Chapter 9: Industrial Light Magic (3)

  "Jerry~"

  Jerry hastily pulled the receiver away, and from inside the receiver came the lion's roar of Paul Allen and Bill Gates!

  "How could you, you can't do this! You actually mortgaged 19% of the shares to Bank of America without telling us! Listen, those are our Microsoft shares, we have the right to know! OH~Shit~"

  "Hey Paul, are you dissatisfied or having a bad period? You don't have to yell at me like that! And by the way, when I picked up the phone, I was just about to call and tell you guys this very thing! Yeah, believe me, that's exactly what I was going to do!"

  "Are you talking to a ghost? Are you? Talking to a ghost?"

  "If you think you're a ghost, I don't care! And you should learn from Bill, at least he's more steady than you and absolutely won't be like you, liking to shout loudly!"

  "He's just like a bitter melon, yes, that's right, a bitter melon, it's exactly like that! I never thought that bitter melons represent steadiness and wisdom!"

  A protest came from Bill Gates on the other end of the phone, and then Paul Allen's speaking rights were stripped away!

  "Listen, Jerry! I think Paul and I have the right to know about the stock pledge. After all, this involves 10% of the shares that Paul and I transferred, which is a responsibility to the company! You're such a genius, you're very important to us! And we're friends, aren't we? If you have any difficulties, you can tell us first, and we'll do our best to help you! Listen, we're not trying to interfere with your freedom, but whether it's you, technology, or shares, they're all very important to Paul and me! I hope you can understand this!"

  "Alright! Bill, I apologize, it was my fault for not thinking it through! I promise there won't be a next time! Or if there is, I'm sure Paul will have hormonal imbalance! You guys didn't call me just to scold me, did you?"

  "Of course not! The development of Windows 2.0 has already been completed and I wanted to let you know that it will be released this month!"

  "This is really great! Wait a minute, Bill, what month is it now?"

  "What's wrong with July?"

  "Perhaps we need to wait for another four months!"

  "Jerry, this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! We need market share now and the sooner we get Windows 2.0 out in the marketplace, the more market share we'll get!"

  "Bill, you're absolutely right! But I have an even better idea, did you know that Apple's new Matosh model is about to be released? Bill, what do you think of Apple?"

  Bill Gates was a bit puzzled, since Apple's new machine was about to go on sale, Windows 2.0 had to be improved and put on sale even more!

  "Apple? Not bad! Too bad they kicked out Steve Jobs!"

  "How does it compare with Microsoft's current offerings?"

  "Stronger than us, but all of this is just temporary!"

  "Do you think that if IBM were to ship a machine with Windows 2.0 at the same time as Matrox's new model, which one would get more market share?"

  "This is not wise at all! Jerry, we must get ahead of them! If we don't, it's like playing with fire!"

  "You still don't get it, Bill! Do you think there's any difference in appearance between 2.0 and GUI?"

  "If there's a difference, perhaps 2.0 has a more humanized appearance!"

  "So, if 2.0 is released with GUI, we will get more market share, can I understand it that way?"

  "Of course! That's for sure!"

  "So, what do you think Apple's reaction will be to a knockoff product like this?"

  "Fake goods?"

  "It's just a replica."

  "You mean they'll sue us. No, they can't, we have an agreement! Wait a minute, Jerry, you're saying that by releasing it with the new Apple machine, we're going to deliberately take their market share, enrage them, get them to sue us, and then use our agreement to win the lawsuit! You mean using the lawsuit to create publicity and promote Windows 2.0?"

  "Not one bit wrong, infuriate them, infuriate them some more, let John Sculley know that there is a operating system out there that has copied the GUI idea but done it better and is now brazenly stealing their market share!"

  "Damn it! This is the best idea I've ever heard, Jerry, you're a freaking genius!" On the other end of the line, Bill Gates excitedly let out an American curse word.

  "I accept your praise! This can alleviate a bit of the guilt in my heart! You know, about the 19% stake mortgage thing! I'm really sorry!"

  "Alright, Jerry, forget about the mortgage thing!" Paul Allen, who was eavesdropping on Jerry's thoughts next to the receiver, chuckled and took over the phone, "By the way, is Mrs. Chinois available? Let her pick up the phone, I have something to tell her!"

  Listening to this tone, Jerry also knew what Paul was thinking. He replied irritably, "She's not here!"

  Then, he hung up the phone directly!

  On the other end of the phone, Paul Allen hung up with a gloomy face!

  "Don't think for a moment that little guy doesn't know what you're thinking!"

  This is what Bill Gates said!

  Three months later!

  "OH—Shit! Burke, what are you doing? Lighten up on the color, are you treating a penguin or something? Do you think dinosaur skin is going to have that heavy of a tone? Lighten up, O—K! Perfect—hee—hee—watch out for that crocodile, damn it, it's jumping up! Steven, can't you just not do these stunts?! I know, I know, it's hungry! But can't you pick a better time, don't throw that thing over here! Shit! Help!"

  After being fished out of the crocodile pool by Tanaka Nana-ko, Jerry was black in the face.

  "Stephen, are you bored out of your mind?! Is that Velociraptor done yet? Can it walk or can it talk? Don't tell me its mouth still can't open! My time is precious, extremely precious! You have only three weeks, no, two weeks! That's right, just two weeks! Two weeks later, I'll be flying to the West Coast of America! I mean what I say! Damn it, who's coming over here to drag this damn alligator away with a rope?! George~George~"

  To put flesh, blood vessels and skin on the skeletal computer model and simulate its movements, George Lucas actually brought in an alligator, a turtle and an iguana.

  But that crocodile became Steven Spielberg's pet!

  This is giving Jerry a headache!

  "If you hadn't told me Steve Jobs was coming to California this month, I'd have quit on the spot! Goddamn it, George, what are you doing? Get this crawling chaos out of here!"

  "Haha~ I didn't expect you to be afraid of crocodiles!"

  "This is all bad, Stefan! If you were smeared with fresh blood and thrown into a crocodile pool, you'd be scared too! Now, hurry up and pull it away from me, I don't want to look at its ugly face!"

  "Hey Jerry, can you tell me why I'm seeing Steve?"

  "Get that alligator away from me and I'll tell you why. When I see those devilish eyes, my legs shake!"

  George did as he was told, and with a rope noose, caught hold of the alligator's jaws, and pulled it into the pond!

  “SO～”

  "It's quite simple. I'm interested in what Mr. Jobs has in his hand."

  "Does the company have something else you're interested in? Let me guess, what is it? The MAC system?"

  "No, I don't need that crap! What I'm interested in is Pixies! The Pixies you're selling!"

  "What's with the computer animation team?"

  "Yes! If you can wait another year or I can buy it from you for sixty million dollars!"

  "Oh God! Why didn't you appear earlier! Steve spent just $10 million at first!"

  Steven Spielberg heard this, laughed and walked over to pat George Lucas on the shoulder, "Buddy, you've lost $50 million in a year, that's really pathetic!"

  "Nothing could be worse than this! Can't Marcia just wait another year?" Poor George Lucas clutched his head in agony! Marcia was George Lucas' wife, and he would sell Pixar solely to pay for the divorce settlement; otherwise, all of Lucas's companies, including Industrial Light & Magic, would have been sold off! Because according to their prenuptial agreement, Marcia owned half of everything that George Lucas had.

  And Jerry had no intention of letting him off, who allowed this guy to indulge that vicious cold-blooded animal in baring its teeth at him!

  "Actually, George, if you let Marcia wait another year, Industrial Light Magic might just split in two!"

  "Alright! Maybe you're right! But losing $50 million just like that is really hard to swallow!"

  Everyone burst out laughing!

  A week later, at a factory in Fremont, California, Jerry met the young Steve Jobs, but as Jerry had anticipated, Steve Jobs had no intention of selling Pixar because "Tin Toy" had shown him the bright future of Pixar.

  "Mr. Jobs, if one day you have this idea, you can tell Mr. George Lucas, he knows how to contact me!"

  This was Jerry's last words to Steve Jobs, two days later, he took Tanaka Nana with him and traveled across the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast. As for Nakajo Saya, she was sent back to her country. This little girl, if she stayed in Steven Spielberg's model workshop any longer, would probably forget what comics are!

  From 1964 to 1973, Overseas Service Corporation, successively controlled by Bernard Cornfeld and Robert Vesco, was embroiled in a financial scandal!

  From 1973 to 1975, the Bretton Woods system centered on the US dollar collapsed, and the United States experienced its worst economic crisis since World War II, leading to rising inflation rates, high unemployment rates, and a significant weakening of America's economic power due to various factors, including an arms race with the Soviet Union, resulting in a continuous decline in market share both internationally and domestically, as well as increasing trade deficits and budget deficits.

  Since 1982, the international financial market has been flooded with hot money, impacting currency and stock markets. Speculative activities in the stock market have become increasingly rampant, with stock prices soaring at an abnormally rapid pace, resulting in a significant gap between the growth rate of stock prices and economic growth, causing stock prices to severely disconnect from economic development!

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average was only 884.4 points in 1982, but it soared to 1190.3 points in 1983. Although it fell to 1178 points in 1984, the stock market continued to boom after the US economy recovered in 1985. The stock prices rose like a rocket. Between October 1982 and September 1987, the industrial production index of the United States only grew by 30.5%, while the Dow Jones Index surged from 776.9 points to 2722.42 on August 25, 1987, an increase of nearly three times. From January to September 1987, Japan's new investment in US stocks alone reached approximately $15 billion.

  In early 1987, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote in The Atlantic that the market was overvalued and poised for a correction, drawing parallels with the 1929 crash. However, his warnings did not make those intoxicated by the market to sober up!

  Time, frozen at September 28, 1987.