America: My Time

Chapter 717 Struggle for Interests
Chapter 707 Struggle for Interests
It's not a big deal for those guys in Japan yet. What worries John now is the US and Britain. Although the old guys like Rockefeller wouldn't break the rules, that doesn't mean no one will. There are always some foolish guys who want to do things they shouldn't do. These guys are John's 'sworn enemies'. Similarly, with the changes in Britain, there are also some guys within Britain who are targeting John. These guys are the ones who suffered the most damage in the previous confrontation between Britain and John. They are all dissatisfied with John and have all done some foolish things.

As John's development in Britain stalled, some within the British community grew dissatisfied. They felt they had done nothing wrong, having already reconciled with John and offered compensation. However, John showed them no mercy, failing to resume investment in Britain even after accepting their compensation. Particularly concerning was the North Sea oil field cooperation. They had already yielded and sought cooperation, but Western Energy focused its efforts on Ireland and Norway instead of Britain. This greatly angered the British, who felt it was a slap in the face.

However, the British dared not act rashly again, as John's every move had far-reaching consequences. Looking at the current situation in Britain, one can see the magnitude of the price they had paid. Many are now hesitant to invest in Britain, even Middle Eastern tycoons, fearing being scammed. Most importantly, their automotive industry has been affected, particularly heavy trucks. Middle Eastern tycoons have completely switched to other brands within the Bentley Group. In short, the reason Middle Eastern tycoons previously chose Leyland Trucks was because it was a Bentley brand; now that it's no longer under Bentley's umbrella, they naturally no longer choose it. Without Bentley's support, Leyland Trucks has lost a significant portion of the Middle Eastern market!

Actually, John's trip to Lanai Island for vacation wasn't entirely to avoid the San Francisco earthquake. It was more about getting those lurking in the shadows to come out. Just as Morgan had feared, these guys had already angered John. He wasn't going to compromise with this group of ignorant fools anymore and didn't want to give them another chance. This time, whoever caused trouble would have to bear John's wrath.

As John's vacation began, the Japanese soon learned of the situation, and their reactions varied. Many saw John's family vacationing on Lanai as nothing special, but for those with ulterior motives, it was a different story, with Naoko being an unavoidable topic. It was clear that Naoko had the approval of John's family; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone on vacation to Lanai together. However, Naoko was pregnant, and her due date was approaching, which inevitably led some to have other ideas.

Could it be that John's family doesn't approve, or is there some other reason? In any case, these guys reacted differently. Akio Morita, that old guy, arranged for Riko to come to Lanai Island. Whether he was going to congratulate John or had other ideas, this guy has at least made a reaction.

In contrast, when Akina and the other women learned of this news, they all chose to put aside their work and come to Lanai Island. However, to John's surprise, Matsushita actually arranged for people to come to Lanai Island.

"Mr. John, please forgive my abrupt visit. I am here on behalf of Panasonic to discuss the licensing of the Dance Machine!" It must be said that the guy Panasonic arranged was efficient and to the point, stating his purpose directly without any hesitation. It seems that Panasonic was aware of his intentions, or rather, they realized that ASUS's development direction was not gaming, but rather personal computers.

Asus's current production capacity is indeed insufficient to meet the demand of the dance machine market, not even half of it. After all, most of Asus's production capacity is focused on personal computers, so it is naturally powerless to produce dance machines, even though it knows that this is a very profitable industry. However, it does not have enough production capacity, so contract manufacturing is the best option. But this time, John did not choose contract manufacturing, which made most people in Japan think that John did not want to share the profits. However, Panasonic did not think so, so it chose to take the initiative.

John originally intended to leave it to the game world, but the game world and the old guys like Rockefeller reacted too slowly, or rather, they didn't even have such an idea. After all, the game world didn't exert much power in their hands; on the contrary, it plummeted. Under these circumstances, the old guys like Rockefeller dared not make any rash moves, fearing that they would follow in the footsteps of the game world. Their hesitation gave Matsushita an opportunity.

"Sure, that's not a problem. ASUS can license its patents to Panasonic and even accept Panasonic's manufacturing services. I originally thought Sony would be the first to appear, but it seems Sony doesn't have that idea. Their energy is focused on the personal computer and internet cafe alliance, and they can't spare the energy for this."

"Sony has indeed focused its efforts on the internet cafe alliance. The alliance in Japan is expanding rapidly, far exceeding everyone's expectations, so Sony has no time to concern itself with dance machines." Panasonic is also very envious of Sony's rapid expansion in the internet cafe alliance; that's the entire Japanese market. Originally, John and Akio Morita's agreement was only for 3,000 internet cafes, but now it has already exceeded 3,000 and shows no signs of stopping. Most importantly, Sony is making a fortune. If it weren't for their insufficient production capacity, it would probably be even more frenzied.

"It seems I underestimated Japan's development and underestimated their love for internet cafes and online games!" John admitted his mistake very seriously at this moment, which shocked the Panasonic guys, because this was almost impossible in Japan. Bosses would never admit their mistakes on their own initiative. They would only push the blame onto their subordinates. They were never wrong. The only ones who were wrong were their subordinates, not the bosses themselves.

John, unconcerned by the man's shock, continued, "What about Panasonic's production capacity? If you have sufficient capacity, ASUS will abandon its own production and let Panasonic manufacture it!" The man was stunned by John's words. This was an unexpected outcome, one that Panasonic hadn't anticipated either. They had only come to discuss patent licensing, but things had gone so smoothly, and John had even expressed this idea—ASUS was actually going to abandon production of the dance machine.

"Panasonic's production capacity is absolutely guaranteed!" This guy knew how important the opportunity was, so he quickly made a promise, after all, Panasonic and the game world had a long-term cooperation.

"Okay, if Panasonic has no problems, then you can have detailed negotiations with ASUS. I will make arrangements with ASUS, and as long as Panasonic can meet market demand, ASUS will stop production!"

When Panasonic learned of John's intentions, they immediately took action and went to ASUS to negotiate a collaboration. ASUS quickly abandoned the production of the dance machine and handed over the orders to Panasonic, even granting Panasonic the patent license. Then, ASUS fully shifted its focus to the production of personal computers.

The news quickly spread in Japan, and then the old guys in the US found out too. They hadn't expected John to make the same choice again, to hand over production to those guys in Japan once more.

The old guys in the US were shocked, and the Japanese were equally shocked. They had all thought that John wouldn't share the profits this time, but it seemed they had been wrong. Panasonic had taken everything very easily, and ASUS had even abandoned production altogether, which made many Japanese companies very regretful.

Akio Morita, that old guy, was also very regretful. If he had known that John would make such a decision, he should have gone there himself instead of just sending Riko to Lanai Island. Now he had missed the opportunity. Although the expansion of the Internet Cafe Alliance made Sony a lot of money, Sony still had its own production capacity. Sony was not like ASUS, which had a lot of production capacity.

"It seems I underestimated John's boldness. He's still the same as before, not caring about production. Perhaps he really doesn't care about the game industry. In his eyes, there's only the semiconductor industry. Everything is geared towards serving semiconductors, so giving up dance machine production is no big deal to him!"

At this point, Akio Morita somewhat understood John's thinking, but it was too late. Panasonic had already obtained the production license for the dance machine, and ASUS was quickly abandoning production and shifting its focus entirely to personal computer manufacturing. This meant that the internet cafe alliance's global expansion would accelerate. This was not good news for Sony. Originally, the old man Akio Morita had planned to rapidly expand after capturing the Japanese market and gain more market share. Now it seemed he had been overthinking things. With Panasonic's emergence, ASUS's production capacity had been freed up.

"Damn Panasonic, they always have to compete with Sony. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have compromised with them in the first place!" At this moment, Morita Yosuo was extremely annoyed. This was a situation he didn't want to see, but he couldn't do anything about it. Since it had already happened, everything was no longer up to him. Asus's abandonment of the dance machine could be said to be a win-win situation. Panasonic got everything they wanted, and Asus also freed up its own production capacity.

(End of this chapter)