Elon Musk didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he stared intently at my face, as if trying to see straight through .
“For now, your own money may be enough. But building rockets and launching them into space isn’t sothing your personal fortune alone can sustain. Why do you think there are so few countries capable of launching rockets into space?”
The reason was simple.
Money.
“The reason you tried to purchase outdated rockets from Russia was because of that, wasn’t it? From Russia’s perspective, there was no reason to sell them to you cheaply, so you couldn’t secure the deal. But if you had joined hands with , the outco would’ve been different.”
“Are you saying that with you, you could’ve gained the upper hand in negotiations with Russia?”
I shrugged and replied.
“They wouldn’t have been able to na an outrageous price. You could’ve purchased their old rockets at roughly the price you originally had in mind.”
“Then... perhaps...”
Elon Musk trailed off, a hint of expectation in his voice. But I shook my head.
“It’s still possible even now. However... I recomnd that SpaceX work toward acquiring the technology to launch rockets into space on its own. This is a long-term project. In the end, only technological capability will make it more valuable than state-led space industries.”
The space industry is fundantally state-driven.
Even including the United States and Russia, fewer than ten countries can independently launch rockets into space.
There are many reasons, but the biggest one is the enormous cost.
SpaceX was no exception.
Elon Musk had said he would invest half of his own fortune—100 million dollars—but would that really be enough to succeed?
No. It wouldn’t.
I already knew that Elon Musk would be driven to the brink of bankruptcy.
“On top of that, you’ll have to compete with Boeing and Lockheed Martin. To generate revenue, you’ll need to work with NASA. But from NASA’s perspective, there’s little reason to cooperate with SpaceX when they’re already working with those two companies.”
“Those two companies...”
“Oh, you haven’t heard yet? They’re probably still negotiating behind the scenes. There’s talk that, in response to new entrants, those two companies will join forces and establish a new company.”
Hearing this for the first ti, Elon Musk flinched and asked in surprise,
“What? Those two are rging?”
“More precisely, they’ll spin off their space divisions and create a new company.”
“Where on earth did you hear sothing like that...”
I smiled deeply. For soone who knew the future, this was nothing special.
“Trade secret. In any case, once that happens, it’ll beco even harder to collaborate with NASA.”
“Hm.”
“But those two companies also have a weakness. Like the approach you initially planned, they’ll choose to buy rockets from Russia and modify them.”
Private companies prioritize profit.
Modifying sothing that already exists is easier and far more profitable than developing sothing from scratch.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin were doing exactly that—bringing in old Russian rockets and modifying them.
It wasn’t that they lacked technology; it was purely a matter of profit.
“So do what you originally planned. That’s the path for SpaceX to succeed.”
Elon Musk nodded.
“Thank you for the advice. But I don’t plan on accepting outside investnt. For now, my own money is enough.”
“Two hundred million dollars for 30% equity.”
Now was the optimal mont to invest.
At the unexpectedly large figure, Elon Musk’s eyes widened.
But I knew it.
This was when SpaceX was at its cheapest.
Later on, no amount of money would be enough to buy shares in this company.
That was because of Elon Musk’s unique managent philosophy.
He was a man obsessed with work and deeply averse to any interference in his managent.
And having once been ousted from PayPal, a company he had created himself, he would want even more strongly to retain absolute control.
“Two hundred million dollars for 30%?”
“Yes. Two hundred million. This isn’t an investnt to make money. I’m investing in your dream. A city built on Mars... doesn’t that make your heart race just thinking about it?”
“I’m not running this business with an IPO in mind.”
I nodded, signaling my agreent.
“That’s exactly why I said it’s not an investnt to make money. I’m the sa as you. I don’t view the stock market negatively, but I know better than anyone that running a business as a private company is far more comfortable than chasing the profits of going public.”
Going public makes it easier to raise capital, but it also brings relentless scrutiny.
If you already have enough money, it’s far more peaceful not to bother.
“If you look into my background, you’ll see that among the companies I’ve acquired, there are ones where I bought out most of the shares through tender offers and delisted them. If I were chasing money, could I have done that?”
This was precisely why Elon Musk was extrely reluctant to take investnt.
Early investors usually want an IPO—they want to convert their shares into cash.
“So you can accept my investnt. I won’t interfere in your managent. I may offer advice, but I have no intention of forcing anything. A representative example is Apple. Dreamhigh is Apple’s largest shareholder, but I entrusted managent entirely to Jobs.”
Ownership without interference.
That had always been the foundation of my investnt philosophy.
“I know. Dreamhigh’s investnt style is famous even on Wall Street.”
“Yes. You know Aesop’s fable, don’t you? The goose that laid golden eggs.”
Elon Musk said nothing, simply listening.
“I have no intention of cutting open the goose’s belly. Apple before Jobs returned changed everything after ousting him. Did that lead to good results?”
I interlaced my fingers and continued.
“They handed complete control of the computer market to Bill Gates’ Microsoft. Only when they were driven to the brink of bankruptcy did they seek Jobs again. And what happened after that? Apple made a spectacular coback.”
“Why are you telling this?”
Despite the lingering suspicion in his voice, I smiled as I answered.
“I believe that a CEO’s capability determines a company’s fate. If Elon Musk—you—were removed from SpaceX, what aning would the company even have? I want you to trust that the shares I hold will never be used to hinder you.”
Elon Musk tapped the table lightly and stared straight into my eyes.
Perhaps he was trying to discern my true intentions. He said nothing, simply looking at .
I, too, t his gaze in silence, a faint smile on my face.
After a long mont of contemplation, Elon Musk finally spoke.
“Two hundred million dollars for 25%. No more.”
Five percent less than I expected. I had nad 30%, but I never thought I’d actually get all of it.
“Very well. Two hundred million for 25%. I accept. Let’s have our lawyers present tomorrow to sign the contract.”
Seeing how readily I accepted, Elon Musk said playfully,
“Damn. I should’ve said 20%. I didn’t expect you to agree so easily.”
“Haha. Even if you’d said 20%, I would’ve accepted. But I trust that a man like Elon Musk isn’t so small-minded as to take back words he’s already spoken.”
Elon Musk shook his head as if admitting defeat, stood up, and extended his hand.
“Welco aboard, Charlie.”
I stood up as well and shook his hand.
“I have high expectations for you too. Let’s join hands and go to Mars together.”
We set a ti to et again and parted ways.
After that, many Arican businessn approached .
Most of them were prominent figures in the Arican business world.
But none of them captured my interest the way Elon Musk did.
Having lost interest, I stayed a bit longer before leaving the forum.
After the summit between President Bush and President Yoon Changho, the two leaders released a joint statent.
The agreent revealed after the summit consisted of six clauses.
Both countries agree that North Korea’s nuclear developnt will not be tolerated.
Both countries will mobilize all ans to ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The United States will maintain its troops stationed in Korea, and South Korea will dispatch forces to Iraq. All decisions regarding this will be made by the Korean governnt, including the scale of deploynt.
Both leaders share the understanding that they will promote all policies pursued by APEC, such as trade facilitation and trade liberalization.
The United States recognizes South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo.
South Korea will actively comply with UN-led sanctions against North Korea.
It was content that satisfied both the United States and South Korea.
In particular, the U.S. governnt explicitly recognizing Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo was an enormous gain, effectively stripping Japan of leverage in its territorial claims.
In dostic politics, there could hardly be a more effective card than this.
This clause wasn’t sothing I had secured—it was President Yoon Changho who had won it. What he gave in return, I didn’t know...
As I was lost in thought, my phone rang.
“Oh. Myungsoo.”
—Muhyuk, did you see the joint statent?
“I just checked it. The U.S. officially recognizing our sovereignty over Dokdo... how on earth did you pull that off?”
—We agreed to increase South Korea’s share of defense costs. Not the massive increase the U.S. always demands, but we made it clear we’d agree to a raise in this negotiation.
“Will that be okay? The opposition will push back hard.”
Increasing South Korea’s share of the cost of U.S. troops stationed there was sothing the U.S. demanded every year, regardless of which administration was in power.
Until the 1980s, the U.S. bore most of the cost, but with Arica’s fiscal weakening and Korea’s economic growth, a special agreent was made for Korea to shoulder part of the burden.
—In exchange, all contributions will be paid in won, not dollars.
That was a smart move. This was a negotiation where we gave what we had to and took what we needed.
The contributions were bound to increase anyway. If they were going up, we might as well extract concessions.
“Good work.”
—It’s nothing. It’s all thanks to you. We’ve been notified that the relevant individuals can be extradited next month. They want us to keep it quiet for now, though.
Myungsoo went on to explain in detail what had happened at the negotiation table.
There was a hint of wanting praise in his tone, and I couldn’t help but smile.
—Oh, and the President was asking for you.
“Tell him I’ll visit once I’m back in Korea. There aren’t any major schedules left now, right?”
—No major ones. Got it. I’ll pass that along.
After ending the call with Myungsoo, I went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed.
As I prepared the bait to reel in Elon Musk tomorrow, I slowly closed my eyes.
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