America: My Time

Chapter 405 Speed ​​up the pace
Chapter 405 Accelerating the Pace
Shares in Game World and Dream World are now highly sought after, with no one willing to invest in the stock market. The reason is simple: the recent surge in Game World's stock price has delighted those who participated in the initial investment round. The price has risen again and again, far exceeding everyone's expectations. Game World is now valued at tens of billions.

Although many people say it's a bit of a stretch, its products are selling like hotcakes. They're incredibly popular in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Most importantly, the game world can collect tolls. This year's net profit will definitely exceed $500 million, and that's an understatement. After all, no one can estimate how much profit new arcade machines and new games will bring, or how much revenue new home consoles and handheld game consoles will generate.

At this point, a group of Wall Street giants approached Morgan, hoping he could persuade Nvidia to go public. Unfortunately, Morgan didn't listen. These guys had previously been trying to sow discord between Morgan and John, and now that they saw the potential profits, they wanted Morgan to step in. It was wishful thinking. If Morgan were to persuade John at this time, it would only damage their good relationship, which was an outcome they didn't want to accept.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Nvidia's IPO would absolutely drive further growth in its stock price. However, going public now would not benefit Nvidia, so how could John possibly accept it? And how could Morgan possibly sacrifice his own interests to create opportunities for his Wall Street peers? Only a fool would do that, but Morgan is not a fool.

Faced with Morgan's rejection, the Wall Street crocodiles were dissatisfied, but there was nothing they could do. They all knew about John's relationship with Morgan, and they also knew John's current strength. No matter how angry they were, they dared not make any rash moves, since this crazy little guy had the upper hand.

The soaring market capitalization of gaming companies, dream worlds, and Nvidia has greatly pleased those guys in Japan. It means that their loans can be recovered, and that John has no risk of cash flow problems. With the end of the Olympics, the earnings of Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Group have been revealed, which has once again amazed some guys.

At this time, however, Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Group did not accelerate their development. Instead, they carefully maintained stability, not giving others the opportunity to scheme against them. In particular, Phoenix Group had to be cautious in dealing with potential crises due to Paramount's expansion, and dared not be careless in the slightest.

“Naoko, I’ve noticed you seem to have something on your mind these past ten days. If it’s something, just say it. Don’t keep it bottled up inside. Something’s been off ever since you met Riko. What happened?” John asked, seeing Naoko’s hesitant expression. Although he didn’t know what had happened, he knew that Naoko must be troubled by something, otherwise she wouldn’t be acting this way.

"Riko-nee advised me to give up my current career and move to the United States, but I'm still reluctant to give up the career I've worked so hard for over the years. I don't know what to do!" Naoko didn't hesitate when John asked her, and spoke out about her dilemma. After all, as an idol, she still had her own dreams.

Upon hearing this, John shook his head and said, "I thought it was something serious. Didn't I say that you can make your own decisions in this matter and there's no need to care about what others say? Since you don't want to give up, then continue. Just make sure you manage your rest time reasonably."

John could understand this situation and knew why Riko had tried to persuade Naoko. It was all for Naoko's sake. However, that was just Riko's opinion and did not mean that Naoko should accept it, nor did it represent his own view of Naoko.

“Alright, stop thinking about these trivial things. You don’t have to be like Riko, and you don’t need to care about what those Japanese people think. Just do what they think, and you can leave whenever you want to. You have plenty of time to achieve your dreams.” John didn’t see anything wrong with this. Although he liked Naoko a lot, it didn’t mean he had to make her revolve around him and give up her career. He wasn’t Japanese, and he didn’t have their crazy male chauvinistic ideas.

This little matter was quickly resolved. After John's statement, Naoko felt less pressured. She understood that Riko meant well, but she also had her own thoughts.

"I'm leaving the US for China the day after tomorrow. Are you coming with me, or staying here to wait for Yugali to start school?"

This time, Naoko chose to stay in the United States to fulfill her promise to her parents and see her younger sister, Yukari, enroll in school. However, John didn't have that much time. The investment in China needed to be completed as quickly as possible, and he didn't have much time left. If it dragged on any longer, his plans would be affected. Soon, John brought executives from Quantum Mining, Western Energy, and the shipping company to China to complete the negotiations. In reality, although it was called a negotiation, both sides had already made their decisions. As long as there were no excessive demands, it wouldn't be a problem. John wouldn't do something so foolish, after all, he understood how much money China would make in the future, and how his investment would be recouped many times over.

There were no major issues; only minor details were under negotiation. This time, everyone was quite shocked. John still offered a ten-year agreement, only discussing a few small points. After all, both the oil refinery and the steel mill needed resources, and they also needed to export to repay loans, as well as arrange profits for the refinery and steel mill. Although they would all remain in China for development, they couldn't just stay on paper; they needed actual investment, which required negotiation.

Such investments are not made casually; they require a complete plan and must be aligned with the company's own development. Petrochemicals, refined oil retail (gas stations), and gas companies—these are the development directions for oil refineries.

“Mr. John, we have no problem with petrochemicals, and we can even accept the establishment of an independent fertilizer plant. However, we need to have an agreement regarding the retail of refined oil products and the gas company. The gas company must be a joint venture, as it concerns people's livelihoods. We cannot allow it to be solely owned by you. In principle, we can also accept sole ownership of refined oil product retail, but you cannot only focus on large cities and abandon the arrangements for towns. Otherwise, while large cities may indeed make money, the burden of towns will fall on our domestic enterprises. This is unfair and does not conform to our national conditions!”

"No problem, I can accept that. We can form a joint venture for the gas company, and you can even take the lead. However, we want to retain our right to choose. We cannot let you designate cities; we will decide for ourselves. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, we will start with the cities we have previously cooperated with. We will also comply with your requirements for refined oil sales. We will not enter the next province until we have completed the layout of all towns in our current province. We can agree to this. I pursue win-win situations in business; business that only seeks to take advantage cannot last. Regarding the port issue, we can invest in a few self-operated wharves as agreed, bear their construction costs, and invest in port construction. However, we require that the construction speed be accelerated. As for the acquisition of the steel mill, in principle, we have no problem with it. Quantum Mining will establish its own steel group, and we will also have our own plans for technological improvements."

When deciding to enter the steel industry, John not only had a good understanding of the steel industry in the United States, but also in Germany. With a target in mind, the Hamburg steel plant was a good choice. Moreover, Germany's steel technology was excellent. Quantum Mining was working hard to negotiate with them. Once the acquisition was completed, they could use their technology to upgrade the steel plant they had acquired in China.

Although Japan also possessed similar technology, no less advanced than Germany's, John ultimately abandoned the idea. Instead of importing technology from Japan, he reasoned that acquiring the Hamburg steel plant directly would allow him to truly control the technology and R&D team. John also had plans to acquire specialty steel from the US, but it wasn't convenient to act now. Those old-timers wouldn't ignore it, and such technology was highly confidential, making it impossible to transfer overseas.

John's ultimate target in steel and shipbuilding technology is the Russians. In a few years, the Russians will be unable to hold on, and that will be the time for him to bleed them dry. Ukraine is a very good choice, as it has not only steel mills but also shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and so on. These are all assets that John covets.

John has now begun to establish a presence in Europe, at least in East Germany, where he has acquired many retired Zeiss employees and transferred them to Taiwan to set up his own lens manufacturing plant and begin developing his own cameras.

Because both parties were sincere and did not fuss over trivial matters, John completed the cooperation without wasting much time and energy. The cooperation between the six major ports and cities of Qingdao, Haizhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou involved an investment amount that exceeded expectations.

Fortunately, John has a decent talent pool in China, so the pressure on him for this collaboration isn't too great. Funding isn't an issue either; he secured a loan from a Japanese bank and also covered a portion of the costs himself. After all, shipping companies and oil refineries are under considerable pressure, with only Quantum Mining faring somewhat better. Under these circumstances, John doesn't dare take any risks or place all his hopes on Japan!

(End of this chapter)