America: My Time

Chapter 588 A Reminder of 'Kindness'
Chapter 578 A 'Well-intentioned' Reminder
"Who is that?!" Many people were surprised to see John take the initiative to talk to Akio Morita. They were puzzled about Akio Morita's identity. In their opinion, someone who could make John take him seriously must be a big shot. However, many people did not know Akio Morita, the big shot at Sony.

"You don't even recognize him? I have to say, you're really something. I don't know how you survived in Hollywood. He's the boss of Sony and Columbia Pictures, Akio Morita of Japan."

"Is he Akio Morita, the owner of Columbia Pictures?" When they learned that he was Akio Morita, the men who had come to hunt for women all showed a hint of shock in their eyes. None of them expected to meet him here.

"Could they be here to deal with the Writers Guild? Right now, those guys from the Writers Guild are constantly negotiating with the major Hollywood giants about videotape revenue sharing. The one with the most confidence is Legendary Entertainment Phoenix, which is not compromising at all and doesn't take the Writers Guild's demands seriously!"

"Don't even mention the Writers Guild, the Actors Guild isn't taken seriously by Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media. Those troublemakers have all been blacklisted. I heard Tom Cruise also had a contract dispute with Paramount and was blacklisted by Paramount! These two giants are extremely powerful and don't care about any provocations. I don't think those guys in the Writers Guild can persuade these two giants or force them to compromise."

"The Writers Guild won't succeed because the people at Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Group have signed agreements. They can't easily go on strike, otherwise they'll be breaking their contracts and could be kicked out. Right now, I don't know how many writers want to join these two groups because they offer the best benefits!"

Tom Cruise's situation is no secret in Hollywood these days. After gaining fame with the help of Paramount, he fantasized about re-signing with Paramount. It's just wishful thinking on Tom Cruise's part. Paramount doesn't take him seriously at all and doesn't care about the pressure and threats he puts on.

"Enough. If you don't want to get into trouble, don't talk about these things. This is not something you can discuss. If people find out, you won't have a good outcome. Right now, Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media are the most powerful in Hollywood. They want to revive the era of big-budget studios and don't care if you're a star or not. They have enough star-making ability, and no one wants to stand on the opposite side of them."

John's appearance caused everyone in the hall to eagerly rush forward to greet him. Whether they were Hollywood stars, famous directors, Wall Street tycoons, or business moguls, they all showed great enthusiasm.

After a brief exchange with Akio Morita, John had to deal with other people. This was New York, and many people from Wall Street had come to watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Some were there to make their mark, while others wanted to get some information from John, since Hurricane Investments had performed remarkably well during the stock market crash, and everyone knew how powerful Hurricane Investments were.

After dealing with all of them, John was also a little tired. Talking to these guys required caution. If you were not careful, you could fall into their trap. Each of these guys came with a purpose.

Exhausted—that's how John feels right now. Communicating with these guys, especially those Wall Street bastards, who would occasionally throw out a few probing questions about Hurricane Investment, was very frustrating for John, but he couldn't just refuse them directly!

After dealing with those guys, John and Akio Morita sat down again and began to talk about the situation in Hollywood.

“John, when do you think this chaos in Hollywood will end? If it continues like this, the impact on Columbia Pictures will be even greater, and the losses will be even heavier. To be honest, Columbia Pictures’ losses this year have already exceeded our expectations. Even if we put all the profits from record sales into it, we still won’t be able to fill this hole.”

"I don't know. From what I can see now, those guys are determined to fight to the end. I don't know what decisions Columbia Pictures has made. Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media are preparing for the worst. The TV stations are already preparing for the worst, increasing program production and stockpiling as many programs as possible."

The reactions of Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media were observed by other Hollywood giants, as were the actions of television networks. This put pressure on the Hollywood tycoons, which is why the people at Columbia Pictures informed Sony and Akio Morita – it wasn't an attempt to shirk responsibility. If the worst-case scenario occurred, causing even greater losses for Columbia Pictures, they would have ample reason and excuse. John was well aware of Columbia Pictures' situation, and indeed, all the bigwigs in Hollywood knew: those guys were lining their own pockets relentlessly. Their projects involved huge investments, but only resulted in losses. They were completely taking advantage of Sony.

Although everyone knew about Columbia Pictures' situation, no one pointed it out or tried to sabotage it. Other Hollywood giants were hoping that Columbia Pictures would be dragged into the abyss or even go bankrupt and liquidated, so that they could have one less competitor and grab more market share.

After learning about the situation in Hollywood from John, Akio Morita sighed again: "John, when do you think the game industry will give up the OEM cooperation? We are under a lot of pressure now, worried that we will be taken advantage of. You also know that if the OEM ends, the impact on Sony will be huge."

"I don't know. They're still expanding, and nobody knows how far they'll go before they make their move. They've just acquired Global Online's mobile phone factory, which seems like they're preparing to take over market share in the mobile communications field. They've also obtained a license for 8-inch wafer production technology from Bell Labs. Perhaps it won't be long before an 8-inch wafer fab appears in the United States!"

At this point, John didn't hide anything from these old guys. Instead, he told Akio Morita everything directly, letting Morita know how much importance those old guys attached to the semiconductor industry, and also letting him understand how much 'pressure' he was under.

"John, is this all true? You agreed to their new round of acquisitions?" Akio Morita was utterly shocked by John's words. How long had it been? And yet, there were already such crazy deals. First, the game world changed hands, and now Universal Online's mobile phone factory had also been acquired. Bell Labs was even forced to license its 8-inch wafer technology. This was like a thunderbolt to Akio Morita; it was a situation he had never anticipated.

"It's all true. Faced with the overwhelming trend, I'm powerless and can only compromise. Also, as far as I know, these guys have a significant connection with Samsung. There are rumors that Samsung received investment from them, a two billion dollar investment, which is why Samsung has been acting so recklessly, constantly waging a price war with you. I won't participate in this battle between you; I can only compromise. So, you'll be under even more pressure, Mr. Morita. You should prepare in advance to avoid being caught off guard and suffering even greater losses! I believe that once they've made all the preparations, they will confront you and reclaim their market share."

Upon hearing this, Akio Morita frowned. This was truly one bad thing after another. The situation in Hollywood had not yet been resolved, and now the semiconductor industry was also facing similar pressure. If the other side were prepared, what would they use to compete with these old guys? 8-inch wafer technology was the most advanced technology, and even such technology had to be licensed. One could imagine how much pressure Bell Labs was under in this matter.

What should Sony do? How should it deal with these successive crises? If I hadn't come to see the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show today, I probably wouldn't have known that so much had happened in such a short time, and that the semiconductor industry would undergo such astonishing changes.

John's ability to share this information suggests he is quite dissatisfied with everything, which is understandable. The fact that they had to license such advanced 8-inch wafer technology to others demonstrates the immense pressure Bell Labs was under, and the staggering burden John was carrying. Who would license such core technology to others unless absolutely necessary?

What exactly are these Americans trying to do? Do they really intend to take back market share from Japan at all costs? But with such a huge investment, when will they be able to recoup their investment? This is an investment of billions of dollars. What's wrong with these Americans that they would do something so crazy?

Akio Morita was somewhat puzzled, not understanding where these Americans' confidence came from, that they were not afraid of danger. The semiconductor industry was currently extremely competitive, and the price war from South Korea was having a terrible impact on major Japanese semiconductor companies. Not only Toshiba was being suppressed, but the entire Japanese semiconductor industry would suffer severe pressure.

"John, is there any possibility of cooperation between us? If so, could we cooperate on wafer fabrication? Could we obtain a license for Bell Labs' 8-inch wafer technology?" Akio Morita quickly made a bold and audacious decision: to import the most advanced wafer manufacturing technology from Bell Labs to enhance Sony's capabilities and reduce its own costs. If they did nothing, and the Americans completed the factory construction, the initiative would fall into their hands, which would be a disaster for Japan—a catastrophic one!
(End of this chapter)