America: My Time

Chapter 207 Pacific Investment's Counterattack
Chapter 207 Pacific Investment's Counterattack
"Hehe, everything is just as the boss thought. These British guys are really greedy. They kept raising the price when they saw an opportunity, trying to make a fortune. Unfortunately, their plans were destined to fail. They gave you the chance, but you didn't seize it. How foolish! But this is fine too. It's an excuse to exchange the Hong Kong dollars in your hands into US dollars again, making it look like you're withdrawing funds from Hong Kong, and continue to lure these guys into the net!"

Pacific Investment quickly responded. After repeated failed negotiations, it seemed that Pacific Investment's patience had been exhausted. It directly terminated its assessment and negotiations with Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock. After the termination, all the Hong Kong dollars in Standard Chartered and HSBC were quickly converted into US dollars, indicating an intention to withdraw funds from Hong Kong.

When this happened, everyone was stunned. The entire Hong Kong business community was shocked. It all happened too suddenly. Just a few days ago, they were in the midst of intense negotiations with Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock. In the blink of an eye, everything changed. They directly abandoned their assessment and converted their funds back into US dollars, leaving everyone completely bewildered.

Just as various parties were exploring the secrets behind this, a rumor quickly spread that the reason this happened was because Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock were too greedy and lacked sincerity in negotiations. Therefore, in order to protect its own interests, Pacific Investment had no choice but to abandon the acquisition and shift its investment focus overseas. Moreover, Pacific Investment does not lack such investments!

At this point, Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock were unhappy. They had wanted to withdraw from the deal long ago, but HSBC persuaded them to abandon the transaction with Pacific Investment. Now that things had turned out this way, they wanted an explanation from HSBC, which increased the pressure on HSBC.

These British guys were cursing Pacific Investment and John in their hearts, feeling that everything was their fault. In their view, how could such an acquisition be completed so easily? Everyone needed to sit down and discuss things properly, and each person was constantly fighting for their own interests. It could drag on for several months. But Pacific Investment couldn't even wait a few days and gave up in less than a week. How could they not be furious? This was completely against the rules.

Scolding is useless. What's done is done, and HSBC has to take some responsibility. It needs to appease Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock and stop them from causing trouble. This is not entirely HSBC's fault, but rather because they were too greedy and made demands that exceeded Pacific Investment's capacity, which led to the failure of the negotiations and the acquisition.

Yes, in order to absolve itself of responsibility, HSBC shifted all the blame to Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock, claiming that their own greed led to the current situation and that these companies did not follow HSBC's instructions, which resulted in this dramatic turn of events. In this matter, HSBC was not at fault; the fault lay with them.

Faced with HSBC's explanation, Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock were furious. From that moment on, they had a conflict with HSBC. After all, their own interests were affected, so they were naturally unwilling to accept it, but they couldn't find a reason to refute it. Indeed, they were too greedy, because these guys directly increased the offer for Pacific Investment's acquisition by one-tenth.

Greed drives people mad. When faced with huge temptations, Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and Wheelock all acted with incredible madness. In their view, even if the price increase failed, there would be no risk, since acquisitions require repeated negotiations. Unfortunately, they were wrong. When Pacific Investment gave up, they were completely stunned.

Now these guys want to renegotiate the acquisition with Pacific Investment, but they've been refused. Pacific Investment has already completed the exchange of Hong Kong dollars for US dollars. If they continue to assess and negotiate, who will bear the losses? Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, Wheelock and Company?
Clearly, this was something Jardine Matheson and his associates were unwilling to accept, so the acquisition was terminated. At the same time, the stocks of Wheelock, Jardine Matheson, and Hongkong Land were also affected. As for whether Pacific Investment was involved, no one knows for sure; perhaps only Pacific Investment itself knows.

While the storm was brewing in Hong Kong, things were not peaceful in Japan either. Sanwa and the old man Akio Morita finally sat down together to discuss the upheaval and resolve their respective troubles.

"What a clever little fox! He actually used this opportunity to completely eliminate the hidden dangers of TV Tokyo and the toy company. It's truly astonishing. This news has only been out for a few days, and this little fox has already gained complete control of TV Tokyo, leaving no chance for the enemy. Now, no one can even think about messing with TV Tokyo anymore. He really has no worries at all. It seems we all underestimated his abilities. Perhaps all of this was planned in advance. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to complete everything so quickly, without giving anyone time to react!" Looking at his 'old friend' from Sanwa, Akio Morita couldn't help but sigh softly, expressing his thoughts. "Mr. Morita, wasn't this all expected? I don't believe you didn't think of this when you helped this little fox acquire TV Tokyo. When he handed over that portion of the shares to Naoko, he had already made this arrangement, just waiting for the right moment. Now is the perfect opportunity for him to strike. However, this doesn't matter to us; it won't affect us at all. What we need to consider now is how to deliver a heavy blow to the mastermind behind this, to let him know what the consequences of scheming against us are. Otherwise, Sanwa will be looked down upon, and Sony will be seen as an easy target. This is not a result that either of us can afford!"

"The situation is too chaotic right now. Sanwa and Sony alone cannot control the situation after it has broken out. If those bastards are determined to keep John, that little fox, in Japan, the situation will continue to escalate. This is just the beginning. Don't be fooled by what those bastards say at the party; we don't know what they're really thinking. I'm worried that this matter will escalate and eventually become uncontrollable, which would have serious consequences. If we get involved now, it could easily harm us and give some people an excuse to target us, putting us in a difficult situation."

"Mr. Morita, are you worried that someone might try to take advantage of the situation? If it were just those people, they would never dare to escalate things to the point of no return. John, that little fox, controls two major media groups, Phoenix Media and Legendary Entertainment. Angering him would do them no good. Only external forces entering the fray would make things difficult to manage and cause them to spiral out of control. But I don't know what kind of external force you're worried about. Is it those bastards in the US?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm worried about. You know Sony's situation isn't ideal right now; they're even being suppressed within the conglomerate. Some people don't want Sony to get too close to John and want Sony to give up some of its profits, which is an outcome that Sony and I can't accept. I believe the same applies to Sanwa; they don't want anyone to have designs on you. I don't know if you've noticed, but Ken-On has already been affected. Now Pioneer is setting up a trap. What impact do you think this situation will have on the current situation?"

As soon as Akio Morita finished speaking, the other party's expression changed drastically. Ken-On was an agency; Morita's mention of it at this time clearly indicated that someone else was also eyeing the same scheme as Sanwa—beautiful female hostesses. Sanwa didn't want anyone competing for his interests at this moment. If someone else joined in, the benefits Sanwa could gain would be very limited. This change was extremely unfavorable for Sanwa. It seemed he not only had to be wary of American power, but also of certain forces within Japan itself.

"Mr. Morita, thank you for your reminder. We are now on the same side. We both need to give that little fox John an explanation. Since 'Weekly Bunshun' has jumped out to cause trouble, no matter what their intentions are, we will do something. All companies under Sanwa will no longer cooperate with 'Weekly Bunshun' and its publisher. Even companies related to us will receive such a reminder. I wonder what your choice is, Sony?"

Wow, that's what a big shot is like. Decisive and ruthless, without the slightest hesitation, they made this decision in an instant to suppress 'Weekly Bunshun'. This method is truly remarkable. They didn't even bother to consult with anyone before deciding the fate of 'Weekly Bunshun'! Although we don't know how effective this will be, at least they have made a statement.

“Sony will do the same. No one can slap me in the face without paying a price. Sony is not to be trifled with, at least not something a small publication like Weekly Bunshun can do. They will have to pay the price. I believe that soon Panasonic and Hitachi will make the same decision, especially Hitachi. They have signed a ten-year endorsement contract with Naoko. Weekly Bunshun’s actions are also a slap in their face, forcing them to take sides. I believe that with their intervention, our pressure will be greatly reduced, and those who want to scheme against us will restrain themselves.”

"Speaking of Naoko, she's from Osaka, which makes her perfect for our Sanwa Bank's advertising work. It seems we need to hurry up and sign a ten-year endorsement contract to prevent others from getting ahead of us, taking advantage of our weaknesses, embarrassing Sanwa, and ruining Sanwa's 'financial future.' We absolutely cannot let that happen to Sanwa!"

(End of this chapter)