Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 39 - Executive Meeting

Vince arrived at his hotel suite and waited for the Dragonfly drones to sweep the area for listening devices and other privacy threats.

Leah was getting ready to leave and go shopping as she saw Vince enter his room.

"Vince, I heard you met with the South Korean president while I was swimming downstairs. How was it?" Leah asked curiously.

"He treated me well and with respect, mom. He also offered me a value deal in expanding our East Asia coverage." Vince replied.

"That's good to hear, son. You've been busy with work while on vacation. You should relax a bit." Leah suggested.

"I can't relax for now. The deal with Mr. Lee smells fishy. It's too good to be true." Vince replied.

"Kids like you shouldn't need to be dealing with politicians and the stresses they bring," Leah said sadly.

"My vision for Future Tech is expanding; I need to practice in dealing with these types of people," Vince replied.

[Mr. Lee could have easily deceived me if it weren't for my old memories of the future.] Vince pondered.

The Dragonfly drones confirmed Vince's privacy within the hotel suite.

Vince decided to call David and Price.

"Hey David, Are you awake?" Vince asked.

"It's the middle of the night, Vince. What do you need?" David replied.

"Representatives from Hyundai Engineering and Construction will contact you soon regarding a deal I've struck with President Lee. Unfortunately, something isn't right with this deal, but we'll play along for now." Vince instructed.

"Understood, Boss. Can I go back to sleep now?" David replied.

"Go ahead. Thanks, David." Vince replied.

Vince then called Price regarding the counter-intelligence mission.

"Price, did I catch you at the wrong time?" Vince asked.

"I'm just working overnight. What's going on?" David replied.

"David will be finalizing a deal with the South Korean president soon. The agreement itself is too good to be true, so I'll need cyberspies from Future Security to monitor our dealings with Hyundai E&C. "

"I suspect they want to steal Future Tech intelligence and technologies using the telecommunication hubs we'll be upgrading," Vince instructed.

"I won't let that happen, Vince. We'll perform cyber intrusions in retaliation if they try anything suspicious." Price replied determinedly.

"Take what you can get before your people get caught. I wouldn't say I like snooping into other people's business, but actions against Future Tech or me will have dire consequences." Vince stated.

[It puts me at ease knowing that cyber security is Price's forte.] Vince thought.

Vince and Leah decided to roam around Gangnam to spend some time with each other.

It was a beautiful but snowy day in Seoul. Naturally, though, the cold didn't bother them much under Future Couture clothing.

"Look over there—an entourage with flying security drones; that should be Vince Dalton. He's in South Korea to attend the APL Finals." A Korean passerby said to his companion.

"You're right! He looks so dreamy even as a young man." the Korean girl companion replied.

"You wish! How are you going to compete with that hot lady he's following around." her companion declared.

Felix started carrying shopping bags while Vince and Leah explored the commercial district. Leah was more focused on the area than shopping itself.

"Oh, that one! Vince, I want our Future Couture South Korea branch to set up there." Leah declared.

She pointed at a store in the middle of the busiest area in the commercial district.

"That's going to be expensive, but anything for you, mom!" Vince acquiesced.

[Future Tech will likely need a South Korea branch, too, with the new business partnership with Hyundai E&C around the corner.] Vince pondered.

The group went around the commercial district for a few hours before heading back to the hotel. Vince had time to work on the new agreement with David and Ralph from the hotel suite.

Felix deployed a mobile telecommunication hub within the room to provide secure network access.

The hub itself was the size of a full-tower desktop computer and was connected to a small satellite dish receiver posted outside the window.

"Felix, is this the new military communication system we'll be selling to DOD?" Vince asked.

"Yes. It's called a Data Access Node, or just the Node. Price started developing the Node when Future Security began. I still remember because I was one of the first men you hired back then." Felix replied.

"I recall our meeting at Tom's gym. I was so paranoid from the failed assassination attempt." Vince stated embarrassingly.

"We heard about what happened. You defended yourself like a true warrior. And you're alive because of this warrior's will." Felix stated reassuringly.

"I got lucky, but I do agree. Thanks, Felix." Vince replied.

Vince found his AIM laptop before connecting to the Node and started working.

[Future Tech is expanding rapidly across foreign nations now. Corporate security wasn't much of a problem as most of our business was in Austin. I'll have to restructure the company again to protect our billions of dollars worth of assets overseas.] Vince pondered.

Vince busied himself outlining the new corporate structure Future Tech will be complying with soon.

An executive director will lead central departments in Future Tech like Future Security, Arms, Studio, AI, VR, Holdings, Investments, and the Hive Mind. In addition, they'll be responsible for their detachments in overseas foreign branches.

Executive Directors can appoint a limited amount of operations managers to oversee sub-divisions within their departments.

These operations managers would assign project or mission managers to monitor the performance of lower-level employees.

Each Future Tech member can slowly climb the corporate ladder to access more advanced tech, resources, training, and privileges.

If an employee trains enough, there will also be opportunities to transfer from departments or divisions as a promotion.

[This outline should be a decent starting point for Hudson to polish.] Vince thought before sending the text document to Hudson via the secure Node.

There were still a few days before Leah and Vince had to fly to Daegu for the Finals. Vince enjoyed the city during the day while working at night.

It was the middle of the night in South Korea. Vince joined in the daily executive video conference meeting hosted in Austin.

David was the first one to start discussing business.

"It's already so late there, Vince. You don't have to attend this meeting." David said.

"I want to be here. Future Tech has a lot on its plate right now, and I need to stay on top of things." Vince replied

"Alright. A representative from Hyundai C&E contacted me earlier this morning to finalize the two-year contract. It seems like you low-balled our initial estimated expansion cost from $40 billion to $20 billion." David stated.

"I wanted to test Mr. Lee's sincerity. He failed, unfortunately." Vince replied.

"Your little test ended up saving us $30 billion because they settled for only $10 billion to seal the deal." David declared.

"I told you it was too good to be true. We'll capitalize on this lucky windfall, though." Vince replied.

Patel followed up after David in explaining the status of Future Tech AI and the Hive Mind.

"The AI department is heavily focused on contributing to our military contracts, though a quarter of the team is working with Morgan and the AIM department in developing our new products for 2013," Patel stated.

"I've set up the Hive Mind department the same way, primarily focusing on manufacturing defense contract orders from DOD," Patel added.

"Patel, You've done excellent work with our AI and its applications. Unfortunately, leading both the AI department and Hive Mind manufacturing is too much of a burden for one person. I give you the freedom to nominate an executive director for Hive Mind Manufacturing." Vince instructed.

"It's an honor, Vince. I want to nominate Andreas, the tech campus overseer, to be our newest executive director. He's been working for me since before Future Tech bought my small AI company, and I feel like he deserves the promotion." Patel replied.

"I've met Andreas, and he seems like a good fit to be a Future Tech executive," Vince replied in agreement.

Ralph decided to chip in the conversation to discuss finances.

"It's been a highly profitable last quarter in 2012, though our total expenses exceeded our initial estimates but were still acceptable, at around $60 billion."

"Gross profit from AIM consumer electronics, Bitcash transactions, War Online microtransactions, Hive Mind manufacturing rentals, and military contracts came out around $150 billion, which leaves $90 billion as liquid cash," Ralph stated.

Richard joined in the discussion about finances and updated Vince regarding Future Investment's portfolio.

"Our portfolio hadn't changed much since your visit at our Wall Street offices. The total value of the portfolio is $30 billion, and we still have $10 billion in cash for further investments." Richard stated.

"Ralph, Richard, How much do guys think the entire Future Tech is currently worth, including all our businesses and assets?" Vince asked.

"At least $300 billion," Richard replied.

"It's a low and rough estimate, but that seems about right. We'll be performing a finance review in January for a more accurate valuation." Ralph added.

[Damn. Future Tech is about to hit critical mass. It'll be in a too big to fail situation soon. On the other hand, though, I would never want to be in a position needing to be bailed out by the government.] Vince thought.

Stats last time checked:

Future Tech current valuation - $300 billion

15 million BTC (currently trades at $1,000)

$90 Billion cash in Future Tech

8350+ employees (FT AI, Future Studios, Hive Mind Manufacturing, ARM, BitCash, Future Security, FT VR, Future Tech F1, FT Investments, Future Arms)

Vehicles: Klassen Phantom, Agera R, Agera SFV, Boeing Luxury 787 Dreamliner

Five company collaborators (Epic, Koenegisegg, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyundai C&E)

Dozens of investments under Future Tech Holdings (i..e., Instagram)