America: My Time

Chapter 833 A series of actions as fierce as a tiger
Chapter 823 A series of operations as fierce as a tiger
Now, it's not just Morgan who's watching John closely; the old guys like Rockefeller are keeping an even closer eye on him. But nobody knows what John is up to. After all, in their eyes, John's investments are just small-time stuff. In their eyes, investments in green food and food are minor matters. The real deciding factor is heavy industry and high technology. But John hasn't taken any action yet. Even though Japan has made some moves, it hasn't attracted anyone's attention!
Although John has invested in home appliances, few are optimistic about his venture, mainly due to the dominance of Japanese brands, whose appliances now dominate the global market. While costs are rising for these appliance giants in Japan, they have already shifted their operations overseas, including to China. Given this situation, it's natural that no one is optimistic about John's strategy or his investment in the home appliance sector.

"Boss, isn't the expansion of our home appliance business too fast? Our products simply can't compete with Japan. We're still no match for Japan in the European and American markets. If this continues, the company will fall into losses. Should we slow down the expansion and stop all the unnecessary R&D? Otherwise, we won't be able to hold on for long!"

"No, continue research and development. Don't worry about the investment. Even if we are not a match for Japan now, we cannot back down. We can abandon CRT technology and switch to LCD technology completely. We must lock down those Japanese guys on patents. We don't need to care about corporate profits. We don't pursue short-term gains. We plan for the long term. We can import CRT technology from Japan, but we must master LCD technology ourselves. Even if the investment is huge, it is worth it."

John attaches great importance to technological research and development. He certainly doesn't want to fall behind Japan in LCD technology. LCD technology is still being promoted and is in the process of being vigorously developed. If he invests all his efforts in research and development now, he will have a chance to surpass those guys in Japan.

Splitting and consolidating – John's current strategy in Taiwan is baffling. With continuous splitting, gaming has already been spun off, now home appliances, and even OEM manufacturing. ASUS has now reduced its assets by more than half, which is why many people don't understand what John is doing.

John's main strategy is to keep his plans a secret from the other party. Otherwise, how could he get more benefits from Japan and attract more talent from Japan? His plans in Taiwan may seem chaotic at the moment, but everything is based on electronics and semiconductors. This kind of restructuring will allow him to get back on track and return to his professionalism!
While Japanese businesses haven't yet experienced the worst of the bubble burst, signs of layoffs are already emerging. Smaller companies are struggling to survive and are forced to lay off staff, and much research and development has been halted. It's not that they want to abandon R&D, but rather that companies can't afford it; Japan's economy is facing serious problems.

"Splitting up what needs to be split up, selling what needs to be sold off, and selling off anything that's not conducive to our development—even the latest game consoles can be sold if those guys in Japan can afford the price. Don't feel any pressure. Since it's an integration, let's think long-term. You just need to make all the arrangements!"

John trusted his subordinates, believing in their abilities. He wasn't concerned about the current losses; he could afford losses for a year or two. If his businesses in Taiwan were raking in profits, those old fogies in the US would likely be uneasy. Therefore, continuing consolidation and improvement was essential, as those old fogies were wary of his vast capital.

Although such integration may cause temporary chaos or even losses, it is not a big deal. Once the integration is completed, everything will be restored and development will be accelerated. Most importantly, once such integration is completed, these companies will be transformed into joint-stock companies, and John will gradually move from the public eye to the background.

Standard Chartered Bank, Hurricane Investment, offshore funds, charitable foundations, family foundations, and so on will all complete their investment and control over the company. John's assets will also decrease rapidly. You know, the economic crisis in Japan is happening now, and soon the world's richest man, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, will be in trouble. John doesn't want to rise to the top again after this guy falls, so he is now frantically accelerating the transformation of the companies he owns.

Look at those overseas assets now. How many have disappeared from the picture due to the restructuring and share issuance? In Western Energy's European operations, John's name is no longer visible; they've been sold off. The same is true in Asia; at least publicly, John is no longer the owner of the companies. And all of this is thanks to the restructuring of Western Energy. Without Rockefeller's 'suppression,' John wouldn't have had this opportunity.

Currently, John's only publicly known assets are shares in Western Energy, and even that's not all of them; his family foundation and charitable foundation also hold shares, causing John's publicly visible assets to disappear rapidly. Although everyone knows John's intentions and understands that he is hiding his assets, no one has jumped out to cause trouble. After all, everyone is doing the same thing, and they can't single out John alone, especially since he has done it so flawlessly.

As John aggressively dismantled and consolidated the company, ASUS's assets were reduced by more than half, and its valuation shrank considerably. This shocked many, who saw John as squandering money. They felt that even if he wanted to hide assets, there was no need to go to such extremes. But little did they know John's concerns. Once Russia collapsed and the situation in the US changed, hiding assets would become much more difficult. Although the losses seemed heavy, they were all within John's tolerance. Acting now was the best course of action; otherwise, the problems would become much bigger later, and it would be much harder to hide assets so openly.

Despite ASUS's current shrinking assets, it still has an astonishing amount of cash on hand. The proceeds from the sale of assets are all sitting on the books and will be used for future research and development. This is the source of John's confidence in targeting Japan's talent program. It's impossible for the Koreans to gain an advantage from Japan; they simply cannot compare with ASUS in terms of financial resources.

John's actions were swift and decisive, a view shared by many in Taiwan. They felt the restructuring and consolidation were too aggressive, even potentially damaging, but John saw it as the best possible outcome. The US, too, had a different perspective on this seemingly drastic move and was equally astonished by John's methods.

It's worth noting that while John had previously engaged in asset transfers, he hadn't been this ruthless. This time, he's gone all out. Back in Japan, John had held back, not going to such extremes, for a simple reason: Japan hadn't yet reached a complete collapse, and he needed some time to prepare. But Taiwan is different. This time, John intends to resolve the issues there once and for all, making himself disappear from those companies.

Although everyone knows that these companies are still under John's control, John is no longer their owner on the surface. They have become the property of numerous funds, with John holding only a small, negligible number of shares.

The speed of integration in Taiwan exceeded everyone's expectations and was hard for many to believe. Although there had been prior planning and preparation, the sheer scale of the complete splitting and integration in such a short time shocked not only the Taiwanese but also the Japanese, especially Sony, which had been cooperating with John for the longest time.

When Akio Morita learned of John's significant investment in Taiwan, he couldn't help but feel nervous, worried that John's actions would affect Sony. After all, John had already entered the home appliance market, even if his market share wasn't large. Nevertheless, Morita instinctively felt the pressure.

Sony's cash flow is now weakened by its involvement in real estate investments. This isn't just a problem for Sony; other Japanese companies are facing similar challenges. With changes in the Japanese economic climate, their finances have been affected, with Toshiba's situation even worse than Sony's. Toshiba is struggling to stay afloat, as the price war waged by South Korea has dealt them a significant blow.

Japan felt the pressure, but there was no turmoil in the United States. On the contrary, the splitting and integration made the old guys like Rockefeller even happier, feeling that this was their opportunity. After all, such a crazy splitting and integration would also have a significant impact on the development of Taiwan. In particular, after such a split, the changes in management alone would cause considerable losses.

The complete transformation was implemented in one fell swoop, resulting in staggering losses for John. Many disapproved of this shift, yet they couldn't stop it. In their eyes, John had gone mad, recklessly transferring and hiding assets, completely disregarding the company's development. Some even feared ASUS would follow in the footsteps of the gaming industry and fall into crisis. While this restructuring might seem to have brought in a huge amount of capital in the short term, in the long run, its profits were decreasing. Without those factories, profits were severely impacted. Many believed ASUS might become the next Nvidia, abandoning production entirely and focusing solely on research and development.

(End of this chapter)