Bill Morris was a financier appointed for the sale of Vodafone Japan.
He had not co to normalize managent, but to withdraw from Japan, and he was not originally a Vodafone man.
“Let ask one last ti. How would you like to proceed? Shall we continue the negotiations as they are, or shall we send everyone out and speak separately?”
At my use of the word last, he hesitated for a mont.
His head must have been spinning.
Why were we suddenly acting like this, and what kind of matter was serious enough to warrant it?
“...Everyone, please step outside.”
“Sir.”
“I said, step outside.”
In the end, perhaps deciding to confirm the cards we were holding, Bill Morris sent all of his staff out.
“You all should step outside as well and speak with the Vodafone staff.”
Masayoshi Son also dismissed everyone from the SoftBank side.
Once everyone had gone, only Masayoshi Son, Bill Morris, and I remained in the large conference room.
“Now let’s hear it. What exactly is this matter that required clearing the room?”
“Chairman Son.”
Instead of answering him directly, I called out to Son.
Nodding, Son used the internal phone beside him to call his secretary.
“If the printouts are finished, bring them in.”
A mont later, the door opened and his secretary entered carrying a thick stack of papers.
The secretary placed the printed docunts in front of Chairman Bill Morris, bowed, and left.
I gestured toward the docunts.
“Read them first.”
“What exactly are you trying to pull...?”
“It’ll be much easier to talk after you’ve read them.”
Still clearly displeased, Bill Morris opened the docunts in front of him and began to read.
What I had handed him were the various materials Han Kyungyeong had sent by email.
Vodafone’s financial statents, the financials of the buyout funds posing as our competitors, and other related materials.
As he read through the towering stack of papers, Bill Morris’s hand began to tremble slightly.
“What exactly are you trying to do?!”
His face reddened, and he slamd the table.
This whole affair was not a sche from Vodafone headquarters, but a dirty trick pulled by the man sitting right in front of .
Headquarters wanted to withdraw from Japan quickly.
But Bill Morris, who was set to receive 1% of the sale price, thought differently.
The larger the acquisition amount, the larger Bill Morris’s slice of the pie.
So he had inflated the board by creating fake competitors.
“What do you an, what? I’m simply checking the facts. The financial condition of the firms claiming to be Vodafone Japan’s competitors is far from healthy. They took major losses during the dot-com bubble and still haven’t fully recovered. Yet fifteen billion dollars? Even if you combine the retained earnings of both firms, it doesn’t reach ten billion. Do you really think they can acquire Vodafone Japan?”
“The finances of private equity firms are not sothing you can verify from ordinary financial statents. Did you think we wouldn’t have checked?”
Quite shaless.
A laugh escaped at Bill Morris’s response.
“No, you didn’t check. Headquarters probably knows nothing about this. Wasn’t it you, Bill Morris, who planned to use them to drive up the price?”
“...I’m not sure what you’re talking about. And who exactly are you to say such things to ?”
The answer ca not from , but from Masayoshi Son.
“He is the investor putting up half of the acquisition amount for Vodafone Japan. He also serves as an outside director of Dream High Investnt.”
At the words Dream High Investnt, Bill Morris furrowed his brow.
“Dream High... wait, Charlie?”
When I nodded, Bill Morris sucked in a sharp breath.
The mont I confird it, he cursed and glared at Son.
“For God’s sake! You should have told in advance that Dream High had entered this ga, Chairman Son!”
The sparks were flying in a strange direction.
Still glaring at Son and grinding his teeth, he was t by my puzzled question.
“You seem to know well.”
“Whew... It would be more accurate to say there’s no one in the City of London who doesn’t know you.”
Was I really that famous?
I rarely appeared at official events.
“The prevailing opinion is that your influence is the biggest reason behind Dream High’s success.”
“I’m not so sure. Wouldn’t Jas’s capabilities be greater than mine?”
“I have no intention of undervaluing President Jas’s abilities. But your capital power and your eye for reading the tides can’t be ignored either.”
Wall Street was one thing, but now even the City of London knew my na.
At this point, it almost felt like soone had intentionally leaked information about .
“Especially because you went head-to-head with Soros and won. For us, it was incredibly refreshing. We suffered a humiliating defeat at his hands.”
For British financiers, George Soros was practically a forbidden word.
George Soros had joined forces with Wall Street hedge funds and carpet-bombed the Bank of England.
Many British financial professionals, who had taken pride in being the center of global finance for over a century, had been helpless against that attack.
George Soros attacked the pound sterling for barely a month.
That was also the amount of ti it took for the City of London, older than Wall Street itself, to collapse.
“We were cheering for Dream High too at the ti. Hahaha. It was so satisfying. Every financial expert in the City of London was cheering in the pubs.”
Global finance was a brutal market where everyone devoured everyone else.
And yet, hearing that soone had actually rooted for us made laugh.
“That was the first event that truly made Dream High’s na known. President Jas really suffered a lot back then.”
“That’s right. And from that point on, Dream High hasn’t failed for years. Well, there were losses, but even those were deliberate attacks carried out with the expectation of taking damage.”
They really did know Dream High’s every move in detail.
But the endless stream of praise from Bill Morris had an obvious purpose.
“Thank you for the complints. But we didn’t et today to build camaraderie, so shall we return to the main issue?”
Trying to slither away from the point, was he?
At my words, Bill Morris’s smile disappeared.
“We also reviewed the finances of the two asset managent firms that made offers. This is information we already knew. But by the nature of private equity, their committed capital can increase or decrease at any ti. Surely you know that too, Charlie.”
“Don’t obscure the point. Those two funds specialize in buyouts. In your eyes, is Vodafone Japan really the kind of company worth that?”
Bill Morris, who had only been biting his lip, finally spoke.
“The capital value of Vodafone Japan alone exceeds one trillion yen. Through painful restructuring—”
“Telecommunications is not a business that can be fixed through restructuring. If it were, Vodafone would have no reason to withdraw from the Japanese market.”
“We are only reorganizing to focus on the European market. There are no ulterior motives.”
“Are you certain? Shall we call Vodafone headquarters?”
The mont I said it firmly, Bill Morris’s face instantly went pale.
“I understand your position, Bill Morris, receiving a success fee for the sale. But this violates business ethics. Doesn’t it? We already know you used them to inflate the sale price. Headquarters knows absolutely nothing about it.”
It was only natural to work hard for a high fee.
But I couldn’t overlook the wrong thod.
Pointing at the mountain of docunts in front of him, I said,
“This crossed the line. Chairman Son was furious when he learned the truth. Even so, the reason we sent all the Vodafone staff out and chose to speak privately is because we understand and respect you. So stop playing gas.”
“......”
“Shall we resu negotiations? If not, we’ll walk away here. Isn’t that right, Chairman Son?”
As I pressed hard, I could see Bill Morris visibly shaken.
We hadn’t discussed this in advance, but Son imdiately caught my intent and nodded in agreent.
“It’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ true that we absolutely need Vodafone Japan. But beyond necessity, this is a matter of courtesy toward a partner. You know what kind of man I am too, Bill Morris. I place trust above all else when I do business. That’s why I t with you so often.”
Son had built rapport with Bill Morris through multiple private etings.
It was Son’s characteristic business style.
“I never imagined that the man smiling in front of would stab in the back like this. If this had co out later, I would never have been able to show my face again. Thank goodness we discovered it now.”
At Son’s rebuke, Bill Morris replied without even changing his expression.
“A stab in the back? More importantly, are you saying you intend to give up the acquisition?”
“Yes. If the negotiations collapse, I intend to contact Vodafone headquarters imdiately and tell them we are withdrawing.”
When it was ti to press, you had to hit so hard the other side couldn’t recover their senses.
No one understood that better than Son.
“And I’ll make what you did public, ensuring you never set foot in this industry again.”
“Chairman Masayoshi!”
“Do you think I can’t? I think you’ve underestimated my influence.”
Though he had taken a major hit during the dot-com bubble, Masayoshi Son was still a globally recognized businessman.
If he decided to expose this, Bill Morris would have nowhere left to stand.
Before emotions escalated any further, I stepped in.
“Now, now. We’re not here to fight. Both of you, calm down first.”
Thanks to my tily intervention, the two only glared at each other and said nothing more.
“I already said I understand your position, Bill Morris. You do acknowledge that the exposed cards can no longer be played, right? If you continue denying it, then there’s no point in talking further. Or should we call the negotiating teams from those two firms in here and discuss it together?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Then admit it gracefully, and let’s move on to a constructive conversation. Let’s make this a deal that benefits everyone. If I intended to use this incident against you, we wouldn’t even be eting like this.”
As I subtly opened a path for him to survive, Bill Morris bit the bait imdiately.
His expression softened a little as he asked,
“...So what do you propose?”
“Let’s go back to the amount we were discussing before those two firms entered the acquisition race.”
“That’s impossible. I’ve already reported to headquarters that there is an offer of 1.8 trillion yen, and that SoftBank may bid even higher. At the very least, it has to be 1.8 trillion—”
Son had intended to offer 1.8 trillion yen, but I planned to lower it further.
I cut him off and continued imdiately.
“No. 1.5 trillion yen. We cannot go any higher than that.”
“Chairman Masayoshi, do you feel the sa?”
Bill Morris shifted his target to Son.
Maintaining a perfect poker face, Son nodded.
“Yes. We should return to the original terms.”
“1.5 trillion yen won’t work.”
“Why not? There must be a reason it won’t work.”
“......”
The way Bill Morris couldn’t answer imdiately told the reason was, in the end, his success fee.
“There’s so separate special clause we don’t know about, isn’t there? That’s why you resorted to all this just to drive the sale price up.”
“......”
Sotis silence was the clearest answer.
That was enough for to be certain that the percentage of his success fee changed depending on the sale amount.
On average, for a sale of this size, a 1% success fee was standard.
If he was pulling tricks like this to get even more than that, then all we had to do was satisfy that greed.
“If you close the sale at 1.5 trillion yen, we’ll pay you a separate commission of 50 billion yen.”
“What?”
“President Kim, what exactly are you—”
At my completely unexpected proposal, both n turned to stare at .
“Then it becos a negotiation that benefits everyone. What do you think of my proposal?”
In an M&A negotiation like this, the acquiring side never paid the interdiary’s fee.
After a mont’s thought, Son nodded in agreent.
“I think that would be the best way. Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you as well, President Bill Morris, if we handle the interdiary fee on our side?”
Calling it an interdiary fee was the polite version.
In reality, it was no different from a bribe.
If this ever beca known, Bill Morris would suffer a far greater blow than simply having created fake competitors.
Perhaps because of that, he couldn’t answer right away.
“Let’s sign a contract stating that whoever reveals this negotiation first will pay damages equal to ten tis this amount. Wouldn’t that allow all of us to trust one another?”
There was no control chanism more reliable than money.
Ten tis the commission ant 500 billion yen.
“500 billion yen?”
“That’s right. So? What do you think?”
“...Give a mont to think.”
I readily gave him the ti he asked for.
In the anti, I exchanged a glance with Son.
Apparently satisfied with the negotiation, Son’s face was full of smiles.
A short while later, Bill Morris nodded.
“Very well. Let’s do it.”
It was a good deal for us, and for Bill Morris as well.
“Then shall we call the working teams back in and continue? Before that, contact those two firms and tell them to inform headquarters they are withdrawing from the acquisition race. That way headquarters will be able to understand this agreent.”
“Understood. Then let step out briefly and make the call.”
Bill Morris stepped out to make the call.
Soon after, he returned with the Vodafone Japan staff, and once the sale amount was finalized, the negotiation results were drafted into formal docunts.
At this stage, deals almost never fell apart.
“It was a good agreent for everyone.”
At last, Masayoshi Son and Bill Morris shook hands, bringing the long, drawn-out sale negotiation to an end.
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