly realized that it was time to tell Miru and went out to the lobby.

Miru was waiting for Hoyeong in the lobby.

“Procrastination. How long have you been waiting?”

“I came down a little while ago.”

“Have you contacted me?”

“yes. There is nothing wrong with the promise. 7:00 p.m., appointment at John’s Grill Steakhouse. If you leave now, it will be just right for you.”

Heading to the meeting place, Miru asked Hoyeong.

“Is the person you are going to meet right now, Apple’s CEO ‘John Scully’?”

“yes. you’re right.”

“May I ask what purpose he intends to meet?”

Hoyoung liked Miru, who had been asking a lot of questions over the past few days.

It was because he changed his job from a bodyguard to a secretary and tried to get to know even more.

So, Miru’s frequent questions must have been annoying, but Hoyeong was happy to answer them one by one.

“Did I briefly explain why I met Jobs?”

“yes. You said it was to secure the huge capital of the future.”

“you’re right. Meeting John Scully now is to buy his dream.”

“A dream?”

Hoyeong smiled at Miru, who showed a puzzled reaction.

“One of the concepts he came up with is what he calls a ‘knowledge seeker’. It’s literally just a concept, and it’s something that hasn’t even been prototyped yet. I don’t think it will ever come out.”

After hearing Hoyeong’s story, Miru looked even more puzzled, but she didn’t ask why she was buying something that didn’t even have a prototype.

If Hoyoung did it, I thought everyone would have a good reason.

But Hoyeong couldn’t tell her why.

Knowledge Explorer.

Although it is currently only a simple concept and idea that cannot be prototyped.

but the distant future.

This knowledge explorer will appear in the world under the name of ‘smartphone’.