Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 166

Translator: DreamscribeRight now, both the domestic and international media were all using the same headline.

‘Red Wave.’

An overwhelming victory for the Republican Party.

The ruling Democratic Party seemed to be shaken internally by this shocking defeat.

“Usually in midterm elections, the ruling party has a much better chance of winning, but it’s rare for the opposition party to dominate like this. That’s why the ruling party is in chaos right now.”

“I guess the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank really had a huge impact.”

“Yes. The opposition party latched onto the bait perfectly. Also, connecting the Qatar Gate scandal that broke out in Europe to the Democratic Party and using it to drive public opinion was very effective.”

The problem was that the Democratic Party had no room to counterattack.

That was because Silicon Valley Bank filed for bankruptcy just before the election, causing immense damage.

“So what happens to the U.S. political situation now?”

“Since the Republican Party won, you can consider the Aiden administration dead. Even though there's still about two years left in the term, the entire Congress has now become Republican turf.”

There is something called a lame duck.

It refers to the weakening of a leader's power and their drastically reduced influence over state affairs near the end of their term.

To put it in simpler Korean terms, it's like a “discharged soldier in the final months”.

The issue here was that this wasn’t just a lame duck, it was a super lame duck.

“The U.S. political system is fundamentally designed for checks and balances between the president and Congress, right? But now both the Senate and the House have been taken over by the Republicans, so the ruling party is practically unable to pass any legislation. Of course, not everything was swept away in this midterm election, so the Democrats have retained a minimal presence, but even if Aiden wants to do something, the opposition party will thoroughly block it.”

Hearing the department head’s words, the other employees joined in.

“Hasn’t the opposition been seriously holding a grudge against President Aiden?”

“That’s right. Especially with allegations that he was directly involved with the company run by his son and gave it preferential treatment. The opposition even brought up impeachment over that.”

“Then is he really going to get impeached?”

“No, it won’t go that far. As bad as it is, impeachment would be difficult. But they could still create an impeachment climate and paralyze the administration.”

As expected, politics was a brutal world.

Running a company inevitably meant getting entangled with politics.

But I had always avoided that frightening world as much as I could.

And I would continue to do so.

Even now, I was being careful every moment to avoid getting caught up in domestic politics, and there was no way I wanted to get involved in U.S. politics, which could be considered an even bigger pond than ours.

“People over there will handle their own affairs. It's not like this will lead to a financial crisis in the U.S. or anything, right?”

"No. Although other banks had problems and went bankrupt in succession due to the SVB bankruptcy this time, it's not on a subprime scale. On top of that, thanks to you personally stepping in and carrying out the bailout, CEO-nim, the crisis was navigated well. I think even the Republican Party would give credit for that."

Whoever was in power didn’t matter, as long as it didn’t harm Kwangwoon.

“Alright, then let’s move on from that matter. What’s the next item?”

“Jackson Feltz, the well-known activist fund, is said to be launching a management rights dispute against Wizney.”

“Wizney?”

What is the leading media company in the U.S.?

It’s none other than Wizney.

After acquiring several major studios, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Wizney now dominates the Hollywood box office, and it owns Alphabet Broadcasting, one of America’s three major terrestrial networks, and the absolute powerhouse in sports broadcasting, ESAN.

Globally, the most iconic thing is undoubtedly Wizney Land.

“However, Wizney’s current situation isn’t very good. Just a few years ago, its market capitalization surpassed 400 billion dollars, showing a tremendous upward trend, but now it has fallen to 160 billion dollars.”

In 2019, Wizney was at the peak of its success with its hero movie franchise Emblow, and in 2021, it reached 400 billion dollars after the launch of Wizney Plus.

However, Wizney was unable to break through the dominance of our Netflix, and as people began to leave Wizney Plus due to its smaller-than-expected content offering, Netflix’s stock price only continued to rise.

“On top of that, Wizney kept pushing PC ideology into children's movies, which led to some parents banning their kids from watching Wizney content altogether, causing even greater damage.”

That was precisely why Jackson Feltz launched a management rights attack through his activist fund.

“Jackson Feltz is asking shareholders for their support, saying that he can revive Wizney. His activist fund currently holds about 2% of Wizney’s shares, and if he secures a majority in the shareholder vote, he’ll be able to participate in management.”

Currently, Wizney has a decentralized governance structure.

Rather than being controlled by a single major shareholder, large asset management firms like Wingard and Whiterock each hold over 10% of shares, and the board of directors is operated within that framework.

Due to the nature of these asset management firms, they do not directly participate in management, so the board holds all the power. And since the shares are not concentrated in one place but spread among many shareholders, even a 2% stake is enough to aim for a board seat.

“What if Feltz actually gets on the board?”

“Then he’ll likely aim for the chairman position. But judging from how things are going, Wingard and Whiterock probably won’t give their approval.”

Still, Wizney is under considerable pressure.

Why else would Jackson Feltz suddenly make such a move?

It was because Wizney’s market cap, which had once reached 400 billion dollars, had now dropped to 160 billion dollars.

“It’s definitely a dangerous situation unless they take emergency measures. While Wizney hasn’t gone into deficit just yet, the streaming service they once considered a future growth engine turned into a money pit consuming trillions of won, and that caused them to lose shareholder trust.”

Wizney is a company that makes movies and animations.

Although their theme parks consistently generate revenue, the stock market doesn’t look at those.

It looks at their identity, their filmmaking.

But when even their proud film quality and their streaming service have collapsed, it’s no wonder the stock price quickly hit rock bottom.

“That’s why there’s a lot of talk that Wizney will undergo major restructuring. There’s also a rumor that they’ll bring back Paul Iger, who led Wizney during its golden era.”

Paul Iger is called a living legend in the film industry.

Wizney was able to grow to its current scale entirely thanks to Paul Iger’s efforts.

“But CEO-nim, Netflix sent us an interesting request.”

“From Netflix?”

“Yes. Netflix is trying to expand its external board. They sent us a list of several candidates, and there’s a rather interesting name on it.”

Netflix’s external board of directors is quite well-known.

They don’t receive salaries from Netflix.

Nor are they connected to the business in any way.

Yet, they hold significant influence within Netflix.

The board was created to ensure a healthy and transparent structure for Netflix, made up of experts from various fields.

That way, whenever new content is developed, it avoids becoming stagnant internally and draws on fresh perspectives for new ideas. It also provides unique expertise and a highly developed oversight system to prevent internal decay, making it a highly useful board.

“Paul Iger?”

“Yes. Netflix is trying to recruit Paul Iger as an external board member.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“I didn’t know either, but after retiring from Wizney, Paul Iger invested in a metaverse tech company and served on its board. And when we acquired Cyclone recently, didn’t we also absorb several startup companies along with it?”

“Ah. Don’t tell me...”

“Yes. One of the companies Paul Iger was a board member of was part of that batch. Netflix found out and sent us this request.”

Of course, I had no intention of this happening.

How could I have known that the legendary figure was invested in one of the companies we had acquired?

“Since the external board requires new and specialized perspectives, I believe Netflix thinks that someone like Paul Iger, who is considered the best in the industry, would be of great help.”

I agreed with that sentiment as well.

If Paul Iger could help for the future of our Netflix, we’d be able to produce even higher-quality content.

“.......”

Besides, wasn’t it only Paul Iger’s name on that list that my intuitions saw shining in golden light?

***

The Republican Party, which had completely crushed the Democrats.

They were ecstatic over having reclaimed power in the United States, but internally, they weren’t overly excited. In fact, the atmosphere was grim.

“No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand. Why did Kwangwoon help us Republicans?”

“Didn’t they send sponsorship funds through Kangseong during former President Trump’s campaign?”

“That was long ago. Wasn’t it ultimately Kwangwoon’s fault that we lost power to the Democrats?”

The Republican leadership wasn’t foolish.

In truth, they had half given up on this midterm election.

After all, wasn’t it an election where anyone could see the Democratic victory was nearly guaranteed?

And yet, Kwangwoon had turned it around.

“I heard the Democrats tried to pressure Kwangwoon internally by enforcing anti-monopoly sanctions. But there was also strong opposition within, which led to infighting.”

“So Kwangwoon found out and retaliated?”

“Yes. They wiped out the Democrats through this election, those who threatened them. And in the process, lent power to us.”

Rather than being pleased about what happened to the Democrats, it felt more like a creeping fear.

Had a single company not just taken down the ruling party of a country?

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It is.”

“Then we need to block them from expanding their influence, no matter what!”

“Yes. That’s exactly how the Democrats ended up the way they are now.”

“.......”

“They’re a company that toppled the Democrats just by acquiring a game company. Can you even imagine that? No, could you have predicted that acquiring a game company like Cyclone was actually a strategy targeting the ruling party?”

Anyone not on the inside wouldn’t believe it.

That Kwangwoon’s acquisition of Cyclone had, in truth, been a move to strike the Democrats.

“They’re that terrifying of a company. Every single action they take holds immense meaning. Do you really want to make them your enemy?”

No one could argue back against the words of Republican House Leader Nico Haley.

“So are you saying we should just follow them?”

“No. I’m saying we should hold hands with them for now. It seems Kwangwoon and we share the same public enemy.”

“Public enemy?”

“Congressmen, which company do we Republicans hate the most?”

The company they hated the most.

Without even thinking, the answer came out immediately.

“Wizney?”

“That’s right. Everyone knows about the conflict between our Republican Party and Wizney, don’t they?”

The battle between Wizney and the Republican Party had become widely known across the U.S.

It all began when Wizney started forcibly injecting PC ideology into children’s content. The conservative Republican Party immediately released a statement opposing them.

But Wizney ignored the Republicans and pushed ahead with its convictions, eventually escalating the conflict to the point where the Republicans submitted legislation aimed directly at Wizney.

“You’re saying Kwangwoon is targeting Wizney?”

“Yes. Netflix recently recruited a new external board member, do you know who it is? It’s Paul Iger.”

And now, the very company the Republican Party had labeled as a satanic enterprise was being targeted by Kwangwoon.

“Wizney is currently under attack from an activist fund, and their board’s control over management is unstable. In this situation, Netflix suddenly bringing in former Wizney CEO Paul Iger as an external board member? Can’t you see the picture forming?”

“They’re trying to get Paul Iger back into Wizney? But can he do that while serving on the board of another company?”

“Yes. Netflix’s external board members are all people who serve as executives in other companies. So if Paul Iger is reappointed as Wizney’s CEO while also serving on Netflix’s board?”

That would mean Kwangwoon’s influence would now reach Wizney.

If Paul Iger really returned to Wizney, Kwangwoon could end up indirectly participating in its management.

“But won’t there be major resistance from their side?”

“That’s something we have to take care of. Kwangwoon gave us a midterm election victory, don’t you think they’d expect at least that much in return? Besides, I believe many here have been waiting for a chance to bring down Wizney.”

At those words, sly smiles appeared on the lawmakers’ faces.

“You’ve all said it yourselves, Wizney only chases the Chinese market and injects strange ideologies, undermining our American values. This is our chance to decisively cut off their anti-national behavior. I, for one, sincerely wish for the return of the Wizney that made my childhood happy.”

The lawmakers nodded.

It didn't feel great, feeling as though they were somehow being led around by Kwangwoon.

But if it meant they could crush that satanic company they had been holding a grudge against for so long with their own hands, they were ready to go along with whatever Kwangwoon wanted.