America: My Time

Chapter 184 Akio Morita's Test

Chapter 184 Akio Morita's Test
As soon as John finished speaking, Akio Morita couldn't help but smile wryly. This was indeed something many people hadn't expected. Everyone only saw John's investment and didn't see the secret hidden behind it. Using resort hotels as employee benefits could indeed improve employee satisfaction, especially in the United States!
“Brilliant! Everyone only saw your expansion in the hotel business and thought it was a bit reckless. Now it seems they were all wrong. The amount of guests doesn't affect you much. With the benefits of your own employee system, you don't have to worry about the hotel's development and profitability at all! You've not only gained the recognition of your employees, but you also have a good resort hotel brand. It's a win-win situation. Unfortunately, this model is not suitable for other hotels!”

John shook his head and sighed, "I have no choice. The situation in the United States is very complicated. If you want to retain talent and ensure the long-term development of the company, you can't skimp on benefits. You know Americans like to have fun. Instead of giving the money for welfare to others, it's better to build a complete vacation system yourself. That would be more convenient and more popular!"

That being said, many business owners wouldn't do this because it would require significantly more money and effort. Building a complete resort hotel system demands time, energy, and substantial financial investment. Paying such a high price just to retain talent seems like a poor trade-off!

"So you're not only building resort hotels in Japan, but also in other parts of the world. That's an enormous investment, and even with employee benefits, it will be hard to recoup the costs in a short time!"

Akio Morita was overthinking things. He had no idea how crazy Japan's development would become, nor did he understand how crazy the Japanese were during the bubble era. The investment in resort hotels could be recouped in no time. When the bubble era arrived, the whole of Japan was in a frenzy of consumption!

“John, talk about your ideas in real estate: Universal Studios, water parks, Roppongi shopping mall, and resort hotels. I don’t believe you don’t have a comprehensive plan. I wonder what you want to focus on to integrate these industries?”

“Universal Studios and the water park are Universal Pictures assets and not part of the real estate plan. The Roppongi shopping mall is part of the plan. Actually, the core is quite simple: a luxury hotel. You should also know about the Peninsula Hotel. My goal is to transform the Mandarin Oriental into a world-class luxury hotel, like the Peninsula, and then combine it with resort hotels to create a complete hotel group!” At this point, John was holding back, not revealing all his plans for the Mandarin Oriental. It was best to keep some things to himself when dealing with this old fox!
Building a hotel group from luxury hotels and resort hotels is not a big deal in Akio Morita's eyes, but he also understands John's intentions. Luxury hotels are few and exquisite, and resort hotels have an employee welfare system to rely on, which can indeed support the development of the hotel group!
Akio Morita had initially thought that John would focus on shopping malls, but it seems he was mistaken. Shopping malls require too much capital, making rapid expansion almost impossible. Moreover, they are highly specialized and time-consuming, and the cost of large-scale development is too high. Cautious investment is the best choice.

“John, haven’t you considered entering the real estate industry? If these assets were developed by your own real estate company, there would be even greater profits. Land prices in Japan are constantly rising, and profits in the real estate industry are also increasing!”

"Damn old man, still trying to test me. I'm also interested in the real estate industry, but that's not something I can get involved in. Competing with you local bullies for profits is just asking for trouble!" John sneered at Akio Morita's words, knowing he wouldn't be foolish enough to make such a decision.

"Real estate is good, but unfortunately it is not my goal, and I have no intention of developing in real estate. A person's energy is limited. My current industry is already putting me under a lot of pressure. If I were to get involved in real estate development, it would be asking for trouble. My investment is very clear: it is only commercial real estate, and it is all in a self-sufficient model. My investment direction is technology manufacturing."

John paused for a moment, then continued, “Mr. Morita, I wonder how much you know about yachts? What do you think about us collaborating to build a yacht marina and establish a yacht club in Tokyo Bay? I think it might be a good investment. Japan’s economy is growing rapidly, and there will be a lot of demand for yachts. A professional yacht marina and club would be a great thing!”

"John, I remember you acquired a luxury yacht company in England. Did you have this idea from the beginning? To build a yacht club in Japan?"

Upon hearing John's words, Akio Morita immediately thought of John's Princess Yacht Company in England. If this was all part of John's plan from the beginning, it was terrifying. The other party's calculations were too shrewd; he had considered so much from the start, already laying the groundwork before even developing real estate in Japan! "Mr. Morita, you overestimate my abilities. I didn't have such a plan; it was just a flash of inspiration. If you hadn't mentioned Sony's entry into the real estate industry, I wouldn't have had this idea. Actually, the target of acquiring Princess Yachts isn't Japan, but Middle Eastern tycoons—they are my real targets!" There was another thing John didn't say: building a yacht marina and establishing a club in Japan would also accelerate his real estate expansion.

John will benefit from acquiring more real estate in Japan now, regardless of the size of the asset, when the bubble bursts. He knows how terrible and crazy the Japanese real estate bubble will be in the future, and as long as he gets out in advance, everything will be fine. So, it's worth it to make a huge investment now.

John wasn't worried that Akio Morita would ditch him and monopolize the benefits? Not really. After all, he had only offered an idea, and cooperation was the only way to achieve a win-win situation. If Akio Morita did that, he could find other partners. Sony was neither irreplaceable nor unique.

“John, I don’t understand what benefit this expansion brings you. The docks and clubs are fine, but what do you gain? Compared to the money and effort invested, you could have made greater strides in the technology sector, especially with your wafer fab in Taiwan, where you could have taken it a step further.”

"The benefits are not huge, but they're not entirely without merit. Once this plan is implemented, my 'Princess Yacht' in England will see good sales. As for expanding the wafer fab, that's simply unrealistic. We lack both the technology and the talent; how can we expand? For me, its existence is merely as a foundry, providing support for Nvidia. The costs of production in the US would be too high. You know how large ASUS's assets are now; we can already meet Nvidia's needs!"

When Akio Morita brought up semiconductor chips again, John sneered inwardly. He knew perfectly well what the old man was up to. This old guy was testing his thinking again, probing the development of Nvidia and ASUS, and trying to find out if he would make a large-scale foray into the semiconductor industry and pose a threat to Sony.

For Nvidia today, both CPU and GPU development are accelerating. Without its own manufacturing facilities, chip mass production would inevitably be dependent on others, and John could not possibly accept such a situation for Nvidia. Currently, ASUS's factory in Taiwan can indeed meet Nvidia's needs, but it will soon need to expand further.

After this failed attempt to probe, Akio Morita sighed inwardly. He realized the young man he was dealing with was not like a young person at all, but a cunning old fox who hadn't given him a single useful piece of information. If the Taiwanese factory didn't intend to expand, why would it occupy such a large area with so much room for maneuver, not to mention that a wafer fab was also under construction in China!
Given such an expansion, it would be abnormal if Akio Morita didn't feel worried. Unfortunately, he couldn't get any useful information from John; all he learned was information he already knew, which was of no use whatsoever.

John also had a crazy idea in his mind: if he could drag Sony into the real estate bubble, Sony might suffer a heavy blow and pay a heavy price when the bubble burst. It was based on this consideration that he gradually tempted the old man Akio Morita, making him see greater benefits!
It's obvious that even if a yacht club is established, John won't get involved in its management; his only goal is to promote his own yacht business. As for the marina, needless to say, accepting this cooperation proposal would indeed be a good thing for Sony, but the amount of money Sony would have to pay would be considerable.

"John, I want to know why you chose me, or rather, why you chose Sony?" Faced with such a huge temptation, Akio Morita asked John, eager to know the answer! Although he desperately wanted to cooperate with John, the old fox Morita remained wary and hesitant to trust him easily. He wanted to know more, and without a reasonable explanation, this old fox wouldn't be fooled or easily fall into the trap. For an old fox like him, caution was ingrained in his very bones.

(End of this chapter)