America: My Time

Chapter 41 Arrangement
Chapter Forty-One Arrangements

With arrangements made for Legendary Records and everything in Japan finally settled, and the Transformers animation essentially complete, the next step was to focus on animation and toys. John didn't plan to do all of this himself; he handed it all over to Robert Iger, who was the CEO of Legendary Entertainment!

I had initially thought that Akio Morita's karaoke wouldn't be ready before I left Japan, but I underestimated Morita and Sony's determination. The day before I was to leave, the karaoke shares were delivered to me. John placed these shares directly with Legendary Records, leveraging the record company's resources to better integrate Legendary into the Japanese market!
Upon learning that the Transformers animated series was essentially complete, John didn't want to continue his journey to Taiwan and planned to go directly to Hong Kong to hand over all the work at Legendary Entertainment to Robert Iger. However, he never expected that Robert Iger would fly from the United States to Japan to handle the Transformers animation and toys. Robert Iger's arrival forced him to stay in Japan!

John's residence is now back to normal. Naoko has managed the place very well, with all the housekeeping staff in place, and they've even hired a housekeeper. The way Japanese women serve their men is truly enviable; they're so attentive. Although work has been busy lately, I've been feeling very comfortable.

After Robert Iger arrived, John and Naoko treated Robert Iger to a meal and handed over all their work to him.

“Iger, your time is limited, but the toy issue is crucial; it's the financial guarantee for Legendary Entertainment's development. We can't prioritize profit with the animation; our priority should be promoting the toys. As long as we recoup costs, that's fine. If TV stations are willing to air the animation during prime time, we'll offer them half price. This time, we're going to promote it globally!”

Promoting the Transformers animated series at half price shows great determination and comes at a high cost. A global rollout would have resulted in significant losses in the animation, but if the toys sell well, the costs could be recouped.

"Okay, boss! But, can toy sales keep up with the animation?" At this point, Robert Iger was a little worried about the toy factory's production capacity. Taking the US factory as an example, this was indeed a big problem. With global promotion, once successful, the demand for toys would be enormous!
"Hehe, Iger, if we take the US as an example, production capacity is indeed insufficient. However, our toy factory is not in the US, but in Taiwan. They have no objection to overtime. As long as the arrangements are reasonable and the staff is mobilized in an orderly manner, everything is not a problem. You can go and observe for yourself, and I believe you will understand why the toy factory chooses to be located outside the US!"

Robert Iger nodded thoughtfully. Although he hadn't seen the factory's specific situation, he was certain from his boss's attitude that toy production capacity wouldn't be a problem restricting sales. The biggest issue was promotion. Global promotion would require a lot of time and effort, especially in North America and Europe.

At this moment, Robert Iger no longer cared about the record company. He could put aside the huge toy sales plan and the terrifying profits of toys for the time being and leave it to Legendary Records to handle!

Robert Iger decided to put aside the management of Legendary Records and devote himself entirely to promoting the toys. He wanted to complete the promotion of Transformers in the shortest possible time and at the fastest speed. Everything else could be put aside for the time being. Nothing was more important than toys!

Although Robert Iger had never worked in the toy industry, he learned from American toy companies how astonishing the profits behind toys could be. If American factories could generate such huge profits, then Legendary Toys, with its factories in Taiwan, would naturally be even more astonishing!

If Robert Iger had any reservations when he first took over Legendary Entertainment, all his concerns vanished after fully understanding the company's plans. Although he didn't yet know his boss's further plans for Legendary Entertainment, one thing was certain: Legendary Entertainment would become a behemoth, a media giant and an entertainment tycoon.

“Iger, this is our first foray into the toy industry, so it will be tough at first. But once things are on track, it will be much easier. We don’t just have Transformers toys; we’ll have many more. If we can get off to a good start this time, everything will go smoothly!” “Boss, we can’t keep outsourcing animation to Japanese animation companies. We need our own animation company, otherwise we’ll be at their mercy!”

"Sigh! Of course I know this. If the animation company is located in the US, how high do you think the costs will be? Setting it up overseas will require a new round of expansion and acquisitions. It's all up to you to decide. However, we should indeed have our own animation company in the US, not for TV animation, but for film animation. This will require your help to poach talent from Disney or other animation companies. We need to create more IPs to fill the gap in toy production!"

"Once this project is finished, I will carefully consider where the TV animation factory should be located. If possible, it would be best to locate it in Taiwan, together with the toy company, so that we can discuss things together!" Robert Iger naturally had no problem with his boss's request.

“Okay, I have no objection. You're in charge. You're the CEO of Legendary Entertainment, so speed things up. We need to expand as quickly as possible. Without our own media, we'll be at the mercy of others in many ways. I don't want to accept that, and I believe you don't either. Legendary Toys is the capital that will change all of this!”

Robert Iger knew that his boss had a newly established animation company in Japan, but he didn't mention it. He understood that this animation company did not belong to Legendary Entertainment, and that his boss clearly had other plans for it, setting it up in conjunction with Phoenix Animation.

Robert Iger did consider acquiring an animation company in Japan, but time was limited, labor costs were higher in Japan compared to Taiwan, and most importantly, the toy factory was not in Japan, so he needed to think carefully.

During his conversation with Robert Iger, John inquired about the development of Legendary Entertainment in the United States. Despite the presence of Warner as a major rival, Legendary Entertainment's development had not been significantly affected, and everything was proceeding smoothly. The singles of the two new artists were selling well, but the film business was facing considerable obstacles, which was orchestrated by Warner!
The filming of Flashdance, currently in production, has been affected by Warner Bros.' obstruction. Now, Warner Bros. has its sights set on Legendary Pictures. They have consistently targeted and sabotaged Legendary Pictures, hindering its development and causing significant damage to the film industry.

Although Robert Iger doesn't care and his current focus isn't on Legendary Pictures, he can't stand John. Legendary Pictures carries his hopes and is another major source of funding for him, and Flashdance is the hope for the film company.

"Warner Bros., Steve Ross, you've got a grudge against us. Let you be arrogant for a while, but when the game world is fully open for sale, you'll see what happens. Once we defeat Atari, let's see what you do then!"

Although John was filled with boundless rage, he was not swayed by it. Now was not the time to fight Warner Bros. head-on. He needed to be patient. Warner Bros.' underhanded tactics might hinder Legendary Pictures, but they could not stop his success. There was nothing wrong with the script he had prepared for Legendary Entertainment!
"Phoenix Entertainment Group needs to accelerate its development. Phoenix Pictures can't be delayed any longer, and we can't put everything on Legendary Entertainment!" After understanding the situation in the United States, John made up his mind to speed up the development of Phoenix Entertainment Group!

John didn't intend to locate Phoenix Films in Japan. When it comes to Asian cinema, Hong Kong cinema is the obvious choice. Hong Kong is where Phoenix Films is based, and it's also one of Phoenix Entertainment's core focuses. In Japan, there would be many problems and obstacles due to various reasons, but these issues wouldn't exist in Hong Kong!

(End of this chapter)