America: My Time

Chapter 50 Temptation
Chapter Fifty Temptation
Seeing the game world sweep across the entire game market, those manufacturers who had previously looked down on it were dumbfounded. The three Japanese companies, on the other hand, made a fortune. Moreover, the huge sales in North America were just the beginning. Soon, Europe, Asia, and South America would also see a surge in huge potential. Everyone could see that the game market was undergoing a new reshuffle, and a new hegemon had emerged.

The $2 billion valuation, though only circulating within Wall Street, had a huge impact on the entire gaming market. Everyone saw the strength of the gaming world and overlooked the plight of other gaming companies. With the gaming world's explosive growth, all gaming companies in North America suffered greatly. Losing the Atari platform, many companies faced difficulties and the risk of bankruptcy.

At this point, some people couldn't resist wanting to join the game world's platform and develop games for it, but they were immediately rejected. John had to be cautious with these companies because many of their games were quite poor; allowing them to join the game world's platform would only damage its reputation!
John also wanted to learn from Nintendo and implement a royalty system, but now was not the right time. Atari hadn't collapsed yet; only when Atari collapsed would the royalty system be ready! Once the royalty system was introduced, it would increase the valuation of the gaming world, further consolidating its dominant position.

John knew he didn't have much time left. The game world couldn't stay closed forever. Such a huge profit was already making Wall Street envious. To avoid being influenced by external forces, they would need to offer some benefits. He believed that Morgan would come knocking again soon; they couldn't wait any longer.

As expected, when the other two major products in the gaming world became huge hits, Morgan was indeed envious and once again made a move, acquiring Dick Clark Television Productions and approaching John again, instead of Robert Iger, the CEO of Legendary Entertainment.

Robert Iger is currently pushing hard for the global broadcast of the Transformers animated series and accelerating the deployment of toys to make final preparations for market launch, so he doesn't have time to deal with this acquisition!
“Mr. John, Dick Clark Television Productions has been acquired. All you need to do is pay the check, and it will belong to Legendary Entertainment!”

"Morgan is Morgan, his efficiency is astonishing. I am very satisfied with your work attitude. If you can, please pass on a message for me: Game World will launch its first round of financing at the end of the year. I hope you can be prepared."

This seemingly ordinary sentence struck Morgan Stanley's representative, Jimmy, like a thunderbolt. This was the result Morgan Stanley had always wanted: their first round of funding. While the amount raised was unknown, it was certainly a good start. Morgan Stanley's previous efforts had been worthwhile; it was precisely because of their previous hard work that they had achieved this result!

"Okay, I'll tell the boss!" At this moment, Morgan's voice was trembling slightly. He was very excited. This performance would be the foundation for his future promotion and salary increase!

Such an important matter was not something the Morgan representative dared to delay or do anything underhanded. He left the game world and went straight back to Morgan headquarters to give his boss the performance report.

"Good, very good. This kid is indeed smart and cunning, a little fox. There are still six months until the end of the year. Six months is a buffer and also a time to accumulate experience in the game world. It seems that he is very confident in the performance of the game world. A valuation of 2 billion is not enough to satisfy him!"

"Boss, no way! Two billion is already the highest valuation. Many people think it's too crazy. What is that kid still not satisfied with? He went from being an unknown to a valuation of two billion in just a few months!"

"This is the difference between geniuses and ordinary people. Don't forget what happened with Apple. We can't make the same mistake again. Even with Morgan's vast wealth, we can't withstand this kind of turmoil. Since this kid has given a clear timeline, we just need to wait. Morgan will definitely be in the first round. As for the share, it doesn't matter. We've already gained his approval. Let's speed things up and complete the acquisition before the end of summer. No matter who stands in our way, we'll forcibly remove them. No one can stop us. We'll show this kid how strong Morgan is!"

Lured by profits, Morgan went all out. Morgan is no saint; if your funds are fine, fine, but if there are problems, Morgan will use his power to take them down bit by bit.

At this point, in Morgan's eyes, John was a genius, a true genius. The explosion of the gaming world was just the beginning; the Dream World would also undergo a transformation. The Dream World was the next Apple, while the gaming world far surpassed Apple. Apple and the gaming world sell different things and have different audiences. The gaming world has a vast audience; almost all children are inseparable from games. Personal computers, on the other hand, are not household necessities!
Almost every Wall Street firm is studying GameWorld, and they all know that GameWorld is not only developing new game consoles but also new games, with a significant increase in manpower and the number of games being developed—there are no problems whatsoever. If there is any issue, it's the lack of its own manufacturing facilities. Wall Street tycoons consider this wasteful; if they manufactured everything themselves, the profits would be much greater.

That's how it is on Wall Street, but John sees it completely differently. He can't find workers willing to work overtime in the US, and if he were to manufacture everything himself, he simply couldn't meet market demand. Most importantly, building factories requires time and money, both of which he lacks.

Choosing outsourcing eliminates the need to build your own factory and reduces financial pressure, saving both time and money. While the potential profits may be limited, the risks you bear are significantly reduced.

"If we can persuade this kid to raise funds to build a manufacturing plant, the amount of funding might be larger, and Morgan could get a bigger share!"

"Foolish! Remember, we are just investors, not managers! The company's affairs are their own decisions, and we cannot make decisions for them! And do you think this kid is stupid enough to agree to your foolish suggestion? If you bring this up in person, all our previous investments will be wasted, and this kid will definitely kick Morgan out. Wall Street isn't just Morgan Stanley; this kid won't hand over control of the game world, and I don't want to hear that again."

Many people only see that John is only eighteen years old, failing to see the wisdom hidden behind that young age. If John were truly treated as an eighteen-year-old, he would definitely suffer a terrible fate. Warner is a good example; he repeatedly tried to sabotage him, but ultimately gained nothing and became a laughingstock.

Atari is now completely finished. As long as they can't break through the patent barriers of the gaming world, all game companies will have to defer to it. The gaming world controls the largest gaming platform. If the gaming world doesn't open up its platform, they can only wait to die, unless someone can step up and develop a new gaming platform that surpasses the gaming world. This is obviously impossible. Patents are enough to block everyone's path, which is exactly the result John wanted.

If anyone still wanted to use Atari to cause trouble for GameWorld, the news of GameWorld's year-end financing immediately quelled the controversy. Morgan is not a good person, and even a good person cannot become a Wall Street tycoon. Stirring things up at this time wouldn't be a slap in the face to GameWorld, nor would it block GameWorld's path to wealth; rather, it would be a slap in the face to Morgan, blocking Morgan's path to wealth.

"Damn it, you're all a bunch of useless trash. You can't even handle something this simple. Don't tell me the game world is difficult. Why did Morgan succeed while you failed? It's because your attitude was wrong, and you didn't do everything right!"

"Boss, although we failed and Morgan gained the upper hand, this kid isn't stupid. Even if there's funding, Morgan won't be the only one. We still have a chance. Now we should hurry up, take care of this kid, and get our share!"

This frenzied scene is playing out across many firms on Wall Street, with greedy scoundrels scrambling to secure funding. While it remains just talk, for these Wall Street bastards, it's an undeniable fact: funding will come; the only question is how much.

How did they manage to acquire John? The companies John needs to acquire are now being handled by Morgan, and they've already completed most of it, with only ESPN remaining. Although Morgan hasn't publicly revealed Vanity Fair magazine, everyone knows it's already been acquired by Morgan, simply to demonstrate their strength and prevent it from falling into Legendary Entertainment's hands.

At this point, blocking Morgan's acquisition was out of the question—no, nobody would be that foolish. So, blocking the acquisition was impossible. But finding a way to deal with John was another matter entirely. Those Wall Street bastards were dumbfounded; they couldn't handle John. Their usual methods were useless. Although John's companies had considerable loans, they weren't from American banks, but from Japanese banks, giving them no opportunity to act!
(End of this chapter)