Volume 1: Japanese Storm Chapter 27: The Vanished Decade (3)

  Young Omi Building, President's Office.

  "Hey! Hello! I'm Jerry! Who is this? Ah ha! So it's Steve Jobs! Don't get excited, don't get excited... What's the matter, speak slowly... Hey, do you have to yell so loudly? You almost shattered my eardrum! You bastard! What? You're blaming me for poaching your people? Do I need to do that? Do I? John Lasseter and Ed Catmull left Pixar? What does this have to do with me? They joined oFilm? Okay... Maybe it's related to me after all! But Mr. Jobs, you can't just blame me because they left Pixar and joined oFilm! In fact, I didn't even persuade them! I wouldn't do something like poaching! Did I lure them away with The Lion King? John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are both adults, can I really control them? Get a grip, Mr. Jobs!... Okay! Say it! What's your point in beating around the bush? Want to sell Pixar to me? Now that I have oFilm, what do I need Pixar for? $5,000W dollars? Please! I don't need it! You say my company needs Pixar's patents? Hold on, maybe I should give Alvy a call!"

  Jerry hung up the phone with a smile, then another call was connected to ofilm. "Hello! Help me get Alvey over here to answer the phone, just say the boss is looking for him! Alvey? Kid, you're doing great! Has the contract between Russell and Cartermore been signed? Great job! I've decided to give you a raise! Haha! By the way, Alvey, if I were to buy Pixar, would it be of great help to ofilm? Got it, Pixar has multiple patents we need, right? Understood! So, don't rush into arranging positions for Russell and Cartermore just yet. Hmm, that's it, hurry up, it's been over two years since The Lion King hasn't been completed! Okay okay, I know, it's two films, two films! You always use this as an excuse! Anyway, hurry up!"

  In 1990, the NE company was on the verge of financial crisis and couldn't open up the market at all. Just as Steve Jobs wanted to cut off the Pixar animation department, Russell and Catmull, who had been instigated by Alvy for a long time, finally decided to leave Pixar and join film. This made Steve Jobs feel that he had found a good springboard, and at least he thought it was a good choice to sell Pixar at this time! With a total of $80 million in front and back, the $10 million investment five years ago ultimately achieved such results, although it still ended up being sold to others. However, for Steve Jobs, he was still satisfied with this result!

  After instructing JR Investment's Bill Miller to contact Steve Jobs, Jerry hung up the phone after completing the acquisition of Pixar!

  On Christmas Day, December 25, 1989, the Governor of the Bank of Japan, "Heisei no Oni" Yasushi Mieno, announced a hike in lending rates to 2.5% and simultaneously declared war on speculation! The Tokyo stock market plummeted from 38,915 points to 37,000 points.

  In February 1990, the Tokyo stock market continued its decline to 34,000 points, but Yasushi Mieno declared that the decline had not yet reached the central bank's target. In April 1990, Yasushi Mieno raised interest rates again to 4.25% and announced another attack on speculation, causing the Tokyo stock market to plummet once more, breaking through the 30,000-point barrier and stopping at 29,000 points.

  In 1991, a third hike in interest rates to 6% caused the Tokyo stock market to fall by another 4,000 points, dropping to 25,000 points.

  This strict financial tightening policy forced all of Japan's commercial banks to take an extreme measure, ordering bank employees to recall loans.

  From then on, Japan's economy was like a balloon that had been suddenly pricked with a needle - it instantly went flat!

  While Japan's economic bubble was being burst, the stock index put options secretly manipulated by George Soros began to wreak havoc. On January 12th, 1990, Americans pulled out their super killer move, and the American exchange suddenly introduced a new financial product called "Nikkei Index Put Warrants". Goldman Sachs bought stock index futures from Japanese insurance companies and sold them exclusively to Denmark, which then resold them to warrant buyers and promised to pay yields to warrant holders when the Nikkei Index fell. This warrant instantly became a bestseller in the US, with many American investment banks rushing to follow Goldman Sachs' lead, causing Japan's stock market to plummet!

  However, this was just the beginning. In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War and a sharp increase in oil prices, which dealt a huge blow to Japanese corporate profits! The stock market suffered another severe setback! By early September 1990, the Nikkei index had fallen below 20,000.

  After hanging up the phone, Jerry dialed B's real estate number again!

  "Is that John? Oh, it's Miss Lizi! Trouble him to find Paulsen, the head of your investment group, and have him come over to take the call!"

  "Hey boss, it's me, John! Anything going on?"

  "Of course there's something going on, I wouldn't call you if nothing was happening! I'm asking you, has the deadline for the bet with Mitsubishi Estate passed?"

  "What about the Rockefeller Center's option agreement? Not yet, boss, that option agreement doesn't expire until 1993! But if Mitsubishi Real Estate is foolish enough to pay a $500 million penalty, maybe it would have expired today!"

  "So, are there other expiring contracts?"

  "For the time being, there aren't any! Boss, you know that Kawasaki Steel's forward contracts, steel futures and cement futures all expire in December 1993. Currently, only a small amount of short-selling stocks need to be monitored!"

  "Alright! Leave all these things to Fredo, you go take a trip to America!"

  "A trip to America? Boss, you're finally being generous and letting me take a vacation? This is just too great! Oh yeah~"

  "Hey, hey, hey, calm down a bit, John! Who said you could go on vacation in the US? I have an assignment for you. Leslie is waiting for you in the States! It's September 15th, 1990, and our put option bet with the Japanese insurance industry will expire in just over a month. You need to study up on this put option thing. I don't trust that Carl Icahn guy to handle it! Robert, Andre, Bill, Mark - they all have important tasks at hand, but you're currently free, so this one's gotta fall to you!"

  "Boss, you're really considerate! You actually gave me such a heavy workload!"

  "Hey John, straighten up your professional attitude! If you don't want to get a 2000W year-end bonus, I don't care!"

  "Boss... boss... what I mean is, I'd rather die than quit!"

  "Alright, that sounds like a human being! If you understand your task, then hurry up and book the ticket for me. I want you to fly back to New York this afternoon!"

  "Alright... alright... you're the boss... what you say goes... we underlings are really suffering..."

  "What's the point of going on and on..."

  On the other hand, John Paulson had already hung up the phone.