Rebirth of America, this is my time

John Weinberg was born in 1925 and graduated from Princeton and Harvard Business School. He joined Goldman Sachs at the age of 25. His initial position was as a senior investment manager. Within two years, he became the chairman of the management committee. and became chairman and CEO in 1976.

Not only that, he also participated in WW2 while in school and obtained the rank of lieutenant.

The reason why his life is so exciting is purely because power is only transmitted through mother and child, blood and sex. He is the son of Sidney Weinberg, and Sidney Weinberg He is a retainer of the Sachs family, and the Sachs family... Their Samuel Sachs is the son-in-law of Marcus Goldman, and they are both founders of Goldman Sachs.

Therefore, the location where John Weinberg is at this moment is the headquarters of Goldman Sachs. Next to him is John Whitehead, who is his father and the one chosen by the Goldman Sachs family to assist him. The two of them stand The purpose here is to make money for Goldman Sachs, more money, and a steady stream of money.

Since the two had the same goal and talked about everything, when John Whitehead said that the Fortune magazine column may be related to their old friend, John Weinberg, who had his hands behind his back, suddenly laughed. , Wenlock, right? Lawrence?

Ang—who else but him? John Whitehead asked.

The next second, he added: Before, when we all wanted to invest in Destiny Game, Fred helped Destiny Game refuse. Now, the guy Fred is protecting has accepted investment from outside. No matter who the investor is, in the After a successful investment, we will publicize it, after all, it’s about saving face.”

Besides, the person who invested this time was Rockefeller. That guy Lawrence wanted to prove that our Wall Street methods were wrong decades ago. Now, he has hatched a new company, and it is a new company that is very likely to succeed. Enterprise, this is another victory for him.”

Hahaha—— his companion's words made John Weinberg burst into laughter.

When Lawrence Rockefeller became an adult, he first inherited his family's seat on the New York Stock Exchange. However, he did not like speculative transactions in finance, but wanted to accompany the growth of the company, so he entered the field of venture capital in order to grow. The desired company provides funding.

As early as the 1950s, he was called the Father of Venture Capital by the Wall Street Journal, and his success stories were like a slap in the face of Wall Street speculators again and again.

The finance guys were a little unhappy at first, but after being beaten by Lawrence Rockefeller too many times, they got used to it. Although everyone knows that Lawrence Rockefeller used a lot of off-market tricks when incubating start-up companies, their speculative transactions are not aboveboard. Since everyone is unclean, it means that everyone is clean. In this case , Lawrence Rockefeller's crazy success can only prove that he is awesome.

He has proven himself successfully many times, and now he still wants to prove it? This is really... persistence! John Weinberg sighed with emotion, and then said: Then what do you think of this matter? You know what I mean, right? I'm talking about video games, consumer computers, and...that Ethan Jones that gives all of us on Wall Street a headache.

Although eating alone is very common in America, because real predators never share profits with others, even Goldman Sachs. When the Goldman family took charge personally, they refused to go public. Their retainer Sidney When Weinberg was in charge, he still refused to go public. Now, after John Weinberg took office, the first document he signed was that Goldman Sachs would not go public.

But even so, they are only closed in a single field, but Ethan Jones is different. When they communicated with Stanford before, President Fred Terman showed a very tough attitude. I almost didn’t say it yet – I want the video game! I want a personal computer too! I still want civilian chips! I want all the special numbers!

If Ethan Jones may only touch one hot industry, then Wall Street will hold its nose and admit it. But when one, two, or three industries he touches may represent the future, then this behavior of being a monopoly is a bit too much. hold head high? What's more outrageous, is it his company or the top in the industry?

People on Wall Street actually have thousands of ways to break through this deadlock, but no one dares to be the first person. After all, everyone knows that Fred Terman is not in good health. If they use tricks to make the old man angry, There are three strengths and two weaknesses, so his disciples, disciples, fellow disciples, and subordinates who have been promoted by his own hands will definitely come forward to ask for explanations.

Although judging from the severity of the incident, it may not be as serious as the Oppenheimer Tongliao accident, but it is easy to blow up the entire American scientific community. No one is willing to do such a thankless job, and now , Laurence Rockefeller actually became a standout?

this……

Those with special codes are really brave!

How do you see it? Of course you have to see it with your eyes! Whitehead said with a smile.

... This response made Weinberg's face darken.

The speechless pout made Whitehead wave his hands with a smile, Okay, Okay, just kidding. After a pause, he added: Before coming, I looked through the things we have collected over the years. I personally feel that Lawrence’s release of the news of successful investment has a profound meaning, and it is not simply to prove to us that he has succeeded again.”

If I remember correctly, the Rockefeller family has a habit of giving birth to a lot of children, but they will only focus on nurturing a few of them with potential, and the others will be kept in captivity to keep the bloodline alive.

Lawrence emerged from the fierce family competition, because before he officially took over the family business, the power of the Rockefeller family was in Nelson's hands.

Lawrence is used to fighting, and he is used to stepping on his brothers to get to the top, so now, he may be putting the Rockefeller family's competitive style on Ethan Jones's head.

He asked Fortune magazine to publish a report simply because he wanted to tell the world that the video game and computer industries are very profitable. In this case, greedy people are bound to join in. And their joining will This makes the development environment of Ethan Jones extremely harsh, but at the same time, this is also the best way to make a person grow faster, because if you memorize the cases in the book ten thousand times, you will forget them, but if someone stabs you One knife...

Whitehead paused.

Then it will hurt me forever. Weinberg continued with a smile.

Yeah~ That's it. Whitehead nodded.

So you think this is a trap? Weinberg asked.

At least I don't think it's possible for Lawrence to let all his tens of millions of dollars be lost, Whitehead replied. Besides, Fred hasn't expressed his position yet, right? If he was angry, he would have called us by now. He scolded us at Goldman Sachs, Morgan, and Lehman, and even asked Fortune to issue an emergency statement saying that the report in the new issue was wrong, but he did not do so.

Perhaps he himself also knows that the long-standing lung disease may cause him to pass away at any time. Since no one knows who will come first tomorrow or the accident, the faster Ethan Jones grows, the more difficult it will be for him. A good thing. As long as he is still alive, all business struggles will not involve violence. Lawrence's acceleration should be the thing he is most willing to see. This will allow him to help those children deal with many problems while he is alive. And if he saw with his own eyes several high-tech companies established in Palo Alto while he was still alive, then he would be able to smile and meet Vanneva, right?

Vannevar wrote 'The Endless Frontier' and Fred turned his ideas into reality, which will greatly inspire those scientists, because from the beginning, they did not want to be controlled.

Video games may not be a cutting-edge technology, but the technical requirements brought by video games are visible to the naked eye. Without computers, it would be very troublesome for them to make games. Maybe iterations of storage devices can change the development of games? Our people It has been discovered that Destiny Games has invested money in the field of optical storage. And image chips? They seem to be purchasing these things recently.

Whitehead said a lot with emotion.

Weinberg agreed with a smile: Yes... They have been targeted for a long time... Maybe those two little guys don't know how many people hope they can succeed. After all, they are only commercially available. Technology has the hope of changing the world, right?”

Hmm. Whitehead shrugged.

So do you think we can make a profit from this? Weinberg asked again.

There are opportunities to make profits, but we don't need to enter the market early. Whitehead thought briefly for a while and said: The news released by Lawrence can be seen by everyone, so there will definitely be people who can't sit still and want to die. , after all, the temptation of 100 million in cash a year is too great.”

Furthermore, Ethan Jones has his own opponents. He already has irreconcilable conflicts with Steve Ross of Warner Communications and Philips. We just need to watch them fight and then short or long those listed companies. .”

Of course, after the war, we still have opportunities to make profits, right? It's impossible for that guy Lawrence to let the companies he invests in remain private. They will definitely go public, and if Ethan Jones wins, then The value of his companies will definitely skyrocket, and we can try to get the status of the main underwriter, so that we can also share the profits.

Although it's not a huge investment, it's... very stable.

The sure approach made Weinberg take a deep breath.

He put away his previous teasing and turned his gaze out the window again.

The feeling of looking down at all living beings...

very nice.

Then let's do it.

After thinking for a moment, Weinberg made a decision, What we want now is to be safe, because that guy Robert Baldwin will definitely get involved after seeing the news.

Robert Baldwin is the CEO of Morgan Stanley. When he took control of the company in 1973, the first thing he did was to show his fangs to the world.

He helped many companies launch hostile takeovers and made considerable profits for Morgan Stanley by absorbing, divesting and then selling them. And that jackal-like style also made industrial companies that wanted to maintain their independent management rights tremble and seek shelter in the financial market. So, after receiving help, Goldman Sachs created the White Knight team in 1974. Specifically against Morgan Stanley.

Since his predecessor had already left a friendly image of Goldman Sachs to the outside world, Weinberg did not want to show a bloodthirsty character soon after taking over the company.

more importantly……

In the capital market, a friendly image can gain public trust, right?

While Goldman Sachs co-chairman Weinberg and his comrade-in-arms Whitehead discussed wealth in their offices, Morgan Stanley CEO Robert Baldwin held a high-level meeting.

Who can tell me, Lawrence, what does this mean?

Baldwin, who is in his fifties and has short, capable hair, glances sharply at his subordinates around the round table, and taps the magazine in front of him with his index finger. Lawrence is telling us that America's computer industry is now dominated by them, Rockefeller said. Does it count?

Morgan Stanley's thoughts are roughly the same as those of Goldman Sachs. They don't pay much attention to the two industries of video games and personal computers that may be the future hot spots. The key they grasped is why Lawrence Rockefeller wanted to publicize the news of successful investment to everyone.

If this is an animal-like division of territory and declaration of sovereignty, then they will accept it. After all, the current Rockefeller family is more terrifying than the previous oil empire. When Chase and Manhattan are firmly controlled by them, even a consortium , and there are not many people who have lost their minds and want to fight against Rockefeller.

But if Lawrence Rockefeller didn't mean that, then...

I think we're still profitable.

After Baldwin asked the question, an old white man with gray hair took over and said: If Lawrence has the idea of ​​dominating the computer industry, then their most normal operation is to control Apple to defeat all other competitors, including but not It's not realistic to be limited to directly buying and controlling other companies and then having those device manufacturers merge with Apple.

After the outbreak of the computer industry, we have already analyzed that the computer industry cannot have a monopoly because the technology they use is no longer protected by patents. When a single computer manufacturer cannot prevent other players from entering the industry through control of patents By then, this industry will definitely be an open and competitive industry.”

“If you want to gain enough market share in this industry, the best way is to defeat other competitors with excellent products, use a supply chain similar to Coca-Cola’s to drive down your own production costs, and try to outsmart other competitors as much as possible. There is no profit in fighting.”

So I personally feel that when Lawrence released the news at this time, he wanted to accelerate competition in the market. He wanted to attract players who wanted to make gold to enter the market crazily, and then defeat them when the public did not understand the computer industry. . When countless failure cases appear, the world will be full of awe of this industry, and Apple will be able to take advantage of this free time to smoothly devour the entire computer market in order to reach the peak of monopoly that can only exist for a short period of time.

So what you're saying is... Morgan Stanley CEO Baldwin turned his gaze to the board member who was speaking, are we going to get out of here at Morgan? Get into the computer industry?

We are going to end, but not the computer industry. The old director nodded and denied, We are going to end because now is the best opportunity. The computer industry has great potential. We can make huge profits by entering at this time. profit.

We don't enter the computer industry because we don't have to compete with Rockefeller. When Lawrence wants to harvest other competitors, those small companies will only have one end, which is death.

But even if we don't enter the computer industry, there are many ways we can make huge profits now. For example, as before, we help some companies make forcible acquisitions in the market.

Doesn't a computer company called Commodore International on the market want to acquire MOS to obtain better supply of 6502? We can help them. Also, doesn't Rockwell want to acquire MOS's parent company Ai Len Bradley? We can help them too.

When Steve Ross, the chairman of Warner Communications, was able to collect this industry intelligence, Morgan Stanley actually saw more complete content. In other words, they had been acting as the black knight and had already received the information. The company's inquiry was only because Fred Terman was standing there. They, Morgan Stanley, were not easy to take action and did not want to provoke a group of scientists who had a very bad temper and liked to stick together.

But now...

When Lawrence Rockefeller had struck out...

They won't hesitate anymore!

Sharing huge profits like jackals is what they want to do most!

When the smell of copper already flows in their blood, pursuing profit is their instinct!

Is the risk high? I mean, have you assessed whether this will make Fred angry? He has been in poor health, and we Morgan can't piss him off to death.

Baldwin said: And, will this affect Apple? If I remember correctly, they are using 6502? If our split causes Rockefeller's interests to be damaged, then we will be facing Lawrence. This kind of battle ……no need.

No. The white director shook his head and said: If Fred had already fallen into anger, then we would have received a call from him before the meeting. If he didn't make the call, it would prove that he agreed to what we did. As for We don’t have to worry about Lawrence, Intel is in the hands of Rockefeller, and if we help him get rid of MOS, he may be more closely tied to Apple.”

after all……

Isn't there news that Lawrence initially wanted 20% of Apple's shares, but was ultimately rejected by Ethan Jones and others?

If something goes wrong with the chip, I think Lawrence will definitely ask for more shares.

Also, Ethan Jones' Destiny Game also uses 6502.

If there is a problem with the chip, Lawrence will definitely think about using Intel's long-term supply chain in exchange for shares in Destiny Games. At that time... Rockefeller will only thank us.

Such words made Morgan Stanley CEO Baldwin's eyes twinkle.

After looking at each other for a moment, he nodded slightly and said, Vote.

Hands up for those who agree to intervene in the acquisition.

Before he finished speaking, a forest suddenly appeared in the bright and spacious conference room.

Such a result made Morgan Stanley CEO Baldwin take a deep breath, Okay, contact Commodore International and Rockwell, let's... act!

While Baldwin was making the final decision, at Philips' North American headquarters in New York, their CEO was staring at a piece of paper with only a line of handwritten text on it.

‘Destiny Games is working on optical storage – Steve Ross’

Is this news true? He looked up at the subordinate who was reporting.

Really. The middle-aged white man nodded cautiously, It is said that the first phase of funding is one million.

MFxxk! Philips CEO yelled, then pressed the internal communication bell and called his secretary, Help me pick up Mr. Rodenberg, the CEO of the headquarters!

Ignore the time difference! Just call!

Our strategic plan is under threat!

The roar that appeared at Philips was not heard by outsiders. At the same time, Warner Communications Chairman Steve Ross also left Rockefeller Center in New York.

When he got into his big job, he first waved to the driver to get out of the car and wait, then called his secretary and asked, Have you contacted Philips?

Contacted. The male secretary nodded, I personally sent the message.

What's Philip's reaction? Steve Ross's eyes were burning.

They said they need to report to the headquarters. the male secretary replied.

This result made Steve Ross raise the corners of his mouth. After a moment, an excited smile spread across his entire face. He looked at his secretary with a slight nod of his head, and raised his hand to pat his shoulder.

good, very good, excellent……

After muttering a few words to himself, he added: Philips will take action.

They will not tolerate Ethan Jones touching their future strategy.

Now...it's our turn...

Their film project is with Columbia Pictures, right?

“Then let’s release the dirty information about Columbia CEO David Begelman!”

Leave it to the FBI!

He Ethan Jones—

Don't even think about making it into a movie!

The bloodthirsty words made the male secretary nod his head repeatedly.

After looking at each other, he also got out of the car at the boss's signal.

As the door closed, Steve Ross lit a cigarette.

Soon, the curling green smoke filled the car, reflecting his solemn features.

After a while, he signaled the driver to get back in the car, Go to the airport and go back to California.

When Steve Ross took off from New York on his private jet and headed towards the warm Los Angeles, in the dead of night in Kyoto, Hiroshi Yamauchi was wearing a suit jacket and leaning against the cold wall, listening to the cross-country flight from Vancouver. Foreign phone.

That's the way it is. I don't know the public opinion feedback from the society yet, but...

The atmosphere in the circle seems to be very tense.

According to my classmates, when people on Wall Street talk about Ethan Jones, they look envious, and then... they have a feeling in their bones that they want to eat him.

His son-in-law's words made Hiroshi Yamauchi laugh, This is normal, isn't it?

“Everyone wants a business that makes $100 million in cash a year.”

Although we all know that this data may be exaggerated.

But it's not important, right?

The father-in-law's rhetorical question made Minoru Arakawa ponder for a moment on the other end of the phone, and then said: What should we do now? For example, delay the issue of dividends? Drag Ethan Jones into a cash flow crisis? Or maybe , some other means?”

It's not necessary. Hiroshi Yamauchi said: Arakawa, you have to know one thing. Although the most ideal result of a business struggle is to defeat all competitors, no company will withdraw directly after one failure. Ethan ·When Jones was weak, neither Atari nor Milova strangled him to death, so now, even if Warner, Philips, and Wall Street manipulate the company or personally kill him, he will not be defeated directly like a flood.

The last time was actually our best opportunity. At that time, he was immature and lost to Warner and Philips in business planning. But now the situation is different. When he dominated the entire North American gaming circle, he and Warner, Philips' market position fell off the edge.

“He became the front-runner and everyone else was the chaser.”

Since we missed the best cutting opportunity, we have to start over again, squatting in the dense forest like an old hunter, watching other hunters put shackles and shackles on him.

Because when a beast is attacked for the first time, its resistance is the most fierce. We at Nintendo don't have to go up to attract firepower. We can wait for others to cut off his claws and pull out his teeth. Then we can attack him when he is at his weakest. Give him a fatal blow.

Although this behavior cannot maximize our interests, but...

We've had enough benefits now, haven't we?

The production drawings of 6502 are with us, the production equipment is with us, and the production technology is with us. We also have the codes for his games.

When we at Nintendo have received great returns, the rest...

Then just wait quietly for this game to come...

While speaking, Yamauchi Pu also raised his head.

The bright moonlight shone in front of him from the position next to the window. The stars in the sky were like eyes in a dark jungle, and there was a pounding heartbeat in his ears.

Such a scene made Hiroshi Yamauchi purse his lips and chuckle. A few breaths later, when the breeze blew through the leaves and made a rustling sound, he closed his eyes after hanging up the phone, raised his arms, and felt the coolness on his face.

Not long after, the sun rose high in the book.

On a peaceful day, everything becomes silent.

Reincarnation again, the next day comes.

When the time quietly came to February 26, 1978, a piece of news was brought by Arakawa's urgent transoceanic phone call, They took action!

The Los Angeles Times released the latest news today. The head of Columbia Studios was jointly arrested by Verber and the Los Angeles police on suspicion of tax evasion, embezzlement and check forgery. From now on, all Columbia Pictures projects will be organized into The book will be handed over to the police for inspection...

This news made Hiroshi Yamauchi narrow his eyes with a smile.

He came to the office window with his hands in his pockets.

Staring at the chip factory in the distance, he murmured: Hunting...

here we go!

[Correction]: The Fortune 500 data in the previous chapter was quoted incorrectly. The Foxboro company I quoted was the last one in the 1977 Fortune 500 released in mid-1978. At the time point of 1978 in the article, the data that can be seen should be the Fortune 500 of 1976 released in 1977, so it should be Ecolab. Its revenue is 297 million. It does not affect the plot and the problem is not big.

Note: ① Excellent companies are independent. Goldman Sachs did not go public until the late 1990s, and their management has always been their own. ②Morgan Stanley was a famous black knight in the 1970s. They helped buyers launch hostile takeovers of targets in various fields such as energy, public utilities, metals, and consumer goods. ③The Rockefeller family has always been a Wall Street player. They own a bank. Chase Manhattan is the bank controlled by their family. At that time in the article, David Rockefeller, the younger brother of Nelson and Lawrence, was the chairman of Chase Manhattan. The previous chairman Wen Throp Aldrich was their uncle.