America: My Time

Chapter 127: Submission
Chapter 127 Giving in

"Boss, something terrible has happened! John is holding a press conference, we're in big trouble!" This voice rang out at Morgan headquarters, greatly angering the Morgan boss.

"Jimmy, what's wrong with you? Can't we sit down and talk things out instead of making such a fuss? What does holding a press conference have to do with us? An agreement has already been reached, is there any going to change?"

"Boss, you're right, things have really changed. John rejected Bell Labs' acquisition offer directly at the press conference, and even suggested that Wall Street take over. He even brought up the issue of Motorola's semiconductor factory and brought up the nationalization of it!"

"What? How is this possible? Even if John is crazy, he shouldn't do something so stupid. What happened to make this kid do something so earth-shattering?" In an instant, Morgan thought of those old guys who were unwilling to accept defeat. It must have been those old guys who did something they shouldn't have done, which completely enraged John!

"Boss, at John's press conference, someone brought up the Motorola semiconductor issue and tried to push the semiconductor factory entirely onto John. This completely enraged him. And after failing, they brought up Bell Labs, which made the situation spiral out of control. John directly pointed the finger at Wall Street and wanted Wall Street to take on this heavy responsibility."

“Damn it, what are those old guys trying to do? We've already reached an agreement with John, how dare they do this? Do they even respect Morgan? Well, now look what's happened. John's actions have completely wasted all our previous efforts. They have to take responsibility for their stupidity, they have to give Morgan an explanation! Jimmy, inform those old guys, we need an explanation. This can't just end like this. If this upheaval affects the breakup of Bell Corporation, they'll have to pay the price.”

Morgan was furious. He was utterly disappointed in this group of worthless allies. Not only did they not do anything, but they also kept dragging Morgan down and ruining his plans. Even if Morgan was very patient, there was a limit to his patience, and he could not tolerate their ignorant behavior indefinitely!

"Boss, what do you think we should say to John? In this situation, our previous plan is likely to fail. We finally managed to persuade this kid to acquire Bell Labs, and we were also speeding up the breakup negotiations, but now it's all been for nothing. This kid wants to withdraw from the acquisition!"

"We don't need to say anything to John. He knows who's causing trouble, and it won't solve anything for us anyway. Originally, that kid wasn't very willing to acquire it, and he even gave us a condition. Now, someone is foolishly using Bell Labs to cause trouble, which gives that kid the perfect opportunity to refuse openly. What can we do to salvage the situation now?"
John has already given Morgan plenty of face. The problem isn't with him now; it's someone who's been too tactless to back down and ruined everything. We're not going to get involved anymore. Those old guys will have to take responsibility. They'll have to clean up their own mess. If they can't, they'll pay the price, and they'll bear the consequences of our losses!

At this point, it wasn't just Morgan who was facing this situation; all the giants on Wall Street knew about this upheaval and John's crazy suggestion. None of them wanted to take over Bell Labs, a money-losing venture, so they had to make the troublemakers take responsibility and pay the price. But the troublemakers were the old guys from the financial groups, which put them in a difficult position. Not all Wall Street giants had Morgan's abilities.

"Damn it, how dare this damn kid do this? Is it really that hard to get him to back down?"

"It's no use saying all this now. Morgan has already warned us that we will bear all the consequences ourselves. Morgan will not take any responsibility for this. We all underestimated this bastard. Although he is young, he is insidious and ruthless. We were careless, and we will pay a heavy price for our carelessness."

"Yes, we all underestimated this little bastard. He's more insidious than we imagined. He can see through our schemes and deliver a fatal blow. If this kid really shifts all the blame onto Wall Street, we'll be in big trouble, not to mention nationalization. If that happens, Bell Canada will never be able to be broken up again. We can't afford such an impact."

"Let Morgan negotiate with this little bastard, we're willing to compromise!" Though unwilling, Rockefeller had no choice but to bow his head in the face of such a terrifying blow. Even though Rockefeller was formidable, he couldn't withstand the collective backlash from Wall Street. This attack was their doing, and Wall Street shouldn't pay for their arrogance and folly.

"I'm afraid this kid won't agree. Actually, we were wrong from the start. This kid never intended to acquire Bell Labs. He only took it on because of his relationship with Morgan. Now we've given him a reason to refuse, so we're in big trouble. Most importantly, Morgan won't help us anymore. They won't offend this little bastard for us!" "Actually, things haven't gotten that bad yet. That little bastard has still left us a way out, but the price is a bit high!"

"A way out? How could that be? That little bastard can't wait for us old guys to die, why would he give us a way out, let alone any price to pay!"

"No, I'm not mistaken. I don't know if any of you have a copy of this kid's detailed remarks from the press conference, but I do. When this kid mentioned Bell Labs, he said something like, 'Even if it were given to me for free, I wouldn't dare accept it.' If we want to resolve this crisis, we need to do this: he wants Bell Labs for free. That's his condition!"

"Damn it, he's insane! How dare he ask for that? Taking Bell Labs for free? He's dreaming!"

"No, now is not the time for us to get angry. We underestimated him, and this is the price we have to pay. If the Bell Labs issue delays the split of Bell Corporation, we can't bear that responsibility, and neither can Rockefeller! Even if we don't want to, we have to accept it, even if we have to bear Bell Labs' share of the funding. Otherwise, this kid will definitely try to stop the split of Bell Corporation because we are in the wrong and we started the war first."

"Alright, let Morgan tell him we concede. Bell Labs is free for him. We'll only share the communications patents, and we'll cover the acquisition costs!" It hurts. That's tens of millions of dollars. Morgan offered a low price to get rid of Bell Labs, but even that would still cost tens of millions of dollars.

"Time waits for no one. We can't wait until this storm has fully erupted before we take action. We must reach an agreement with John before then to quell this storm, no matter the cost."

"Yes, if the turmoil were to fully erupt, not only would we be in big trouble, but Wall Street would also be in big trouble, and the government would also be in trouble. If such a situation were to occur, we could not afford the backlash from Wall Street, the backlash from the government, and even less could we afford the consequences of the failure to break up Bell Labs."

"Everyone is struggling right now, and they're all hoping to recoup their losses by splitting Bell. If the Bell split fails because of us, we really can't afford the consequences. So we have no choice but to back down. It's all because we were too arrogant. If our plan hadn't gone wrong, there wouldn't be such serious consequences. Losing a little money now is nothing; we can afford that loss!"

"Those who hunt geese all day long will eventually be pecked blind by them. We must remember this lesson and not make the same mistake again. Underestimating anyone will put us in danger, and even a small child should not be underestimated!"

No matter how angry they were, these old guys had to put it aside. Failure was failure; they had to admit it and bear the consequences. They quickly contacted Morgan. Although Morgan didn't like these old guys, he didn't want to see the worst happen, didn't want to see the Bell split fail, and had no choice but to agree.

When Morgan contacted John again, a faint smile appeared on John's face upon hearing Morgan's suggestion. Those old guys were finally going to admit defeat and pay the price for their actions. The Bell Labs acquisition was finally secured, and there would be no more trouble. Once those old guys gave in, no one would dare to cause further trouble in the Bell Labs-Motorola acquisition; they couldn't afford the severe consequences—the profits behind it were staggering!

In just a short time, before even night fell, the problem was solved! When the power of Wall Street and financial groups fully erupted, no matter what the media thought, they had to compromise and abandon their reports on Bell Labs, only reporting that John intended to acquire it, and concealing everything else. This is the power of capital.

(End of this chapter)