Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 143 I smile triumphantly~
As soon as he got to work the next day, Ethan Jones called Allen Massey into his office and asked about the company's current operating conditions.

In response to this question, Alan Massey directly showed his boss the company's financial statements.

"Although the market demand for Pac-Man arcade machines has reached saturation, their sales have still increased in the first half of this year. We sold 1,472 machines and had revenue of $2,944,000."

“So far, its total sales are 17,281 units.”

"This number would amaze countless game companies, because they might not be able to sell even a fraction of Pac-Man even if they work on games for their entire lives," Aaron Massey complimented.

Ethan Jones also smiled and nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"The results of Star Wars, which was launched this year, are even better. With the crazy rush of people all over the world, the total sales have exceeded 30,000 units in two months. Although the current increase in orders has obviously slowed down, this game has brought the company $61.23 million in revenue."

"If we deduct the production costs, OEM fees, distribution costs and management costs, our Destiny Game's net profit in the first half of this year can reach 30 million..."

"Even after deducting your and the chairman's commission, the net profit is still 25 million."

Alan Massey looked carefully at the figures on the report and seriously stated the company's situation.

This fact made Ethan Jones very happy.

The company has been in business for half a year and the profit has exceeded three thousand?
Wow!

Video games are indeed a money-making tool in the legitimate industry!
The commission that Aaron Massey mentioned is actually the R&D cost of the project.

Although the development team of "Pac-Man" and "Star Wars" consisted of only a few people, whether it was Steve Wozniak who helped twice or Damio Dean who joined the company later, they all received a fixed salary offered by Ethan Jones and did not enjoy any share of the project profits.

But this does not mean that the two games can be developed with only tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. As the designer of the game, Ethan will take 2.5% of the sales price as a commission for every arcade machine sold by the Destiny game, and the same is true for Evelyn, and the reason for her commission is the overall development of the project.

The reason for doing this is very simple. It is mainly to ensure that the company's accounts look real enough. When the IRS comes to audit, they will not think that the products of Destiny Game came out of nowhere.

Because once the IRS finds out that a product that has generated tens of millions in revenue and ignited a market of hundreds of millions has a research and development cost of only tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, they will definitely go through the accounts of the Destiny Game, because they have every reason to suspect that Ethan and Evelyn are evading taxes in this way.

There is no way, who made the current American tax policy so stupid?
The maximum federal corporate income tax rate is 48 percent.

California's maximum corporate income tax rate is 9.6 percent.

This looks high enough, right?

But compared to the federal individual income tax rate of 70% and the California individual income tax rate of 11%, corporate taxes are simply extremely low!

Ethan and Evelyn could indeed give up their development income and do projects for the company for free to avoid high taxes, but as long as they gave up, the IRS would have reason to investigate.

Developers rely on their status as bosses to avoid charging project development fees?
Isn't this a blatant reluctance to pay taxes?

In order to avoid being criticized, they just symbolically drew five dots.

Then operate it as a personal tax avoidance method.

There is no way around it. The IRS holds the gun, so just pay something.

Of course, even if this is the case, a company's net profit of 25 million is too high.

Last year they diluted a lot of profits by buying land to build employee living quarters, and this year...

How much land can this 25 million buy?
I’m afraid they can buy the entire Miaobida!

Fortunately, Ethan doesn't have to take care of these things by himself. Alan Massey will work with external firms to handle everything. The reason why Ethan asked about the company's situation today was because he wanted to do something else.

After thanking Alan Massey for his report, he called Julis Noble into his office and said, "I'll assign you a task. Go and talk to the school to see if there are any experts in optical storage research at our school. Gather some information in this area and tell me."

Yes, although Ethan kept saying that he had too many things to do and was overwhelmed, since the CD heard it, how could he just stand by and watch?
If this project has nothing to do with him, he would definitely consider it before getting involved. But when the CD as a storage medium can be used in movies, games, computers and other aspects, if he still doesn't take action, he will feel like a big fool!

Not to mention, Philips is tinkering with this thing!
As the two parties are competitors and Philips obviously wants to continue to work in the gaming field, it is always better to take the initiative than to passively accept the attack, right?
He has already thought about the application directions of optical storage.

With Sony's CD player as a proof, he could just cross the river by feeling the other party's head!
Copy D-777 in advance...

Hey! Then wouldn't he be invincible?
Okay, okay, this is all bullshit.

Ethan knew that the CD product was not easy to make, because it would infringe on the interests of tape drives and would also conflict with the developers of optical storage. At that time, they would not be facing opponents like Atari and MIRO. Multinational companies such as Sony, Panasonic, and Philips would definitely roll up their sleeves and take part in the battle. But even if he had many enemies... his enemies also had many enemies!

When Philips, a smart company, keeps jumping around in the existing industry...

The MCA that wasted countless patent time because of them can now become teammates!

As long as we can bring in the American music content producer, the CD industry can still be played~
Oh no!
His potential teammates also include Steven Spielberg and George Lucas!

When the No. 1 IP in North America is right next to you...

No matter what, we have to rub the sheep until it is shiny and oily.

Of course, plans can never keep up with changes. Building a team to make a product is what Ethan should do most right now, and the rest can be taken care of later.

After properly arranging the gold mountain he had accidentally discovered, Ethan, in a good mood, finally had time to deal with his previous unfinished business, and the first thing was Vinton Cerf's instructions.

When he went to Arlington to meet Vinton Cerf, the professor was very dissatisfied with a startup company in Santa Clara and hoped that Ethan and Evelyn could help investigate. After returning to California, Ethan gave the task to Julis and asked her to find out about the software development company. If it weren't for Nintendo's sudden trouble, he might have replied to the professor long ago.

Now that all the urgent matters at hand had been dealt with, he naturally asked Julis for information about the software company. When he found out that the company was really developing a database according to the CIA's requirements, he directly asked Julis to fax the collected registration information and the information obtained from on-site inquiries to Vinton Cerf.

With a crisp beep, the green light on the fax machine came on.

A moment later, a piece of text was printed out by the dot matrix printer.

"Okay, I get it, thank you Ethan."

The professor's reply made Ethan snap his fingers, and then he went on to the next thing.

And that is the relocation of the company's headquarters.

Currently, the headquarters of Destiny Game has a total of three departments. The administrative department led by Julis Noble has 24 employees, who occupy the entire first floor of the company. The financial department led by Alan Massey has seven employees, who share the second floor of the company with the eleven people in the game development department led by Damio Dean. The third floor is the office exclusively for Ethan and Evelyn.

Although the building approved by the old principal was large enough, and the first floor could accommodate ten to fifteen people, and the second floor could still be used for recruitment, if the optical storage laboratory that Ethan wanted to set up was moved in, it would seem a bit crowded here, so changing locations was imperative.

During his search, he set his sights on a piece of land located in the northern part of Stanford Industrial Park.

Since this area has not been developed yet, you can even overlook the Santa Cruz Mountains from a high place. Ethan was very happy about the comfort of being close to nature.

After he reported his needs in the name of Evelyn, the teachers of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Center quickly reviewed and approved it.

After only one day, the old principal called him over.

"You want that piece of land near Mountain View? Why? It's all wasteland over there."

"Because the scenery is nice." Ethan said truthfully, "When I went to Arlington last month, I visited Mr. Vinton's office. The environment there is very beautiful."

"There are mountains, water, gardens, and a big fountain."

Ethan gestured to the old principal.

The old principal nodded with a smile at the joke-like words, "Okay, okay, then the land in the west is yours. How much do you want? Fifty acres or a hundred acres?"

"Oh... one hundred acres is a bit much..."

Ethan's eyes rolled, and the image of his own farm popped up in his mind.

He briefly imagined that if a headquarters was built on Thomas's 100-acre orchard...

Damn! That scene was so beautiful that he couldn't even bear to look at it!
"You also know that a hundred acres is big?" Ethan's words made the old principal glare at him, "Are you starting a business?"

"You changed your headquarters this time because of business expansion, right? And then you started asking for mountains, water, and gardens? Then next time you change the location, do I have to give you the land in the Santa Cruz Mountains?"

"We at Stanford own 1,200 acres of land there, all of which is an ecological reserve."

"If you build your headquarters there, you will definitely go to work listening to the birds singing and go home listening to the sunset."

"Is this okay?" Ethan's eyes widened, his face full of anticipation.

'…' The old principal was stunned for a moment, then he grabbed the cane beside him and smashed it towards Ethan.

There was a snapping sound, and Ethan dodged, and his crutch fell to the ground.

The two people, who were almost three generations apart in age, finally couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.

The old principal knew that Ethan was talking nonsense.

Ethan also knew that the old man was joking.

After laughing, the old principal also brought up the business, "Oh Ethan, I heard that you have been in contact with the teacher who studies light storage in the school recently?"

"Yeah." Ethan nodded without hesitation.

"You want to study optical storage?"

"That's it."

“Is there a project?”

"It's a bit of an immature idea."

Although Ethan did not mention any useful information in the conversation, it was enough for Fred Terman, a professor who fully participated in the technological explosion.

He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and said calmly, "If you are really interested in optical storage, then I suggest you move your company directly to Palo Alto."

"The reason is simple, because the headquarters of the Stanford Research Institute is right there. If you have any research, you can go there directly. The equipment there is definitely the most complete and advanced in the entire West. In addition, there are many patents for optical storage there. If you like them, you can buy them directly..."

What the old principal said is true.

When he founded the Stanford Research Institute, he defined it as a non-profit scientific research institution. Its fundamental purpose at the beginning was to use scientific achievements to promote economic development here.

Driven by this creed, the institute will undertake research and development projects from government agencies, commercial enterprises and private foundations, and will also directly transfer past research results.

Because they are generous and open-minded, many companies come to select products every year. As more products are purchased, more and more companies open near Stanford.

In fact, when Ethan decided to make CDs, he considered the research institute because Evelyn told him that the initial improvement of the CDs was completed at the Stanford Research Institute. He even imagined that after the R&D team was formed, he would go directly to the research institute to make a purchase.

There's nothing I can do about it, who makes him rich!
By making the company's profits less profitable, not only can the company pay less tax, but it can also lay a solid foundation for the company's long-term development.

And now, the old principal suggests moving the company there directly?

It also said that the machines there can be borrowed from outsiders?

Oh - the houses in that place are no longer in the Stanford Industrial Area!

"Is this okay?" Ethan asked with a smile.

"Why not?" The old principal shrugged and said, "The better you develop, the more it proves that my original decision was correct. For someone like me who has one foot in the coffin, being able to close my eyes and see the praise of the world is the most wonderful thing in this life."

“Money after death is not money, and honor after death is not honor, right?”

"My teacher closed his eyes amidst flowers."

"I want, too."

The old principal is seventy-seven years old this year.

Although for the wealthy, this age is actually the prime of life, because excellent medical conditions can ensure that they live to an age that is unimaginable for ordinary people, but Fred Terman has been frail and sickly since childhood, and the tuberculosis he contracted when he was young left a root of disease in his lungs.

He didn't know how long he could live.

But he knew that he wanted to leave with a bang like his teacher.

The day after he was called over by the old president, people from the Stanford Research Institute contacted Ethan. They provided Ethan with a five-story building, and that...

“This is actually our backup office building.”

The deputy director, a middle-aged white man, introduced to Ethan: "We currently have more than a thousand researchers in our institute. Of course, we will definitely recruit more in the future, so our building is actually still under construction."

"This building was only built last year. We originally planned to use it after a major project was approved, but since the principal said that you might transform from a game company to a technology company and will contact us more in the future, this building will be given to you for use first."

"As for the lease period..."

"The principal said it's up to you."

"It's only one dollar a year anyway."

"As long as you don't cancel the company, you can keep using it."

"Of course, subletting is not allowed."

"Oh, right... the building in front of this one is our optical research lab. It will be very convenient for you to work here and use the lab."

Ethan smiled and took the key handed to him.

Now he fully understands what it means to hold on to a strong support and avoid taking ten years of detours.

Of course, as a multi-millionaire, he was not stingy.

The day after signing the contract, he asked Allen Massey to donate one million dollars each to Stanford University and Stanford Research Institute in the name of the company and his sister.

Two million is a lot of money these days.

Its purchasing power is enough to support 400 families living at a normal level for a year.

But Ethan doesn't care!

If we set up a factory in Stanford Industrial Park before, it was just to become a member of Stanford's school-enterprise co-construction plan.

So now, starting a company on the Stanford Research Institute’s turf means gaining the school’s real endorsement!

This is not something that can be bought with two million!
When the company opens here, Ethan is really not afraid of any Hollywood rules!
If Warner and Philips dare to hire people, will the media dare to take the offer?

Pick any professor here, and he will have either a Lockheed project or a Boeing project, an order from GM or research sponsored by Dow...

When all these giants are involved here, do the media dare to come?

Hehe ~
Ethan was in a good mood as he leaned his hands on the rooftop railing and looked down at the research park.

Thanks to [种花生的加油鸭丶] for the reward of 3800 Qidian coins.

Note: ① In the 70s, the highest personal income tax rate of old Mike was 1964%, which was reduced by the Great Society Plan in 91. Before that, it was 81%, and then it was reduced by Lingzong. In 50, it was 86%, and in 28, it was 2%. It was Wozniak who said that shareholders also need to receive wages for research and development. He said that when he was selling Apple 777, his weekly salary was 1994, not including product dividends. He actually didn't want to take so much money because the tax rate was too high, but if he didn't take it, Dahong Enterprise would be easily investigated by the IRS. Because back then, you didn't need to use your brain, just by starting a company, you could save more than points of tax. ②D- is the th anniversary commemorative model of Sony CD Walkman, released in .

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(End of this chapter)