[Infostock Daily=Reporter Lee Dong-hoon] Last Friday, the Korean domestic stock market was jolted by an exclusive report from Korea Economic TV, the No. 1 economic broadcaster, that Hyundai Motor Co. will join hands with Apple in Apple cars.
The report was definitive, but there was no negotiation details. The Korea Economic Daily confirmed that the negotiation took placed based on Hyundai Motor's official comments.
◇ Hyundai Motor "There was a preliminary talk with Apple...nothing has been neither decided or agreed."
The news of Hyundai Motor, Korea's leading automobile company, partnering with Apple for the Apple car is an exciting issue.
In line with that, Hyundai Motor's share was up sharply on the day of the report. Many Korean securities companies provided rosy projection about the share.
Let's go back a week. There was a report that Apple was expected to opt for a Samsung Electro-Mechanics' folded camera module for the next iPhone.
The process and contents of the negotiation were very detailed and certain in the report.
◇ Samsung stated that Apple's order of Folded Camera' report is groundless.
Samsung countered the report quickly. Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., which has been cited as the beneficiary, issued an official statement stressing that it is 'groundless'.
Korean securities companies discredited the news, and Samsung Securities even disparaged the truth of the report by providing the ticker of other beneficiary stocks.
Samsung called that the report is baseless and reiterated that in Infostock Daily.
The two cases can be dismissed as different responses from media companies based on their media power.
The root cause is a difference between Samsung and Hyundai Motor's perception of Apple.
◇ Apple secrecy is a business imperative...LG kept secrecy.
Apple is keeping all its business strategies secret, which are rare in the global market. Apple is known as one of the most difficult companies to cover by the journalist. The Apple PR team does not share anything, and they even deny the news that are commonly known.
To that extent, culture of secrecy has spread to the public relations team and business divisions.
Take Apple's longtime business partner, LG Group, for example. Since LG components are supplied to Apple, it is very easy to confirm specification and the design of the next generation smartphone lineup.
However, No one from LG talks about Apple during meetings with media.
◇ The business community says, "can't understand Hyundai."... Apple-Hyundai Motor partnership 'up in the air'
There are so many foreign executives in Hyundai Motor. This was one of the major change led by Chairman Chung Eui-sun.
As per the business community in Korea, the leak of initial negotiations with Apple despite such changes shows that Hyuindia needs more time.
In light of its actions, Apple is certain to demand Hyundai an explain about the media report. For Hyundai Motor, it doesn't have much to say since the its PR team confirmed about the negotiation.
If Apple does not demand a separate explanation, the general consensus of the investment industry is that ithe partnership between the two companies, which is in its infancy, is over.
Didn't Chairman Chung Eui-sun really know about 'Apple's secrecy' when he is known to pay a lot of attention to Hyundai Motor's stock price?
Reporter Lee Dong-hoon usinvestmentidea2020@gmail.com
