Rebirth of America, this is my time

After Ethan looked through the agent's accounts, Nolan Bushnell gave him another document.

"What is this?" Ethan asked doubtfully.

"This is our own sales list at Atari." Nolan Bushnell smiled at Ethan Jones and said: "Since it is a second installment of dividends, why don't we pay them all? A one-time payment But it’s much easier to pay than in batches.”

‘Yo! ’

Ethan really likes this quote from Nolan Bushnell.

And when he looked through the documents handed over by the other party, he also discovered that in the past three months, the shipment volume of "Sanke Game" in the central and western regions of the United States was 337 electronic arcade machines, and the circuit motherboard One thousand five hundred and twenty-eight yuan, corresponding to operating income of US$404,400.00 and US$611,200.00 respectively.

Calculated based on the commission ratio of 15% and 18%, the dividends Ethan Jones and his sister could receive were US$170,676.00.

Although the figures above are not as shocking as before, the content is also very impressive.

You know, before this, there was a wave of sales in the central and western regions!

At that time, the total dividends taken by Ethan and Evelin were close to 400,000 yuan!

The original 400,000 plus the current 170,000 add up to 500,000 to 700,000. This number...

Eh--

its not right!

Ethan stared at the document for a few times, trying hard to recall the original dividend figures, and then he discovered a problem.

The dividend for the central and western regions of the United States managed by Atari is 570,000? And the eastern and central regions run by agents are 1.2 million? Although the dealer's price is higher than Atari's, the sales gap between the central and eastern regions of the United States and the central and western regions of the United States is too big, right?

This shouldn't be the case!

Is it possible...

Did Atari falsify its financial statements?

Doubt flashed in Ethan's eyes, and when he raised his head, a smile appeared on his face again.

"Nolan, I have a question for you."

"Just say it." Nolan Bushnell was very polite.

"Why do I feel that the sales gap between the central and western regions of the United States and the central region of the United States is too large?"

Ethan spoke up and asked what was on his mind.

"Oh, this question? It's very simple!" Nolan Bushnell didn't seem to hear the implication of Ethan's words, and smiled directly: "Because they target a larger population than us, there are thirty-two in total. state, with a population of over 100 million.”

"Although California and Texas here have a large population, so large that they can even rank among the top three in the population list of America, states such as Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming do not have a large proportion of the population. And in the east, the population of New York State and Florida is the same as our California and Texas. If you include the populous continents of New Jersey, our customers here are fewer than those over there. A lot of it.”

"Since there is a gap in population, there will naturally be a gap in product sales. After all, games are for people to play..."

'is that so? ’

Ethan felt something was wrong, but couldn't put it right for a while.

Because in his memory, the population gap in the United States does not seem to be that big - right?

And just as he was thinking about the problem with his brows furrowed, Nolan Bushnell said again: "Oh - Ethan - I called you over today. In addition to settling the dividends with you, I also want to ask you something else. matter."

These words interrupted Ethan's thoughts.

He blinked his eyes, smiled, and said, "Nolan, we are all friends. If you have anything to say, just say it..."

"Oh - I like what you call me!"

"Yes! We are all friends!" Nolan nodded excitedly, and then, endless anticipation appeared on his face, "So, I want to know, have you come up with any new ideas in the past two months? "

He rubbed his hands.

"You have worked at Mirowa before, so I think you should know how long the time period for earning money from video games is."

“The first three months after a video game comes out is the explosive period in their lives. Players driven by curiosity will invest a lot of time and money in newly released video games, and merchants want to benefit from players’ If they earn huge profits, they will go crazy to buy electronic arcade machines and circuit motherboards from game companies."

"After three months, even if the video game is still fun and players are still willing to invest a lot of money, the demand for game arcades from businesses is actually declining because they want to use their existing machines to earn more money. income."

"There is no way, people are greedy, just like the little snake in "Snake Game" you made."

Nolan looked at Ethan with a smile.

And Ethan also understood his words.

This guy wanted to ask if he had any new games.

If he said yes, Nolan would be extremely excited and discuss cooperation with him.

And if not...

Sorry, he has!

But he doesn’t want to cooperate with Atari anymore!

First, it was Jobs who told him that Nolan wanted to sell Atari, and Ethan didn't want to negotiate with the real capitalists because they were annoying and difficult to deal with. Secondly, now that he has found his true strength, when he already knows that his backer is very powerful, then what he wants to do is to make absolute profits.

After having personally experienced the operation of the American arcade market in this era, others still want to make money from him?

Dream on you!

Thinking of this, Ethan shook his head and said with a smile: "Oh Nolan, how can inspiration come so easily?"

"I've been playing for the past two months without even thinking about it."

"so--"

Ethan spread his hands.

Act like I'm ruined.

"Really?" Nolan didn't completely believe what Ethan said, so he asked again.

Regarding his question, Ethan still shook his head and said: "Really not."

This fact made Nolan look regretful and said helplessly: "Okay then."

At the same time, he added, "Since we are friends, we must cooperate again if we have the opportunity."

"Same as last time, we will pay you the dividend this time within two weeks."

"Okay." Ethan nodded with a smile.

He continued to chat with Nolan for a while, and then left Atari.

As he left, Nolan stood up and closed the office door.

But the moment he turned around, a person emerged from the rest room of the office.

That was Don Valentine, the founder of Sequoia Capital and an investor in Atari.

"Did you hear that clearly?" Nolan Bushnell raised his eyebrows and said, "He said he had no new ideas."

Don Valentine did not respond immediately. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets and came to the window, looking down at everyone from a high position.

As he watched, Ethan Jones drove away from Atari in his Chevrolet.

Only then did he turn around and ask, "Do you believe it?"

Nolan nodded, then shook his head.

That contradictory action did not arouse Don Valentine's doubts, but made him stare at Nolan with a sharper gaze.

The sharp eyes were accepted by Nolan. Such a situation also made him spread his hands and said: "Oh - brother - do I just believe in this kind of thing? I believe that Ethan has inspiration, and he has inspiration? If I have this ability, then why don’t I believe that I am the master of the world?”

The slightly complaining words made Don Valentine nodded slightly and said, "If that's the case, let's just implement the plan."

These words made Nolan Bushnell narrow his eyes, "Are you really going to do this?"

"Of course!" Don Valentine nodded and said, "Roy Disney said it! If we get the copyright of "Snake Game", they will consider acquiring our Atari for 40 million! "

"You know, the acquisition price they gave us before was 22 million."

"Since they are willing to pay an extra 18 million for a little snake, why don't we give it a try?"

"And this attempt can allow you to get eight million more, or directly enter Disney."

"Since killing Ethan can double our profits, why don't we do it?"

The corners of Don Valentine's mouth curled up into a smile.

Nolan pursed his lips after hearing these words.

After looking at each other for a long time, Don Valentine nodded vigorously and said, "Then execute the plan."

"The dividends will be delayed first, and there will definitely be results within two weeks."

At the same time, he also asked: "The New York Times or the Washington Post?"

"The New York Times." Don Valentine said, "I checked and Ethan's sister Evelyn at Stanford was very close to Barbara Babcock, the Stanford law professor. Barbara Babcock’s teacher was Edward Williams, and if we had called the Washington Post, something might have happened.”

This news made Nolan's expression tighten, "Edward Williams? How come he is there? Do we want to litigate with this kind of person? We can't win!"

Don Valentine, who looked on slightly worriedly, smiled and shook his head.

He came to Nolan's side, patted his arm, and said: "Don't be so nervous, brother, our lawsuit is bound to win."

"Because he, Ethan, is violating the law!"

"If he can find a loophole in this, then all the game companies in America will sue Milohua, right?"

"Besides, we are not the first to fight this lawsuit, but Mi Luohua has to file the lawsuit first. What we are doing now is to release the news, the news that can make Mi Luohua's heart beat."

"so……"

"What are you nervous about?"

Don Valentine smiled at Nolan Bushnell.

I don’t know whether it was Don Valentine’s words that had magic power and could soothe people’s minds, or Disney’s promise that made Nolan Bushnell want to do him. In short, with Don Valentine’s comfort , Nolan Bushnell came to the desk.

He stroked the phone for a while, then dialed it resolutely.

"Hello, please put me through the New York Times."

After a moment, he smiled and said: "The reception department of the New York Times? I am Nolan Bushnell, CEO of Atari. I am calling today mainly because I have a piece of news that I want to tell you. According to our confirmation, The nationwide sales of "Snake Game" have exceeded 10 million. Do you have time to send a reporter to San Francisco to do an exclusive interview with us?"

"Yes, what you are hearing now is exclusive news. Before this, I did not tell anyone about this."

"You want to meet the inventor of "Snake Game"? Oh - what I want to tell you is the story of Ethan Jones. He is a genius and the most imaginative person I have ever met. Although he is temporarily Not accepting interviews because he is polishing his new ideas, but I can talk to you more, for example, our first meeting, which was at the launch of Odyssey..."

"Yes, yes, we have known each other since he was working in Mi Luohua..."

"Ok, see you tomorrow."