Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 278 Happy Little Days

"Boss, Ron Miller is gone."

Ten minutes later, in the office of Warner's chairman, a middle-aged white man in a suit reported to Steve Ross, who was standing at the window overlooking the world: "When he left, he showed great anger. After getting into his nanny car, he even hammered the seat back without concealing it."

"Judging from what I've seen, he's out of control at this point."

These words made Steve Ross, with his hands behind his back, nod slightly and say "hmm".

The male secretary pursed his lips at the light response. He looked at the thin figure and asked nervously, "Boss, is it inappropriate for us to do this?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Ron Miller..." The male secretary hesitated, "He is our ally after all."

"Oh—" Steve Ross turned his head and looked at the subordinate who had followed him for decades with a smile on his face, and said, "I heard two meanings in your words."

"First, you mean that Ron Miller is our ally. If we abandon our ally now, it would be a betrayal. Second, you mean that during the time we were allies, Ron Miller knew a lot of our secrets. Abandoning him would bring us unnecessary trouble."

"is it?"

The direct question made the male secretary's face stiffen, and then he nodded and said, "Boss, no matter which level it is, it will be very disadvantageous for us."

“Abandoning our allies would undermine the strength of our alliance.”

"And if Ron Miller leaks the information, Ethan Jones, who gets the information, will be on guard."

"So?" The secretary's words made Steve Ross lean back and put his hands on the windowsill.

As the golden sunlight spread, he was shining in the light.

But perhaps because he was facing away from the sun, there was a slight shadow on his face at the moment.

"So do you have any good ideas?" Steve Ross asked.

Although his tone was very calm, the male secretary who was looking at him still felt an indescribable sense of oppression. His Adam's apple moved and he was speechless. As for Steve Ross...

The old man sneered and said, "You can't do anything, right?"

"Everyone knows..."

"Disney, or Ron Miller, can't be saved, right?"

The male secretary didn't know how to answer this question, while Steve Ross folded his arms, leaned against the windowsill, and said, "So... recycling is the best option, isn't it?"

"You know, Ethan Jones sold three million consoles in three days."

"All the evaluators now estimate that sales for this year are 10 million units."

"When his product can enter the homes of 10 million North American users..."

"What does Ron Miller have to beat Roy Disney?"

"Take your own head?"

“Is he qualified to be the chairman of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company?”

"He doesn't deserve it!"

The sudden rise in his voice expressed Steve Ross's anger.

The blunt questioning made the male secretary lower his head.

This situation made Steve Ross wave his hand and say get lost.

Following his order, the male secretary immediately left the boss's office.

With a click, the door of the office was locked. Steve Ross sighed. Turning around again, when he looked out again, the clouds in the sky suddenly covered the sun, and the world that was originally sunny suddenly dimmed.

In fact, when Steve Ross learned that the Johnson home console of the Destiny game had sold three million units in three days, he was shocked.

He sat on the sofa for a long time, until his subordinates on the other end of the phone realized something was wrong and kept calling his name, and only then did he recover from his shock.

Then, like Roy Disney, he compared Hollywood data with Ethan Jones's income, and then threw the information away.

Whoever loves to compare,
When the exaggerated data visible to the naked eye appears, any comparison is meaningless!
Previously, people only speculated that, based on the current development momentum, the video game industry might catch up with the output value of movies and music in a very short time.

but now……

All people can do is accept this fact!
Although Steve Ross was very unwilling, he always felt that he, who acquired Atari, was the real son of destiny, but in the face of the fact that three million units were sold in three days and the expected ten million units, he was powerless to resist, because he knew that the sales of ten million units were equal to all the households in North America!
When Ethan Jones' products can truly enter thousands of households, will he continue to be so strong?

That's clown behavior!
Because even when Walt Disney was operating the Disney Club, he did not expand the number of registered members of the Disney Club to 10 million families!

And now, at least 10 million families will pay for the Johnson console!
This is outrageous!
How does Ron Miller handle himself in this situation?
Steve Ross felt that this guy was doomed.

Previously, the reason why those third-party shareholders in Disney chose Ron Miller was because Ron Miller won the support of the old employees of the Disney Group.

When those who helped Walt Disney build his empire said that Ron Miller was the future of the Disney Group, external shareholders who wanted a stable investment would naturally vote for him.

But when Roy Disney recruited Ethan Jones...

Ron Miller?

Go to hell!
When the video game industry has only been developed for eight years and can create more exaggerated value than film entertainment, everyone will embrace the former! After Roy Disney embraced Ethan Jones, the guys who chose Ron Miller because of financial investment will naturally vote with their feet!
So, after getting the sales report that could not be falsified, Steve Ross felt that even if God came, he would not be able to help Ron Miller keep his position!

Since the cruel truth is bound to happen, then...

Why not change your thinking and turn crisis into opportunity?

The right way is to introduce external capital that is interested in Disney to fight against Roy Disney and others, and let Roy Disney drag Ethan Jones into the abyss of the acquisition war!

That's what others in the league think, too.

Rockwell, Commodore, MGM, and Philips have all communicated with him.

Everyone felt that sacrificing Ron Miller was the best option.

As long as they can waste a lot of Ethan Jones' time and energy in this way, they will be one step closer to success! Because they have already laid out the plan, what they lack now is time!
As long as there is room for production over there, then...

The better Ethan Jones's reputation is now, the harder he will fall in the future!

Thinking of this, Steve Ross, who was looking out, muttered to himself -

"Ron, Ron..."

"Since death is inevitable, why do you struggle?"

"Your resistance will not bring you success, it will only make you——"

"Falling deeper and deeper!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Steve Ross noticed that there seemed to be a black spot in the blue sky.

Then, the black spot expanded as if ink was spilled.

In less than five minutes, the originally clear sky had disappeared, and in its place was a scene of dark clouds looming over the city. About ten minutes later, heavy rain poured down like a torrential rain.

Although it was normal for the weather at the seaside to change suddenly, this situation still made Steve Ross laugh, "You also think I'm right, right?"

He murmured, "You also think Ron Miller should face reality, right?"

Even though no one responded, Steve Ross still nodded with satisfaction.

Staring at the madly approaching raindrops, I witnessed with my own eyes the scene where they hit the ground with all their might and then exploded in all directions.

The act of knowing that he would be torn to pieces but still not looking back made him purse his lips.

At this moment, he felt that this was the best possible outcome for Ron Miller.

Although Ron Miller dismissed his suggestion and rejected the White Knight's proposal,...

As long as Ron Miller is unwilling to give up power, as long as Ron Miller still wants to control the Walt Disney Group, he will definitely look for external help! Even if that external help has nothing to do with their Warner Communications, it doesn't matter, because what Steve Ross wants is Ron Miller's stubborn heart!
As for whether Ron Miller will turn against him because of his giving up?
This Steve Ross isn't worried.

If Ron Miller could make peace with Roy Disney after four years of fighting and losing tens of millions of dollars, then how could they have fought in the first place?

Since everyone comes here for money, they can't go back empty-handed!

Looking at the heavy rain outside the window, Steve Ross, who had been exhausted by Ethan Jones's creativity, pursed his lips, but soon he remembered his experience in the final that day.

When he saw Nintendo's president Hiroshi Yamauchi appear at the finals and recognize his new and old friends, a smile of confidence appeared on his face again.

He murmured, "Ethan - I'll keep you happy for another week -"

"Enjoy the flowers—"

"Enjoy the applause—"

"Your time is——" "Not much——"

While torrential rain swept through Los Angeles, the sun was shining brightly in the Bay Area. The suitable temperature and humidity made people feel refreshed physically and mentally. As for the Game of Destiny in Palo Alto... it was even more lively at the moment.

A flurry of telephone rings came from the marketing department, and calls urging for orders from all over the country proved that business was booming; clear footsteps echoed in the finance department, where the cost accountant, accounts receivable accountant, general ledger accountant, and cashier were working together to check the accounts sent by the factories and underwriters.

The R&D department was also busy. The old employees were working hard to develop the "Star Wars" project according to Ethan's needs, and the two new employees who had just joined the company...

At this moment, they were in Ethan's office, listening to their boss's teachings.

"Sid Meier, Will Wright, since you are new to the company and are unfamiliar with everything, and the two project teams in our R&D department have been working together for many months and have formed a certain tacit understanding, it is not easy to insert you rashly, so after considering it, I decided to assign you a special task."

“You’ve probably played Pac-Man and Star Wars, right?”

"I want you to turn arcade games into console games."

"I only have one request, which is to restore the original appearance of the game as much as possible while controlling costs. Do you have the confidence? Are you willing?"

"Of course!" Sid Meier and Will Wright answered in unison.

"We are certainly confident and we believe we can do this well."

"Oh - then this difficult task is left to you." Ethan liked this answer.

Before leaving, he added, "If you have any problems at work, you can ask for help from Damio Dean, the head of the R&D department. He is a very good person."

"If you have any personnel issues or other questions, you can come to me directly."

"Our company implements a flat management system without too many management levels, so if you feel that you need to report something to me, you can come directly, okay?"

"Yeah!" Sid Meier and Will Wright nodded excitedly.

They like this way of communicating directly with the big boss.

After seeing them off, Ethan finally had time to lean back in his seat.

While waiting for him to cross his legs and put them on the desk, within his sight...

Those are all gifts!

That's right, when the sales volume of three million in three days appeared, Ethan's phone was like a boiling kettle, beeping non-stop. Various partners and friends called to congratulate him, and not only that, all kinds of strange gifts also appeared in front of him in various ways.

For example, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, these two guys knew that Ethan wanted to buy Barbra Streisand from Columbia Records last time but failed. At the same time, they also knew very well that it was Evelyn who liked Barbra Streisand. So this time, in order to celebrate the huge sales of Johnson's home console, the two of them specially contacted Barbra Streisand.

After learning that she had completed her new album, she wanted to write, direct, and star in a movie, so they decisively extended an invitation and signed Barbra Streisand's new work to Destiny Pictures.

Although they could not guarantee that the film would make 100% money, they could guarantee that all the music in the film would be attributed to Destiny Music, because Barbra Streisand and Columbia Records only signed a fixed album contract, which did not include film soundtracks and movie songs, so this was not a violation.

And when Barbra Streisand signed the contract, it meant that Ethan Jones had inserted himself between the queen and Columbia Records, and the key point was that Columbia Pictures could only watch.

To be honest, Ethan actually liked this gift very much, but the one who liked it more than him was Evelyn. When Steven Spielberg and George Lucas invited Barbra Streisand to Palo Alto, Evelyn immediately screamed with excitement.

There’s nothing I can do, I like it so much.

Even though she has produced countless best-selling works, even though her net worth has already reached hundreds of millions, the joy brought by her passion can transcend the gap in identity and status.

It's just like how many people like to buy themselves toys that they couldn't get when they were young when they grow up. It's just like how many people will spend a huge amount of money to listen to an idol's concert when they grow up. As long as the toys are still there and as long as the idol has not collapsed, the enthusiasm will never fade.

Oh, by the way, on the night that Barbara Streisand visited, Ethan Jones also booked a hotel in nearby San Jose and invited them and the company's employees to have a small gathering.

At the party, Barbra Streisand also sang a little.

Sang "Nostalgia", the Grammy Award-winning song in 1973.

When the queen of music sang loudly, Ethan leaned back in his seat and had only one feeling -

It's nice to have money!

The gifts from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were very thoughtful, and just as thoughtful were the two Steves in Cupertino. Due to work, Ethan had not visited Apple for a long time, but the two of them never forgot Ethan.

The two men brought Ethan an experimental product, an Apple disc.

When Jobs pulled out a laser disc projector from his crotch, Ethan was stunned, and when Wozniak connected it to the Apple II and released the great white shark, he was even more stunned!
It was not until then that he remembered that Steven Spielberg had given him a laser disc projector, but he had never used that machine because it was taken away by Jobs.

Since Ethan didn't really want to watch the disc at that time, but wanted to take the opportunity to enter this technical field, he didn't care. But now...

"Are you surprised? Are you surprised?"

Jobs patted the connector in front of him and a smug smile appeared on his face.

"I'm so shocked!" Ethan cursed.

"You made this?" He was a little incredulous.

"Of course!" Jobs nodded vigorously and began to explain.

"At first, when I saw the laser disc, I just thought it was fun."

"But when I took it back and found Stephen and asked him how it was made, he told me that it seemed to be able to be combined with a computer."

"Because there is not much difference between computer monitors and TVs, if it works on TVs, then it should also work on computers. If the two are combined successfully, it will be a new selling point for the Apple II, and it will create more possibilities."

“So…” Jobs stretched out his voice.

"I started researching it," Wozniacki said, adding, "and then it worked."

"It's just that we couldn't find a good promotion point, and the sales of Philips and Universal products were average, so we never brought it to the market and just treated it as a toy."

"And when we found out earlier this year that Philips had improved the optical disc, abandoning the analog laser disc and switching to a digital disc with the possibility of storage..."

"We immediately thought that this thing might really be useful."

"But we never had the chance to tell you, so..."

"Just give it to you as a gift."

"Hope you like it."

The fat boy Wozniacki rubbed his hands with a smile.

And Ethan...

"Of course I like it!" He cursed.

To be honest, Ethan never expected that the two Steves could bring him such a surprise. While he was secretly studying the CD, these two people were already trying to put the CD on the Apple?

This is simply a stroke of genius!

Because it means that in the future, when he wants to add an optical drive to Apple, it will be very easy.

In addition to these, other people also sent him some good things -

For example, Professor Ralph Baer had someone send him the world's first home video game console. It was his first experimental product, and he wanted to keep it forever, but Ethan's product made him think that such a commemorative item might be better placed in the Destiny game.

Bill Mensch, for example, sent Ethan the original design manuscript of MOS 6502 and a table-like spliced ​​transistor circuit he made by hand. Like Professor Ralph Baer, ​​he also thought that this thing might be more commemorative in the game of fate.
For example, Roy Disney personally brought two ponies because he heard that Ethan was building a manor and had the idea of ​​building a horse farm, so he sent two pet horses over to let him get used to it first. If Ethan was really interested in horses, he had two pure white Andalusians in his horse farm, which could be directly airlifted over...

When all kinds of gifts appeared in front of Ethan, he was delighted by the admiration brought by his success. Of course, while accepting them with a smile, he also knew that many people actually had something to ask for.

The one who gave it sincerely is probably Xiao Qiao, right?
But that doesn't matter, right?
Because your social value will only be reflected when you are very important to others.

This……

In fact, it is a symbol of status.

It is also the representative of joy and the source of happiness.

So, while accepting the gift, Ethan also made some promises to the gift giver.

For example, when Roy Disney looked at him eagerly, he said that he would officially start buying stocks in early July and try to buy up four points by the end of the year to ensure that before next year's shareholders' meeting, he would have voting rights for the stocks he held and help him get to the top.

At the same time, Ethan also promised that as long as Roy Disney could become the chairman of Disney, he would let the production team of Destiny Game tailor-make electronic games for the Disney Group.

He can release this news directly to persuade those third-party shareholders to vote for him.

If those shareholders want to verify the authenticity, Roy Disney can find a suitable time to hold a dinner party, and then he, Ethan Jones, will make time to attend.

Ethan just said a few words lightly, and Roy Disney was ecstatic.

While he was expressing his gratitude excitedly, Ethan, who was leaning on the sofa, also felt comfortable.

If I have to describe it, it feels like an ancient emperor.

One word determines life or death, one word determines the destruction of a country!
Hehe ~
(End of this chapter)