Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2690 The Opportunity for a Great Buy-Back (Third Update, Please Subscribe)

Big bargain hunting!
In fact, there are not many opportunities to buy at the bottom in this world. Theoretically speaking, there have been many great opportunities to buy at the bottom in history.

For example, during the Great Depression, the Soviet Union engaged in a massive acquisition of technology from the United States, Germany, Britain, and other Western countries. Taking advantage of the economic crisis, European and American companies were willing to transfer technology and export equipment to the Soviet Union in order to survive. The Soviet Union seized this opportunity and achieved an industrial leap forward.

But in reality, this is not a major bottom-fishing opportunity.

Even the bottom-fishing activities of financial giants using the financial market, such as targeting assets of a certain country and frantically buying up cheap shares, are not considered "bottom-fishing."

This is nothing more than a game of buying and selling assets, merely a successful example of value investing.

There have only been three truly massive bottom-fishing events in history.

The first instance was Germany's defeat in World War I—the Treaty of Versailles after World War I did indeed contain clauses restricting and transferring German industrial and technological capabilities.

According to the treaty, Germany was required to return or compensate for the machinery, equipment, patents, and technologies looted from the Allied-occupied territories during the war. It was also obligated to remove restrictions on German nationals' patents, trademarks, and industrial designs within Allied territory, and Allied companies and individuals could use some German patents free of charge or obtain licenses at very low costs.

Furthermore, Germany was forced to transfer technology—certain military-related technologies held by Germany were required to be disclosed or transferred.

However, this did not lead to a decline in Germany. Although German companies lost some patents, they quickly regained the lead in the next generation of products thanks to their strong R&D capabilities.

This is because although German industry was severely impacted by war reparations, the loss of resource-rich areas due to territorial concessions, and economic crises, its core technological knowledge, engineering workforce, and industrial organizational capabilities were not stripped away. This laid the foundation for Germany's subsequent industrial revival.

Another major bargain-hunting occurred more than 20 years later, after Germany's defeat in World War II. Following the war, the Allies, especially the United States and the Soviet Union, conducted more systematic and extensive intelligence gathering and talent plundering of Germany, covering a wider range of cutting-edge fields such as missiles, aviation, and nuclear technology, and integrating them into the Cold War technology race.

The poaching of talent directly impacted Germany's industrial revival. In fact, Germany's industrial revival was built by a group of second-rate engineers, because the first-rate scientists and engineers had been taken to the Allied countries or had fled.

Of course, the rise of the SEA also benefited from this, a fact that Li Yi'an has never denied. In fact, to some extent, it benefited more than the United States and the Soviet Union.

Therefore, Li Yi'an has a deep understanding of Germany's massive acquisition of assets after the war. After all, this fundamentally changed SEA. It was German scientists, engineers, and even skilled workers who laid the technological and industrial foundation for SEA, which laid the foundation for the subsequent comprehensive development of the industrial economy.

What about the third major bottom-fishing?

The collapse of the Soviet Union was so sudden that Western capitalists were not prepared at all, let alone buying at rock-bottom prices, because all valuable Soviet companies were controlled by Soviet oligarchs.

The claim that "Western capital plundered trillions of dollars of wealth from the Soviet Union" is basically nonsense.

It's not that Western capital doesn't want to, but that they simply don't have the opportunity. After all, those oligarchs also want a piece of that lucrative pie, and they want it all to themselves. Basically, any profitable or money-making sector has been swallowed up by the oligarchs.

As for those that cannot make a profit, it's not that they don't have oligopolies, but rather that they failed in their business operations and thus did not form oligopolies.

Like the Soviet television industry, which once boasted a massive television production business, the lack of competition led to consistently poor product quality. The biggest problem was the constant threat of explosions, with hundreds of people dying from television explosions every year. Watching television was dangerous, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its television industry almost instantly collapsed, with people rushing to buy Japanese products. Therefore, it was impossible for this industry to form an oligopoly.

Take shipbuilding companies as another example. During the Soviet era, they mostly built warships. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they wanted to produce civilian ships, but the equipment was too outdated, and no one would buy them. They wanted to upgrade the equipment, but it would cost too much money to buy new equipment, and the government didn't have the funds, so they didn't do anything.

Later, it went bankrupt. At the same time, the entire industry chain was also affected. With the industry leader going bankrupt, the downstream supply chain naturally collapsed as well.

The Soviet television and shipbuilding industries can be seen as a microcosm of its light and heavy industries; almost all industries followed this pattern: inefficient and unprofitable. Precisely because most factories were unable to generate profits, large-scale factory closures occurred in both Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The "oligarchs" that are commonly referred to later, apart from the financial sector, mainly competed for the Soviet Union's energy and mineral resources. Factories were not very important, as their equipment was mostly outdated and many were eventually sold as scrap metal.

What was the West's real massive takeover of the Soviet Union?
It wasn't the factories with technology from the 1940s and 50s, but the talent cultivated by the Soviet Union over decades!
Just as the Allies scouted Germany for talent after the war, Western companies' scouring of Soviet talent and technology was a true case of massive bargain hunting.

The real game-changer is never about buying up factories or companies themselves—it's about buying into a company's technology. That's the foundation of a company's competitiveness.

Just as the Soviet Union was able to transport all of Carl Zeiss's equipment back to the Soviet Union, and even take away thousands of workers, its optical technology remained at the level of the 1950s until the collapse of the Soviet Union, basically stagnating.

However, Carl Zeiss in West Germany, which was rebuilt with only a few dozen engineers, was able to become the world's leader in optical technology again in a very short time, and it still is to this day!
Therefore, a real bargain-hunting operation is not about making financial gains, nor is it about moving thousands of machines.

Instead, it's about acquiring the other party's talent and technology.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, these three major bottom-fishing events were the real major bottom-fishing events. However, in reality, there was another major bottom-fishing event that was least noticed and has been overlooked—the privatization of Britain.

However, because all of this was too "market-oriented," it was regarded as a "normal business practice." For example, Rolls-Royce's largest shareholder changed from the British government to BlackRock, a US-based investment firm.

It looks like just a normal business acquisition. Nothing special.

But actually?
However, it was a major bottom-fishing opportunity.

During this massive bargain-hunting spree, companies from the United States and Germany, among others, successfully acquired British technology by leveraging financial institutions, ultimately appropriating it and thus driving their own industrial development.

This is the fundamental reason why the U.S. government, including the U.S. Air Force, does not exclude British companies such as Rolls-Royce; because, although they are nominally British companies, they are in fact British companies controlled by American capital.

What lies behind that American capital? Is it just financial institutions? Of course not. There are also many American conglomerates that control not only financial institutions, but also many American companies.

And so, in what appeared to be a normal acquisition, they completed a massive bargain-hunting spree in the UK.

Who caused all of this?

It was this very Iron Lady standing before me.

Well, she's not iron strong enough yet.

"Currently, the economic situation in the UK is not optimistic. Businesses are overstaffed, and worker welfare expenses have become a burden for all businesses. High taxes are destroying the British middle class. After all, the rich can avoid taxes by not taking a salary, but ordinary people must take a salary and bear heavy taxes..."

Listening to the Iron Lady's story, Li Yi'an simply smiled, occasionally glancing at her, a hint of regret creeping into his heart.

Actually, they did have the opportunity to become old friends.

Well, actually they are old friends, just not that close.

After recounting Britain's various economic difficulties, Thatcher looked at Li Yi'an and said:
"Therefore, the most important thing for Britain now is how to revitalize its stagnant economy, which requires Britain to focus on itself rather than on distant matters that have little practical connection to Britain."

Then she added:

"Of course, the unity of the Commonwealth also needs to be further strengthened. I have always advocated strengthening the Commonwealth, especially its ties with the SEA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. We should build a closer alliance, one that goes beyond the framework of the Commonwealth..."

After making this suggestion, Thatcher looked at Li Yi'an with a probing look. In fact, there had been similar voices for the past ten years or so. Although the Commonwealth was the last vestige of dignity for the British Empire, there were also too many poor people in the Commonwealth.

Although Britain doesn't mind giving them some help, Britain itself is having a tough time right now. Compared to dealing with the poor, the British prefer to deal with their wealthy relatives, which naturally includes the SEA.

Even the most stubborn Britons today would not deny that the SEA is a member of the Commonwealth, and have long regarded it as a "true relative" along with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

There's no way around it; their economy is indeed strong, and their technology is indeed advanced. The reputation of Great Britain was earned by the SEA. Under these circumstances, anyone who says the SEA isn't "true Britain" is simply slapping themselves in the face.

Yes, within the Commonwealth, just like the Eight Banners, there are also three upper banners: the Mongol Banner and the Han Banner.

Traditionally, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are considered the "upper three flags," representing the true "family." White-majority countries like South Africa and Rhodesia are considered the "lower five flags." Countries like India, Malaysia, and Pakistan are considered the "Mongolian flag," while the dozen or so Commonwealth members in Africa are considered the "Han flag."

It must be said that the Eight Banners system still had some remnants, after all, it clearly distinguished the identities of masters and servants.

The Upper Three Banners were our own people, and the Lower Five Banners were also our own people. As for the Mongol Banners, they were both slaves and partners. As for the Han Banners, they were pure slaves.

This is just a comparison; in reality, the differences between the two are quite significant.

"Within this framework, SEA should play a larger and more active role."

(End of this chapter)