Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 186 Hidden Arrow!

The Reedy Creek Improvement District in Florida was very famous in Ethan's previous life, because before he traveled through time, the governor of Florida tried every means to deprive Disney of its autonomy there.

The cause of the incident is actually very simple. The governor of Florida wanted to implement a bill to protect minors in Florida, prohibiting teachers and staff in public schools and even the schools themselves from conducting any classroom teaching on LGBTQIA from kindergarten to third grade, because he felt that children in this period have unhealthy thinking and imperfect ideas. When they cannot distinguish right from wrong, public school teachers chanting to them is an evil act, even more terrible than Satan.

When the Florida governor publicly announced his position, Disney directly jumped out to oppose it, saying that he was hindering children's awakening and was a violation of human rights.

then……

The two sides started a fight.

As the argument went on, the governor of Florida pulled out the Reedy Creek Improvement District as a trump card, and forced Disney to give in by threatening to deprive it of its privileges in Florida. But Disney refused to back down and was willing to fight to the end for diversity, so the two sides started fighting fiercely.

Because there were too many crazy things happening in America at that time, and the New York local producers who told crosstalk were more interesting than them, this ordinary melon had no sweetness at all for Ethan who lived in New York, so he didn't care much.

But after the media reported on Disney's privileges in Florida...

He immediately shouted "Good fellow!"

Because of the privileges of self-taxation, exemption from regulation, and arbitrary issuance of bonds...

That’s awesome!

Many people want to know, did Walt Disney save the Florida governor's ancestors?
Why could he give the Disney Group such powerful power?
Countless people want to know how Florida passed this bill back then?
Has everyone's brain been kicked by a donkey?
It's a pity that no matter how chaotic the Internet was, no media reported the inside story of the whole incident, which made Ethan, who was sitting at the table with a knife and fork, twisting his hips, wanting to eat melon, a little disappointed.

He didn't get the answer in his previous life, but in this life...

"Steven, do you know how they got this land?"

Ethan was eager to hear the inside story.

However, Spielberg on the other end of the phone said, "How should I know that?"

"If it weren't for Sidney, I don't think he would even know about Disney's privileges in Florida. Moreover, Sidney was just envious of Disney for having such privileges. As for imitating him? I don't think anyone would be able to do such a thing, right? I personally think that if nothing unexpected happens, the people in Walt Disney and Roy Disney's family may not know how their fathers succeeded."

This answer made Ethan hang up the phone with regret.

But on second thought, he felt it was normal.

This privilege of a country within a country should be the top secret of the Disney family. Any normal person would take it to his grave, because it would be disadvantageous to them if it were made public.

Since Roy Disney was fighting for this supreme privilege, it was normal for him to sell out his company's secrets. After all, this privilege...

Even Ethan Jones was envious!
"Alas—what a pity—"

"This kind of company has only one destiny, and that is to become a public company."

"Because other capitalists would certainly not want to see them enjoying themselves."

Although Ethan didn't know how Roy Disney retired in his previous life, he knew that Roy Disney would never give up the opportunity to ascend the throne easily. He would fight for it all his life until he found that there was no way to turn the situation around, and then he would let go with regret.

And this process...

It must be long and brutal.

But this matter has nothing to do with Ethan Jones anymore. When he is already surrounded by a bunch of enemies, it seems unwise to get involved in the fight between another family.

Shaking his head with emotion, Ethan then put this matter aside. When Roy Disney's behavior was justified, the copy of the contract he brought was most likely true.

Since that's the case...

Picking up the desk calendar, Ethan began to study the release date of the new game.

After MGM, Paramount and Disney announced that their new games would be released in the summer, fall and winter, this group of people's intentions became very clear. They wanted to block the Destiny game in all aspects and use the popularity of their own movie characters to overshadow the Destiny game.

Although this ambition is impossible to actually realize, because the reputation of Destiny game in the video game circle is not comparable to that of the three of them, the idea of ​​blocking it is really a headache.

Fortunately, there is no PPT in this era, otherwise, Ethan would even dare to assert that in order to step on him to get to the top, the guys who borrowed his game would definitely make some comparison with friendly competitors.

After studying the calendar for a while, he finally circled the last ten days of May.

He wanted to hold the company's new product launch conference during this period.

As May passes and June comes, the students' long-awaited summer vacation will come. New products can be released in late May and distributed gradually within a dozen days. The children on vacation can play the new games as soon as possible. This huge flow of people will make the arcade's income very good.

Although on the surface these revenues will not go into Ethan Jones' pocket, making customers satisfied is what a respectable businessman should do.

Just like what Steve Jobs said when he was promoting Snake, when the buyers of video arcade machines are merchants, making money, making a lot of money, is the gaming experience they want. Only when their needs are met first, will there be a steady stream of games being brought to the market.

As for whether this choice will directly challenge MGM?
Ha ha.

If he is afraid of even these little things, then he should just go back to playing finance.

Just engage in value investing, wait for other companies to appreciate, and then live a life of idleness and wait for death.

Now that the decision had been made, Ethan began to prepare, calling Steve Ballmer over and giving this bald guy who might have a debuff a lot of things to do.

"Have the marketing department compile a purchase ranking for me based on previous cooperation records. For those with more than 10 units, let's say the top 150. Then summarize it and give it to me."

"By the way, those in the North American Theater Alliance should be counted separately. Don't count them within the 150."

"Then help me contact the school. I may borrow their auditorium in late May to hold the company's new product launch this year. Go and ask them when they are free."

"Then help me find the contact information of the American Trucking Association... Forget it, just help me contact them directly. I want to know how they calculate the price for long-distance transportation."

"These three tasks are relatively simple. I'll give you two days, okay?"

"No problem, boss." Steve Ballmer nodded without hesitation.

The first two tasks that Ethan arranged were actually very simple, which was to find someone to sell goods, and the third thing was related to the factory under the name of Destiny Game.

Previously, as the president of the company, he had agreed with the CEO to dismantle the factory with ever-expanding employees before the new products went into production. At that time, CEO Evelyn said that when the factory was dismantled, the internal fleet would also be cancelled, allowing those drivers to return to their original lives. In this case, the fate game of losing transportation capacity naturally had to find another way out.

The most feasible method at the moment is to find someone from the truck association to contract the work.

As for the split...

Ethan needs to think carefully about how to communicate with his father's comrades.

As the tasks were issued, the entire Game of Destiny became busy. Steve Ballmer acted quickly and completed all matters in just one day.

Stanford was very easy to talk to. They said they would decide the time. If Destiny Game thought a day was suitable for holding the press conference, they would clear out the auditorium on that day.

So Ethan chose a date he liked, May 20th.

The Truck Association also provided a transportation price list, but also stated that the price list could only provide an approximate price reference, and specific cooperation had to be discussed specifically, because the delivery locations for the goods in their Destiny Game were very scattered, so they had to make special arrangements.

And the sales ranking list...

This is quite interesting.

Because after seeing the data, the consumption differentiation between the East and West Coasts accounting for 50%, Texas and the Great Lakes region accounting for 40% is actually roughly the same as the population division in America.

After asking Steve Ballmer to get a map of the United States and instructing him to mark the merchants who purchased the rankings according to the states where they were located, an intuitive overview of video arcade consumption in North America was instantly presented. When Ethan discovered that except for Hawaii and Alaska, all other states were on the list, he instructed the bald man to have the marketing department contact these bosses, tell them the time of the company's new product launch conference, and invite them to attend.

Of course, the round-trip airfare and accommodation costs during this process are all borne by Destiny Game.

“Steve, we need to contact the people in the North American Theater Alliance who told them not to include it in the list. Since they have accepted the arcade version of Star Wars, they will be our target customers.”

"Ok."

Steve Ballmer nodded to show that he understood. After he left, Ethan flipped through the price list provided by the Trucking Association to prepare for the next contact.

While Ethan was busy, Roy Disney, who had sent his kindness to Ethan yesterday, was enjoying his breakfast in a hotel in San Jose near Palo Alto.

He took a sip of coffee, and the Italian taste filling his mouth made him frown slightly. He gently put it down, turned his gaze to the secretary beside him, and asked, "Is there no news from the company yet?"

"No." The male secretary shook his head slightly and said, "In the past 24 hours, they called us three times, and each time they said that Ethan Jones had not contacted them."

This result made Roy Disney nod his head, and his eyes became blank. No one knew what he was thinking. But after a moment, he collected his thoughts and picked up the knife and fork, ready to finish the fried egg in front of him.

The male secretary saw this situation. After pondering for a long time, he leaned forward slightly and asked carefully: "Boss, how about we go back first?"

The sudden words interrupted Roy Disney's actions. He stared at the fried eggs on the plate for a long time, then chuckled and said, "Do you think Ethan Jones won't contact me?"

The male secretary didn't know how to answer this question, and Roy Disney didn't intend to dig deeper into the answer. He just said, "You may be very curious now, right?"

"Curious why I'm looking for an alliance with Ethan Jones?" "Because my need is simple, that is to fight back to the board of directors, become the chairman, and kick those two guys Ron Miller and Don Tatum out of the company."

"There is only one way to do this in a public company like Disney, and that is to gain the trust of other shareholders, gain their support, and then restructure the board of directors."

"This approach will not involve non-shareholders of Disney. Even if it does, those non-shareholders must be related to Disney's business. Their presence may increase Disney's operating income, increase the company's profits, and help the stock price rise. Only in this case will shareholders value their opinions."

"Ethan Jones does not hold any shares in Disney, and his business has nothing to do with us. At least so far they have chosen Columbia, so my connection with Ethan Jones will not actually help the fight for the company's sovereignty."

"The place I'm going to now should be the homes of other shareholders."

"Right?"

The male secretary felt a little embarrassed listening to these long passages of speech.

Because a few months ago, after Ethan Jones rejected his boss, when his boss still wanted to discuss cooperation with Ethan Jones, he felt that his boss was being complacent.

Since Ethan Jones decisively refused, it means that he has heard the inside information and is unwilling to get involved in this muddy water. In this case, finding a new way out is much better than hanging himself on a tree.

This trip was even more meaningless in his opinion. The people at the helm of Disney, the Walt Disney family, had already hooked up with Philips, and after obtaining the patent license from Philips, Roy Disney's family was already doomed.

The reason is simple: the cooperation between Disney and Philips is more in line with the interests of shareholders.

If Disney and Destiny collaborate, there are only two options.

The first one is that Disney commissioned Destiny to make games for Disney.

With the Destiny game generating over 300 million yuan a year, the buyout-style commission funding would have to be at least 30 million, if not 100 million, right?

Otherwise, why would Destiny Game make a game for you, Disney?
The second is that Disney licenses its classic characters to Destiny Game to make games, and both parties share the game revenue. In this case, even if Disney holds Mickey Mouse, Destiny Game can still ask for a high share and take a considerable share.

If Destiny Game owned Ralph Baer's video game patent, Disney would have no choice but to accept it. But when the patent was in Philips' hands, obtaining the patent and making it themselves was the embodiment of maximizing profits. Now, Walt Disney's son-in-law has done it.

When Disney already has the patent license...

Sharing profits with the game of fate?

That's just a bubble in the brain!
Therefore, in the view of Roy Disney's secretary, their boss was actually beyond redemption, and negotiating cooperation with Ethan Jones would not win back the hearts of shareholders.

In this case, it would be better to step aside gracefully and wait for a better opportunity...

Although the male secretary did not say these words, how could Roy Disney not know his true thoughts? Or, before coming to Palo Alto, his old subordinates who had followed him since the 1950s had been advising him to be careful and not give Ron Miller a handle.

But even so, he still came forward stubbornly.

Because he knew—

"You all may think that making games is too simple."

He used a table knife to fiddle with the fried eggs on the plate and muttered:

"You might think that anyone can make video games."

“But that’s not actually the case.”

"If anyone can succeed in making video games, then Ethan Jones wouldn't be able to make 300 million a year. There must be some unknown secret."

"I don't know what the secret is, but I know Philips doesn't know the secret either, because they have been defeated three times in a row by Ethan Jones."

"If you fail once, you can say it's bad luck."

"Failed twice, that can be considered as some bad luck."

"But after failing three or four times..."

"They are doomed to achieve nothing in this industry!"

"Working with this kind of person?"

"That's just a rapid slide into the abyss of failure!"

"And since Ron and his team are doomed to fail, I have to maintain a good relationship with Ethan Jones, because once the opportunity arises, I will be able to seize it firmly."

The slightly sarcastic tone made the male secretary glare slightly.

He didn't expect the boss to be in such a state of mind.

Although he wanted to refute, he knew that what his boss said was right.

But even if he silently said "quiet" in his heart, he couldn't hide the doubts in his heart.

"Boss, I have a question." He couldn't help but speak.

"You say." Roy Disney did not mean to hide anything.

The male secretary organized his words and said, "I want to know, is it too much to pay to walk on the edge of the law to win Ethan's favor?"

The blunt inquiry made Roy Disney chuckle.

He had been playing with the fried egg when he slashed the yolk with the knife.

As he moved, the egg liquid condensed in it flowed out.

"Who said I have to walk on the edge of the law all the time?"

Roy Disney raised his head and focused his calm eyes on the secretary.

"Yesterday's contact was just to prove to him that I am willing to cooperate."

"Tell him I come with sincerity this time."

"And after that, we will have an equal partnership."

"because of him……"

"Need me!"

…………

"WTF? People from North American theaters said they won't come to our new product launch conference?"

When Ethan heard the news, he jumped out of his seat.

He stared at Steve Ballmer who came to report with wide eyes, wanting to get a positive answer.

"Yes."

Ballmer nodded, looked at his boss seriously, and said, "All the theater owners said they didn't have time. When I talked to them and said I could ask their theater managers to discuss these matters, they said regretfully that not only theater managers, but even the doormen in the theaters didn't have time to attend our new product launch."

"I think they're hinting, so..."

"I'm here to report."

Ethan's face darkened after hearing these words. He stared at Steve Ballmer for a long while, and finally ordered, "Go contact Roy Disney for me. I really want to see him!"

…………

'? ? ? '

The boss's confidence made the male secretary a little confused. Just as he was wondering if he had missed something and was not paying attention to it, a burst of hurried footsteps came from afar.

Roy Disney looked up.

The person who came was his assistant.

When the male assistant noticed that his boss was paying attention to him, he immediately started running quickly.

This action also made Roy Disney smile knowingly.

"coming--"

he murmured.

(End of this chapter)