America: My Time

Chapter 404 Schemes and Slaps in the Face

Chapter 404 Schemes and Slaps in the Face

"Jimmy, what do you think John, that little fox, means by releasing this portion of the game world's stock at this time? Is he really short of funds, or does this little fox have other plans? Right now, those old guys like Rockefeller are excited, Wall Street is excited, and many people think that John is doing this because of the impact of the previous negotiations. If it weren't for those negotiations, John, that little fox, would have already chosen to go to war with those old guys like Rockefeller and seized the funds he wanted from the financial markets. Many people are pointing the finger at us!"

"There are indeed rumors circulating on Wall Street that we caused this, that we took the initiative to persuade John to accept the settlement, which caused problems with his cash flow and forced him to sell his shares in the game world. Most of these rumors are actually from our competitors, who want to compete with us for the agency rights to Nvidia's IPO."

"Yes, these guys are still persistent, trying to snatch John, a valuable client, from us. They're eyeing the Nvidia IPO agency deal. Many people know Nvidia plans to go public, so they're all eager to make their move." Suddenly, Morgan's tone shifted, adding, "By the way, the Olympics are almost over. How much money did that little fox John make from these Games? They have exclusive broadcasting rights and secured the best advertising slots throughout the entire Olympics. Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Group have been preparing for so long; they couldn't have come away empty-handed!"

"A lot, shockingly so. According to professional statistics, the total net profit from all sources reached three hundred million US dollars, and most of this was invested by Japan. Although the major Japanese companies paid a high price, their gains were considerable. At least the reputation of Japanese companies in the United States has changed. This change has excited those guys, who all believe that the price was worthwhile. Many Japanese companies that did not participate are now regretting it."

"Impressive. This little fox is truly shrewd. He's made such a huge profit in such a short time. It seems he's not short of funds. Selling the game world's shares isn't as simple as it appears; it's a new strategy, a new beginning. How are the experts' research going? What problems are there with the Permian Basin? Are photovoltaic and wind power generation valuable?"

"There are still no results, but many people think this investment in the Permian Basin is a mistake, with no hope of making money for a long time. Some also think it's a gamble, a gamble on shale oil extraction. However, our people have discovered that personnel from Western Energy, Quantum Mining, and shipping companies have all gone to China. Perhaps John's final investment will be in China!"

"Are you sure?" In an instant, Morgan's gaze sharpened; this news shocked him.

"Yes, I'm sure. I believe it won't be long before Western Energy, Quantum Mining, and the shipping company make a decision."

"It seems that John really believes in investing in China, even making such a huge investment. If he puts all his final projects in China, the investment will be astonishing, at least a billion dollars, and possibly more than two billion dollars. This huge investment will shock everyone. But where does his confidence come from to make such a decision?"

“I don’t know. I don’t know where John’s confidence comes from. Everyone is optimistic about the Chinese market, but no one dares to invest such a large amount of money. But John has done it. First semiconductors and automobiles, and now oil refineries and steel mills, and even ports. I really don’t understand why he has such confidence.”

It's understandable that they don't understand, because these guys view China with prejudice. They only want to take advantage and don't want to put in any more effort. Furthermore, they don't trust China, so naturally they don't understand John's confidence. John understands China very well and knows how amazing the benefits of investing there are.

In the United States, many people wanted to know the source of John's confidence, but unfortunately, not many people could contact John. More importantly, people wouldn't tell you such questions. While everyone thought John was too crazy, Nvidia, Game World, and Dream World held their press conferences. After the Olympics, Nvidia's new generation of chips was released, Game World's new game console was released, and Dream World's graphical operating system was officially put on sale.

The market has changed. Personal computer companies are shocked by Nvidia's performance and by Dreamworld's actions. Although everyone knows that Dreamworld's workstations use a graphical operating system, they are now directly entering the personal computer market, which has left them dumbfounded. Should they follow suit?
Nvidia's new generation of chips includes not only CPUs but also GPUs, driving the development of personal computers. However, before everyone could recover from Nvidia's launch event and its dream world, ASUS made its move. ASUS's personal computers entered the US market and directly snatched orders from universities.

At this point, Apple, IBM, and others realized the gravity of the situation. While Dreamworld and Nvidia hadn't participated in personal computer development, ASUS, a long-time Nvidia contract manufacturer, stepped in. No one would believe this wasn't backed by the combined support of Nvidia and Dreamworld. But now they had lost their initial advantage, their market share instantly snatched away. Faced with a new generation of PCs with graphical operating systems, other PCs were insignificant. What to do? How could they catch up with ASUS? At this juncture, all the PC companies turned their attention to Intel, hoping their chips could compete with Nvidia. Unfortunately, the answer Intel gave them was disheartening. Intel's chip development was a generation behind Nvidia's; they were developing the 386, while Nvidia had released the 486—the two were simply not in the same league. How could this not lead to despair?

Of course, this is not the most despairing thing. The most despairing thing is that they also lack the lithography machines that are essential for Nvidia's chip manufacturing. ASML's lithography machines have been completed, so ASUS has now made a qualitative leap. If chip research is not strong enough, and lithography machines are also lacking, this makes many people very disappointed with Intel.

Abandon Intel chips and switch to Nvidia? This idea quickly emerged among these personal computer companies. Intel is too bad, we can't stop and wait for you, otherwise ASUS will take over the market.

When Apple tried to order chips, they were stunned. ASUS's chips couldn't meet market demand because of a shortage of lithography machines and ASML's insufficient production capacity. This surprised many people. Now, ASUS not only has to supply its own personal computer chips but also meet the needs of the gaming world. Production capacity is very tight, and there are almost no spare chips. Even if there are new lithography machines and increased production capacity, they have already been pre-ordered by Sony in Japan.

At this point, Sony had already sided with Dreamworld, joining the Dreamworld, Nvidia, and ASUS teams, and using Dreamworld's software and Nvidia's chips.

When ASUS's personal computers swept the entire US market, Dreamworld's stock was doing exceptionally well, truly soaring to new heights. Game World was no exception, its stock price also skyrocketing. At this point, everyone suddenly realized that John's previous sale of Game World's shares was a bit foolish. But was that really the case? Originally, there weren't many Game World shares or Dreamworld shares circulating in the market, but the small number of Game World shares that were released caused its stock price to soar.

They were dumbfounded. Those who wanted to make a quick buck were dumbfounded. They couldn't get their shares back. Meanwhile, the stock market was soaring. Where did John's shares go? A large portion was acquired by Wall Street, and a small portion was taken by Pacific Investment. Moreover, a large portion of the shares that were released by others were also acquired by Pacific Investment. It can be said that John's shares did not decrease, but were simply transferred to the hands of Hong Kong Pacific Investment.

Do they regret it? Of course they regret it, but it's too late now. The stock prices of Game World and Dream World have soared. At this time, John even handed over 10% of the shares of Game World and Dream World to his own charitable foundation, an act that shocked everyone.

Are there still people saying John has a cash flow problem? No, no one says such foolish things anymore. John doesn't lack funds. It's just that with the soaring stock prices of Game World and Dream World, many people on Wall Street hope that John can release more shares to increase market liquidity. Otherwise, the stock price is worthless.

At this moment, no one was willing to sell their shares in Dream World and Game World, especially Morgan, who was overjoyed. They never expected that the stock prices of Game World and Dream World would soar so high, and they would never even consider selling their shares.

Refuse Wall Street's offer? No, John didn't refuse. Instead, he gradually invested one percent of the game world's shares into the stock market. This amount of shares was far from meeting market demand and would only drive up the share price little by little. Just when everyone was expecting John to continue investing, it all ended. John stopped releasing the shares he held.

In short, John's answer was that he wasn't short of money, so there was no need for him to give up shares that were still appreciating in value. This infuriated the guys on Wall Street, but they just tacitly agreed. John was indeed not short of money, not just small amounts, but large sums of money were available through loans from Japanese banks, so he wouldn't give up the shares he held.

(End of this chapter)