Game Development Giant

Sandy Weir, the fifty-year-old man in front of him, is the financial tycoon who will be almost equated with the word "trading" in later generations? Jack Welch praised him as "His experience is as incredible as a myth. He is someone who can make money from air!" ’ The person who controls Citigroup, the person who controls Wall Street?

Sandy Weill, who almost single-handedly led the Travelers Group from a small company of 7 million to an adult profit of more than 20 billion US dollars, a financial giant that can be compared with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup?

Jester still remembers the case of the century when Travelers Group merged with Citibank to form Citigroup, a giant that shocked the world.

In those days, Sandy Weill was the God of Wall Street, overlooking his entire life.

Jester suppressed the shock in his heart. He didn’t know how his grandfather met Sandy Weir. As far as he knew, his grandfather had been living on the West Coast since he came to the United States, and Sandy Weir But I live on the east coast.

Jester's grandfather seemed to notice his doubts and said with a smile: "Don't you know? I went to Cornell University for a year in the 1950s, and I was roommates with Sandy at the time. That’s when we met.”

Sandy Weir, who was originally looking sad, couldn't help but have a nostalgic look on his face when he heard Grandpa Jester's words: "At that time, Li was the oldest student in the school, and he was a yellow man. You know, At that time, McCarthyism was prevalent, and so was racial discrimination. Not only blacks and Asians, but Jews like us from Eastern Europe were not very popular. Lee was in his forties at the time and was very powerful. He and other Asians who did not dare to resist It’s different. One day I saw him throwing a school football quarterback who was a head taller than him into a cold pool, and that’s when I came up with the idea of ​​dating him.”

"Perhaps it was God's arrangement. Later, when I transferred from the School of Engineering to the School of Political Science, my dormitory was also changed, and I actually shared a room with your grandfather. Because of this, I became obsessed with your grandfather's cooking skills. I am very fond of it. Like to eat Chinese food made by your grandfather."

Jester looked at his grandfather in surprise. He had no memory of his grandfather being a graduate of Cornell University.

"Your grandma was ill at the time, and your uncle was still young at the time and couldn't support himself. I had to terminate my studies and return to San Francisco. More than thirty years have passed..." Jester's grandfather also began to recall the past. In the prosperous years, "Later, after Sandy became successful in his career, he would come to see me when he came to the West Coast. For no other reason than to satisfy his appetite."

After hearing this, Sandy Weir shook his head, and the look of defeat appeared on his face again, and he said with some self-deprecation: "How can I be successful in my career? I am over fifty and have accomplished nothing, and I even face being kicked out. fate."

"Sandy, don't think about those unhappy things. These are all your own guesses..." Jester's grandfather began to enlighten again.

"Sweep out?"

There was a look of doubt on Jester's face. He had seen Sandy Weir's information before. It was not intentional. A predator like this could influence the trend of a country with every move. He didn't want to pay attention to it. Impossible, because there is news about him everywhere and everywhere.

He remembered that Sandy Weir was promoted to the president of American Express Group in 1983. This position seemed very high, but American Express Group implemented a CEO responsibility system, and the president did not have much real power. Then he was promoted to CEO in 1985. He was forced to resign, and then fell into a period of more than ten months without work. It was almost the gloomiest day in Sandy Weir's life. He felt that he had been abandoned by the whole world. At that time, he even wanted to be ordinary. The idea of ​​living out the rest of your life.

Originally, this may be a good ending for many people. Living the life of a rich man with the tens of millions of dollars obtained after selling American Express's stocks may be suitable for other people - such as some who have no suitors, but it is definitely It would not be suitable for Sandy Weir, a careerist who is always full of dreams, passion and endless energy.

The day he emerged from the slums of Brooklyn, he vowed that he would succeed and that he would not tolerate failure.

But Jester remembers that he was kicked out of American Express next year, but not now. He should still be the president of American Express Group, one of the most likely successors to American Express's next CEO, and a hot figure on Wall Street.

Then Jester slowly pieced together a somewhat complete information map from the information revealed in his grandfather's conversation with him.

In short, Sandy Weir felt he was being set up.

He had just messed up a big business assigned to him by the company - he was hampered by everything in the company and failed to get a fund called Firefighters out of trouble. Then there were rumors of impeaching him in the company. , Jester didn’t understand the specific process, but he kept hearing the name Gerstner from Sandy Weir’s angry and curse-like tone.

Jester has also heard of this name. In fact, anyone who majors in computer science in the future will hear this name if they know a little bit about the history of computers.

He is not a famous computer expert, nor is he a wizard who invented some profound algorithm or convenient language. What he did was more difficult, professional and great than these, because he saved the most influential person in the world. A powerful computer company - blue giant ibm.

He is Louis Gerstner, who is recognized as the greatest CEO and Chairman of the Board in the history of IBM.

Known as one of the best managers in the world, like Jack Welch.

And his case of saving Big Blue is the same as Jack Welch's case of saving GE. It is something that every business student will definitely learn.

Of course, IBM is now at its peak. Both its mainframe and personal computer business are booming. Of course, no one is needed to save it.

Like Sandy Weill, Gerstner was far from the fame and status of later generations.

It just so happened that Gerstner was also working at American Express at this time. The ideal of this greatest contributor to the creation of American Express Centurion Card was to take over the power of American Express Group from the old Robinson, and Sandy Weill thought so too.

It is a pity that the two most powerful people in the American Express Group, the second and the third, failed to achieve this goal.

First, Sandy Weill will be squeezed out of American Express Group next year, and then Gerstner will leave in 1987. Finally, the person who ascends to the throne of American American Express is unexpected. He is the little-known Stanford Wei. Erjie.

It was only then that Sandy Weir suddenly realized what he was doing and broke up with his friend from Shelson Securities.

Then, these two people who were kicked out of American Express each started a gorgeous and unusual performance, leaving a mark in history.

One started with a small $7 million company and went on to become the greatest banker Wall Street has ever known, while the other became IBM's savior.

Jester saw Sandy Weir, who had been enlightened by his grandfather for a long time, and the gloom on his face had weakened a lot. He also showed a few smiles from time to time while talking and laughing.

He knows that Sandy Weir has not given up completely yet, and he still wants to make a last ditch effort before the final annual financial report comes out. As long as he can bring the firefighters fund out of trouble, he still has a chance, but After a year, he probably won't think so anymore.

No one would dislike having less money. Now that he has such an opportunity, Jester has no intention of letting go of the idea of ​​clinging to such a super talented person who has left a mark in history. But it is still far from that. when.

He wanted to cooperate with Sandy Weir as a partner, not as an elder to support the younger generation.

For a person like Sandy Weir who has such a strong desire to control, it is absolutely impossible for him to become anyone's subordinate - he even followed him for sixteen years and regarded Jamie Dimon as his nephew. You can also give it up without hesitation.

But when he was completely desperate and wanted to start over, Jester knew that was his chance.

He will not try to control this terrifying giant crocodile. No one in this world can control him - he even ignores federal laws. He will only follow him and his seven million dollar commercial credit company. It evolved into a world-class financial giant and made staggering profits.

But this requires him to leave a sufficient impression on him. Otherwise, when he wants to make a comeback two years later, how can he think of himself.

Jester thought so.

Maybe Jester's grandfather also wanted to show off Jester's extraordinary qualities, so he told Sandy Weir what Jester had done recently.

When he heard that Jester was making video games, Sandy Weir had a look of disdain in his eyes. He was just about to tell Jester not to continue making video games. Sandy Weir, the Express The top management of the group knows very well how many people and how much money have died with Atari in recent times.

It can be said that in the eyes of current Wall Street investors, the video game industry may be the industry that they are least optimistic about.

But when he heard that Jester had received a first batch of orders of US$60 million and a second batch of additional orders of US$30 million in the first month based on the first game, the future Citigroup The head of the group stood up from his seat in surprise.

He looked at Jester in disbelief, and a report he had just read not long ago came to mind. It was about the extremely popular arcade game "American Cube" currently on the market. Some people on Wall Street said that People also think that video games are likely to revive with the popularity of "American Cube", and Mars Entertainment is very likely to replicate Atari's success.

But Sandy Weir scoffed at the comment.

He made his comments straightforwardly. Maybe the arcade market will recover to a certain extent, but as long as home electronic game consoles cannot restore their former glory, then electronic games will be an industry without any investment value.

For now, home electronic game consoles are still as stagnant as ever, and Atari's game consoles are still being sold out at low prices.

Of course, Jester didn't know this. If he knew, he would have to admire Sandy Weir's precise vision.

This person, who had never been in this industry before, saw the essence of the video game industry - the home console is the core of everything.

In fact, the impact of Atari on arcade machines is relatively small. The reason why arcade machines can survive is that an arcade machine must first pass the arcade store owner. No one cares about those shoddy games, and it is naturally impossible for the arcade store owner to go there. Lose money by getting into that kind of machine.

Players have not been harmed by shoddy arcade games, and naturally they will not have the same irreconcilable hostility towards arcade machines as home machines do.

"Your company is called Mars Entertainment? Is it the game company that produced "American Cube"?" Sandy Weir has a superb memory. He actually only glanced at the report about "American Cube" once or twice. But the general core content is as if it is firmly engraved in the mind after reciting it and will not be forgotten.

"Yes." Jester was also a little surprised that Sandy Weir actually knew the name of his company.

"I have read reports about your company's game. American Express analysts said that this game is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Also, my little daughter really likes this game you made, so in order not to let her I went to those arcades every day, so I had to spend $10,000 to get one, and since I moved it home, everyone in my family has become a fan."

Sandy Weir explained with a smile, and then he changed his voice and said to Jester with a serious expression and admiration: "I heard about your promotion at the beginning. It was vigorous and bold. You are very confident. It seems that you are sure that your game will be a big success. Confidence is an extremely rare quality. And I also heard about your negotiations with the Schwer Group. The whole process was full of desire for benefits, which made me See – you have the talent to be a top financier.”

Then he stretched out a hand to Jester, with the extremely appreciative expression on his face: "Jess, as an elder, I want to ask you a question, are you interested in becoming a financier on Wall Street? ?”

Then Jester was a little speechless. It seems that Sandy Weir now just thinks that even if he can't be the head of American Express this time, there are still many places he can go to if he leaves American Express with his qualifications, but he would never have thought of it. Starting from leaving American Express next year, he will begin a life of unemployment for more than ten months. For a person like him who calls himself a top financier, unemployment is a more terrifying thing than death, because unemployment represents the entire The industry has lost the trust it should have had in you.

If it hadn't been for the article that Fortune magazine wrote about him, I'm afraid he wouldn't even have the chance to make a comeback with the Commercial Credit Company.

And working in the financial industry is indeed not Jester’s interest. Although he knows that this industry is a hundred times more profitable than playing games, he knows nothing about this industry. He looked at the powerful hand that Sandy Weir stretched out in front of him. Palming his hands, Jester thought about the wording of his refusal.

Jester only does what he is good at, and then leaves what he is not good at to people who are good at it.

He also stretched out his palm and shook it with Sandy Weir's. After all, Sandy Weir was his elder, and it was not a problem for the other party to stretch out his hand in such an awkward manner.

"Grandpa Sandy."

Jester felt that since Sandy Weir was friends with his grandfather, even though there was a big age gap between the two parties, it was appropriate for him to call him grandpa.

Then he continued: "I make video games because I like them. I like the feeling of making them, the pleasure of completing them, the sense of accomplishment of being recognized by other people. As for the success of "American Cube", it means to me It's also an accident. This is just an immature attempt on my part. My dream is to make the best video game, which can revive the industry again and make games popular again. For no other reason than this, this is my dream. "

After hearing this, Sandy Weir did not show any disappointment on his face. Instead, he looked at Jester with even more appreciation.

"Every young person is entitled to pursue their dreams, and so did I - but my original dream was to become a top engineer like Frank Gower, but I studied at Cornell University, the best engineering school in the United States. After a while, I wasn’t that good at all. Those physics and mathematics made me dizzy, so I switched to a political science major that was useless and only knew how to talk. My biggest gain here was getting to know you. Grandpa, my best friend.”

Perhaps Grandpa Jester's persuasion just now had an effect. Sandy Weir's expression returned to normal. There was no longer the decadent look on his face that Jester had just entered the room. On the contrary, it changed. He had to be full of confidence, maybe because he was in a better mood, or maybe because he saw that Jester was a talent that rarely satisfied him, so he began to give a passionate speech.

"...Jess, I heard that you just finished your sophomore year at UCL, majoring in electrical engineering? This major is good, but you should also read more philosophy and history. They are particularly important for a businessman. Fortunately, you didn't Studying business, I very much agree with Jim Rogers' conclusion on this. This major is useless... Well, if you feel that there is still no improvement in video games after graduating from college, and there is nothing better to do, you can go to New York to find it. I, I will take you to see a world you have never seen before, in which you will enjoy the wonderful feeling of being in control of everything."

"Thank you!" Jester said sincerely. He could hear the kindness of an elder in the other person's words. Of course, he had also heard what Jim Rogers often said to his students when he was teaching at Columbia School of Economics. .

"Studying history and philosophy is better than going to business school; working as a waiter and traveling to the Far East." When Rogers taught at Columbia School of Economics, he always told all his students, "You shouldn't come to the School of Economics, it's a waste of time. , because including opportunity costs, you will spend about 100,000 US dollars during your studies. Instead of using this money to go to school, it is better to invest in doing business. Although you may make or lose, no matter whether you make or lose, it is better than sitting in the classroom. For two or three years, there is a lot to be learned from listening to those "senior professors" who have never done business talk about it."

Jester didn't want to comment too much, even though Jim Rogers is the best analyst in the world.

And just as Sandy Weir said before, Jester will indeed go find him two years later.

But it's not to follow him into the financial industry, but to get on the big ship that no one can foresee.

And at that time, it was the moment when Sandy Weir was at the lowest point in his life and preparing to make a comeback. Wouldn't it be too stupid if he didn't join?

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