America: My Time

Chapter 448 Ambition
Chapter 448 Ambition

“That’s understandable. Actually, their biggest problem isn’t the stock price, but the short selling. Now we have to wait for those guys to be liquidated! With so many crocodiles around, who knows how many more will die!” Morgan’s words were very calm, but they had a huge impact on John and the others. This is the crocodile of Wall Street, cruel and ruthless. Given the chance, it will bite its enemies and deliver a fatal blow.

John quickly adapted. This was financial warfare; there was no right or wrong, only victory or defeat. He nodded and said, "They chose their own path, and they must bear the consequences themselves. When they made their choice, they should have considered how serious the consequences would be, and they should have understood whether they could afford them!"

"To be honest, you were too kind. You let go of them too quickly before, which made these guys think you wouldn't go too far. That's why this amazing situation happened. Kindness is often taken advantage of, and good horses are often ridden. Those guys took advantage of your restraint, which is why they dared to be so arrogant and why so many guys rushed in."

"I see. But that's fine too. I've already given them a chance. This time they've jumped in again on their own initiative and insisted on shorting the game world. They'll have to bear the consequences themselves. Either they have to liquidate their positions with enough shares or they'll be liquidated. If only those guys could put all their shares in here!"

"Impossible. Those old guys wouldn't do something so crazy, nor would they be so ignorant. Your idea is doomed to fail. The only ones who will suffer are those who have been misled. Their losses will be negligible and won't be crippled. If they were so easy to deal with, do you think things would be like this now?"

Hearing Morgan's words, John nodded and said, "That's right, I was overthinking it. Those guys wouldn't have handed over their entire fortune without absolute certainty. But this time, those fools will pay a heavy price. This time, no one's opinion matters; we must make them pay!"

In the blink of an eye, the situation changed dramatically, leaving Wall Street stunned. It was insane! The game world's shares were soaring, and shares on the market were disappearing rapidly. This put the entire market on edge.

Soon, Wall Street learned of the situation in San Francisco and was stunned. The company had proactively broken up GameWorld and sold it to Panasonic. This news shocked everyone. The board didn't need, and absolutely didn't need, such tactics this time. The largest shareholders had already secured absolute control, and their excuse was impeccable: unavoidable circumstances forced the breakup. This was a scapegoat; they had to take the blame, as everything was now under final investigation, and everyone understood that GameWorld had indeed violated antitrust regulations. A company proactively cutting its losses to survive is perfectly reasonable; no one can accuse the other party of wrongdoing. However, this drastic measure affects even more shareholders.

"Close your position now!" Soon, such shrill shouts echoed throughout Wall Street. The more aggressively you shorted, the more difficult it is to close your position now. There aren't enough stocks left in the market for you to close your position. The smart guys have already stopped and run away. Only the foolish and greedy guys are trapped here and can't get out.

"We've been tricked! This is a conspiracy, a conspiracy that the other side planned long ago, just waiting for us fools to take the initiative. There will be no reconciliation this time. Why is he so ruthless!"

Some are happy, some are worried. Wall Street is now staging one crazy competition after another. In a short period of time, there are no more shares of the game world on the market. More and more people are being liquidated, turning Wall Street into a crazy show. Some people are begging the White House to step in and intervene. Unfortunately, this time the White House will not pay any attention. This is not their fault.

The donkey is now numb. What to do? It has messed things up again. Not only did it fail to achieve its goal, but it also ruined many of its supporters. Now there's even a joke in the US: anyone who believes the donkey is a fool. The donkey doesn't understand economics, and supporting them is self-destruction. This bad reputation has instantly made the donkey lose its fighting spirit.

Compromise? There was no chance. No one was willing to believe them at this point! They could only hope things wouldn't escalate too much, but things rarely went as planned. Soon, news reports announced the gaming world's decision to sell off all patents for home video game consoles—a move that shocked everyone.

If they are not satisfied, they can continue to split it up. Obviously, the game world is not afraid of anything. At worst, they can dismantle the game world and sell it all. However, it is hard to say whether the United States will benefit from it at that time, because the taxes that should have belonged to them will have become the taxes of Japan or other countries!

An irresistible factor! What factor was irresistible? The public knows. If the stock price crash of the game company had harmed the public's interests, naturally some would have stood up to oppose it. But now, the game company hasn't harmed shareholders' interests; it's only targeting a company with ulterior motives. This has resulted in a huge gain. John's popularity has skyrocketed in the US. The game company has indeed paid a considerable price, but the fact that they didn't use the opportunity to extort money from shareholders is already quite commendable. A good person, a very good person—that's how the public views John. Of course, some people are talking behind his back, but it hasn't caused any real trouble.

To achieve great things with little money, many people believe that the game world has paid a huge price to protect the interests of ordinary shareholders. However, the game world's sacrifices are not as great as imagined, and John has suffered even less loss.

"Let those bastards go back and stop causing trouble. If they continue, they'll have to bear all the consequences themselves!" Faced with the strong public opinion in the United States, the White House had no choice but to step forward and explain, and even warned the Donald.

"I'm afraid those bastards will get desperate and insist on going against the game world. If that happens, the consequences will be serious. This time, we can still explain it by saying we don't know anything. But if the game world is split up again, the consequences will be out of control, and public opinion will be against us. I'm worried that Donkey will go all out and drag us down with him!"

"We have no choice but to take such precautions. Those guys are capable of anything, so we definitely need to be on guard. If all else fails, we'll find a way to strip them of their power!"

At the command from the White House, the donkeys, though unwilling, had no choice but to compromise and bow their heads, knowing that further recklessness would have even more severe consequences. This time, however, no one pleaded for them, and they had no face to seek reconciliation with John. It was useless to approach anyone; no one was willing to stand up for them. Everyone was afraid of taking the donkeys' place and incurring the wrath of that cunning John.

“John, things have calmed down now, and Game World’s stock price has recovered quite a bit. Although it hasn’t returned to its previous level, we no longer need to worry about those guys causing trouble. However, will Game World no longer accept their franchisees in the future? This will cause us to lose a lot of profits!” After seeing the stock price rebound, Morgan began to inquire about Game World’s future development.

"We're just letting them cool off for a while, teaching them a lesson. How can we let such a good money-making opportunity slip by? Once they realize they can't compete with the game world, we'll naturally accept their sincere apology. Right now, our most important task is to reorganize the board of directors, get rid of those guys, and we also need to release some shares. We can't hold onto all of them. There are no more game world shares circulating in the market now. I will release all the profits from this time little by little. If you're willing, you can follow along!"

It's impossible to get those three companies in Japan to do that. They're hoping to get more shares, so why would they give up their stock at this time? Besides, they still believe that Game World has greater potential, especially after John's counterattack, which makes them even more convinced that Game World will go even further under John's leadership.

The gaming world has now split in two. A portion of the profits from home game consoles was sold off to form a new company. While it currently only possesses various patents, the Japanese and their ilk don't care. They control the corresponding production technology, so they see this as another lucrative opportunity. Overall, these five companies not only avoided losses in this crisis but actually gained even more benefits and profits.

Ambition grows, and this incident made them feel that they might be able to gain more benefits, perhaps even more shares from John and Morgan, or even complete control of the new company. However, now is not the time. After all, the new company has just been established and is still just an empty shell. It needs some time to improve. Next year, they will have the opportunity to gradually take control of the company and acquire more shares from the other party little by little.

As for the gaming world, Sony, Hitachi, and Panasonic all believed that the decline in market value was only temporary. They felt that everything would change once new game consoles were released. Moreover, the gaming world offered not only home consoles but also arcade and handheld consoles, which also generated considerable profits and made these companies envious. Morgan Stanley was no exception and was unwilling to easily relinquish its profits. While most companies might accept this arrangement, the gaming world offered a substantial annual dividend.

(End of this chapter)