America: My Time

Chapter 1039 Energy Pressure

Chapter 1029 The Pressure of Energy

They could tolerate John's massive investments only in China, but now that he has made numerous investments in Southeast Asia and withdrawn funds from Japan, this situation is unacceptable to them.

"Gentlemen, we really need to take action. The environment was already unfavorable to us, and now those guys don't want to take responsibility or pay the price for their ignorance. It's impossible for us to bear all the bitter fruit. If this continues, Sony won't be able to hold on. Don't be fooled by the fact that we haven't suffered too much in the North American market; the losses in Japan have been crippling. If we don't see any improvement soon, I'm afraid Sony's situation will become very dangerous!"

During the bubble era, were there any large Japanese companies that didn't participate in real estate? No. It was precisely because they all participated that Japan fell into this predicament, and so many banks and companies were in danger. Given Japan's financial situation, the central bank should have provided guidance, but they didn't. Moreover, Japan's situation continued to deteriorate, and even Toyota is now experiencing significant impact and influence.

Although the Japanese were aware of John's rampant expansion in Southeast Asia, they were powerless to stop it. They wanted to, but they couldn't. John was American, and he had good 'relationships' with the Southeast Asian countries. Under these circumstances, the Japanese were naturally helpless. If they tried to play dirty tricks, they would only make their situation more miserable.

The Panasonic staff became even more serious upon hearing Akio Morita's words. If Sony's situation was dangerous, theirs was even more terrifying. After acquiring Disney, they discovered that it was also a huge pitfall. Disney was no longer what they had imagined; it was now heavily indebted, and there was also the huge pitfall in France, which made them even more distressed. They even considered giving up on Disney, since they no longer had the confidence to run it well.

"Mr. Morita, Sony's situation is still good, but Panasonic's situation is terrible. Disney, which we acquired, is a bottomless pit. We are already struggling to hold on. If possible, we plan to sell it. There is absolutely no chance. Under the pressure from Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media, Disney's animation has long been in trouble, not to mention its live-action movies!"

Even after Panasonic took over Disney, Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media did not give up their suppression of Disney. They still wanted to destroy Disney and did not want to give it a way out. They have been seizing Disney's market share, and this situation is getting more and more serious. Compared with the special effects companies of the two major media groups, Disney does not have any of these.

"Gentlemen, there's no point in saying all this now. As long as those guys aren't willing to pay the price, this matter will never end. They're just trying to evade responsibility and avoid accountability. They may feel good now, but it's a disaster for us. If this drags on any longer, the pressure on us will only increase. Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media are already parting ways with us, and our cooperation in North America is also facing many problems. Many partnerships are already coming to an end. If we lose the support of these two major media groups, our situation will be even more dangerous!"

Companies that had wanted to renew their contracts with the two major media groups after their contracts expired found that the preferential treatment they had enjoyed was gone, and everything was now done in a purely businesslike manner. This caused them great distress. Although the two major media groups were still willing to cooperate with them on advertising, there was no longer any interaction, which left them dumbfounded.

Even traitors like Toyota and Toshiba are seeing their advertising costs rise, but the quality has changed, causing them even more distress. They know it's all John's decision, but they're powerless to do anything about it. Although they desperately want to explain, they can't even see John. As for the two major media groups, they're unwilling to continue negotiating with them; there are no discounts, and if they're not satisfied, the cooperation will end.

The two major media conglomerates are no longer what they used to be. Although losing some advertising revenue will have a slight impact on them, it's not significant. Without Japanese advertisers and in Europe, in this environment, no one would be foolish enough to think advertising is unimportant. Without the advertising from these two media conglomerates, their market share in the US would likely suffer an even greater blow. John was somewhat surprised that the Japanese had been so patient. Mitsui had already had to compromise, but some were still insisting, which John found laughable. The longer it dragged on, the more detrimental it would be for Japan. With the two media conglomerates abandoning their advertising in Japan, their tourism industry was also affected. More importantly, the overall environment in Japan had changed, impacting Japanese tourism.

"Actually, I know something that might be slightly related to the current situation. Sumitomo is worried about the changes in London copper futures. Quantum Mining is arguably the world's largest copper and gold mining giant, and many people feel that we cannot compromise at this time, otherwise it will weaken our morale. The central bank is tacitly approving of all this!"

"Is this a joke? The Sumitomo guys' affairs shouldn't affect us all. What they're doing will only push John further to the enemy's side!" At this point, someone couldn't help but curse, after all, they didn't want their own interests to be affected by the Sumitomo issue!
"But those guys don't think so. They believe that a tough stance is more conducive to keeping Quantum Mining neutral, and they think that Mr. John has a lot of loans in major Japanese banks, which is their source of confidence!"

Stunned, everyone present was quickly dumbfounded. They couldn't understand how these guys could have such an idea. Many people knew about those loans, and there were already signed agreements. Trying to use loans to force John to compromise was simply a joke. The more they did it, the more terrible the consequences would be.

Is this just a problem with Sumitomo? No, it's not. It concerns the entire mining investment situation in Japan, especially the upcoming iron ore price negotiations. These guys think that doing this will be more advantageous for iron ore price negotiations, and that the tougher they are, the more the Europeans and those iron ore giants will compromise, given their tough stance.

This is the Japanese mindset; gambling is ingrained in their bones. Even with something as important as this, they don't think about how to solve the problem, but rather want to take risks. However, failure would have a greater impact on them. The less John cares about the situation in Japan, the more pressure those Japanese guys feel, but they can't change anything right now.

When this matter involved such a situation, Akio Morita knew in his heart that no matter how many ideas they had, it would be useless. Those guys would not compromise unless they lost in the iron ore price negotiations and in their confrontation with the Europeans. Instinctively, Akio Morita felt that there were more calculations behind this. However, he did not think highly of these guys' ideas. Taking a tough stance against John would only make things get out of control!
It wasn't that no one wanted to do anything, but Akio Morita stopped them all. He didn't want to see the worst happen. He knew all too well that if anyone caused trouble now, things would only spiral out of control and the situation would become even more dangerous. If things went wrong in the North American market, their troubles would be even greater!
These guys in Japan were patient and waiting, hoping to see John compromise with them out of desperation. But they were overthinking it. Their tactics were nothing in John's eyes. These guys in Japan thought their market was huge and had great potential, and that John would definitely not give up. But the result was beyond their imagination. John didn't care about the Japanese market at all, whether it was the mining market or any other market.

However, the Japanese couldn't hold on any longer. The reason was energy. Something happened in the Middle East, and the conflict broke out again. Israel was also clashing with others. When this war started, energy prices began to fluctuate. Even if it was just a small-scale conflict, or even if it didn't affect the oil-producing areas at all, the Japanese couldn't sit still because they were short of energy. If something went wrong, the consequences would be even more uncontrollable!
This situation at this critical juncture left the Japanese with grim faces. They were all shocked by this unexpected turn of events. Without sufficient energy, Japan's problems would become even more dire, as a surge in oil prices would plunge the Japanese economy into greater danger.

At this moment, it wasn't just the Japanese who were shocked; the Americans were also incredibly appalled. The Middle East had only just begun to stabilize, and now another problem had arisen. Their first thought was whether the Middle Eastern tycoons had joined the conflict, given their considerable military power. However, they soon learned that this was merely a small-scale conflict, unrelated to the Middle Eastern tycoons, and had absolutely no connection whatsoever. Those involved didn't possess proper weapons, but rather crudely made ones. This brought a sigh of relief to the Americans and the oil and gas companies, who had been worried that John might also be drawn into the conflict!

(End of this chapter)