America: My Time

Chapter 72 Security
Chapter Seventy-Two Security

Time is John's biggest concern. He's willing to pay a slightly higher price, even if Universal and NBC could lower their offers a bit, but it's not worth the time and effort wasted. Instead of wasting time and energy negotiating, he should focus on developing Legendary Entertainment, which is currently growing rapidly. Time is the most valuable resource.

Where did the $40 billion come from? Naturally, it came from a loan from a Japanese bank. Legendary Entertainment used leverage to acquire Universal Pictures' parent company, as well as NBC, which would also cause its own debt to skyrocket, putting it under great financial pressure. Fortunately, it had the already explosive cash flow from Legendary Toys to support it; otherwise, John wouldn't have dared to do it. The $40 billion loan pressure would have been enormous.

If the acquisition succeeds, Legendary Entertainment will undergo a dramatic transformation, a classic case of a small fish swallowing a much larger one, instantly becoming a Hollywood giant, even a US media behemoth, with Warner Bros. merely a junior partner. This is a major challenge fraught with both opportunity and danger. Success depends on Legendary Entertainment's capabilities, or more precisely, its ability to quickly regain control of the company after the purges of the two major corporations' top management and deliver outstanding results. With sufficiently impressive achievements, the turmoil caused by the purges will quickly subside, and Legendary Entertainment will get back on track. Ultimately, everything will be judged by results, by the quality of its work!

"You've been home for so many days, busy with this and that, and haven't even prepared for the start of school. The company's development is important, but your studies are also important. Don't put all your energy into company management. Now that you've found professional management talent, you should trust them!"

Seeing John constantly busy, Anna couldn't help but offer some words of advice. As a mother, she cared deeply about John's life and didn't want to see him under such immense pressure! Although it had only been six months, John was practically a different person now, completely immersed in his work, having lost all his former freedom!
"I also want to rest and think about going back to school, but I really don't have that much time. The opportunity is right in front of me, and I can't let it pass me by. If I miss this chance, I won't get another one!"

"John, is there another new deal between you and Morgan? Is it about financing the game world?" Smith was also curious at this point, although he knew that his son's development had entered a fast track during the summer, with one game world earning enough dollars to directly drive Atari to the brink of bankruptcy.

"Yes, there is a new deal. This time they offered a condition I couldn't refuse: they want to sell Universal and NBC networks as a package to Legendary Entertainment, and they're willing to purge the top executives of both companies before the deal goes through. I can't refuse such a condition!"

"Are you crazy? Although your game world is indeed very profitable, how are you going to acquire these two companies?" Anna's first reaction was that her son had gone mad. The amount of money required for such a huge transaction was astronomical, far beyond John's means.

Compared to Anna's concerns about funding, a glint flashed in Smith's eyes as he saw the power behind the deal. Universal was one of Hollywood's giants, with enormous influence worldwide, and NBC was a public television network whose influence over the entire United States was undeniable.

Smith can understand the need to purge the top management. If the top management of the two companies is not purged, even if Legendary Entertainment completes the acquisition, how much time will it take to deal with the internal struggles?
"John, are you sure Morgan really made such a promise?"

"It's true, absolutely true, and it couldn't be more real. It's precisely because they made such a guarantee that I decided to acquire these two companies. This acquisition may cause a little turmoil, but as long as the overall company structure remains intact, it's acceptable."

The purge of senior management will inevitably lead to the loss of middle-level personnel. When the senior executives purged by Morgan leave, they will inevitably take some middle-level personnel with them, which will certainly have a certain impact on the two companies! However, this is acceptable, at least in John's view.

"Have you decided on the acquisition method? With your current assets, you can't accomplish this feat. I think you want to leverage your assets to acquire these two companies. You need to think carefully. Such a huge debt is not so easy to repay!"

“I’ve thought this through very clearly. Even if we take on this 40 billion debt, it won’t be a big problem for Legendary Entertainment. Legendary Toys has just started, and new toys will appear soon. With such a huge cash flow, the pressure to repay the loan is not great. Moreover, with such a large debt, the company will not have any tax pressure!”

“40 billion? Morgan is offering you 40 billion for these two companies? Is it a full acquisition?” Smith’s gaze turned serious. 40 billion was indeed a huge number. “Yes, a full acquisition, 40 billion. It’s a bit expensive, but Morgan can do what Legendary Entertainment can’t, and it can save Legendary Entertainment a lot of time. Time is the most important thing! I’ve been discussing this with Robert Iger these past few days, and I’ve been calculating Legendary Entertainment’s income and expenses. There are almost no major financial problems. There will be some turmoil after the acquisition, but that’s not a big deal. NBC doesn’t need to make too many changes, and Universal can just break it up, so there won’t be any major issues.”

"The funding? That's 40 billion yuan. Have you considered the difficulties involved?"

"Haha, what I'm least worried about is funding. If the Japanese banks knew about this huge deal between Legendary Entertainment and Morgan Stanley, they would accept anything, not just $40 billion, but even more, and they would give me the lowest possible interest rate. What I'm worried about now is whether Robert Iger can support Legendary Entertainment after the acquisition. After all, he has only been in charge of Legendary Entertainment for a short time, and it's hard for him to gain the trust of the public. Even without checks and balances from higher-ups, other problems will arise!"

At this point, John shook his head in distress and said, "Forget about him. The matter is settled. No matter how much pressure he's under, he has to persevere. This is his choice. Father, I really want to know how the security company is doing. Have all the procedures been completed? Now that the market value of the game world has increased significantly, my personal security is very important."

John has always placed great importance on his personal safety and hopes to resolve this issue before the start of the semester. Without truly reliable security, he will always feel uneasy.

"The procedures for the security company have been completed, and there are no problems meeting your requirements. The family has also provided some support in terms of manpower. However, you need to establish the security company yourself. You are the core of the security company, so you need to complete this yourself. This force belongs to you personally, not to the family. Do you understand? But you also need to consider their livelihood. You can't just keep them idle forever. If you want to attract business, you need to communicate more with the military!"

John nodded and said, “Understood. I will keep it firmly in my own hands. Before making this decision, I also thought of a solution. I have so many companies now. It’s better to entrust the security business to my own security company than to entrust it to others. As for the military, I don’t have that idea yet. However, I am interested in the mineral resources in Africa. I can deploy those warmongers to Africa.”

John didn't want to follow Blackwater's example and take on military contracts. What he wanted wasn't the annual revenue from the security company, but rather self-preservation. The security company only needed to break even; this force was for him to use to deter those old guys. Right now, those old guys weren't too crazy, but when the dot-com bubble burst, his company would definitely be targeted by those damned old men, and that's when he needed a deterrent force.

"Alright, you have your own plan. The family won't interfere with the security company!"

John nodded in understanding. Even he himself hadn't directly put the security company under his own name, but instead chose a shell company for protection. It was understandable that the family didn't want to get involved; reputation was still very important!
Jaguar Security Company was thus established. The first batch of security personnel consisted of only one hundred people, 80 of whom were men and 20 were women. The women were mainly there to protect their families. The security personnel were all retired soldiers from the U.S. Marine Corps and special forces, possessing strong combat capabilities.

Despite his tight schedule, John personally oversaw the establishment of the security company, discussing everything from the equipment and backup of the security personnel to the base in the United States. Originally, John only allocated a budget of twenty million, but after further discussion, he added another ten million.

Most security companies don't invest heavily in equipment for their security personnel, but John is different. He equipped all one hundred of his security personnel with the most advanced equipment to ensure their safety, which is also a guarantee of his own safety.

The emergence of this security company didn't attract much attention. Wall Street was now focused on the game world, especially after the introduction of royalty fees, which had a huge impact on the entire Wall Street. This was essentially collecting protection money; if you wanted to use the game world's platform, you had to pay protection money. This opened Wall Street's eyes.

(End of this chapter)