America 1982-Chapter 167 - 62: Jumping Ship_2

"Leveraging the influence of a non-profit organization to bring the case to the Supreme Court, at that point, the case will naturally land on the desks of Congress members. With just a glance, they’ll sniff out the scent of blood and the ink of money, and by then, the giants of the software industry will definitely get involved in the case, for Actor Corporation has shown them a path—they can simply tread over the corpse of Lotus Corporation to a brighter future."

Jim put down his water glass and surveyed the arrangement of Robert’s office, a look of excitement on his face, "Except for the victims, everyone’s fucking on his side. It’s an ingeniously conceived high-IQ robbery—pay up quietly, or the culprit sends the victim to the gallows. In just half a year since leaving McKinsey, I’ve seen three young geniuses. It’s just that Mitch and Jonathan were still coding in the garage last year, and this year they’re billionaire computer wizards, while this Tommy Hawk is a fucking genius business bandit."

After saying that, he stood up and donned his suit jacket, "I’m going back to see Mitch and Jonathan to tell them to get ready to settle."

"Would those two... geniuses engrossed in technology agree?" Robert asked, curious.

"Of course, they’ll agree. Buy Actor for eighty million, we’ll repackage it and use it to do the same to other companies, reaping even more rewards," Jim said confidently.

"If they’re not opposed, I even hope they’ll use 30% of their shares to buy out this real mastermind behind the scenes, Tommy Hawk."

...

"I disagree!" Jonathan, the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Lotus Corporation, said angrily, "They plagiarized us, extorted us, and you, as our Vice President of Business, actually suggest that the company should meekly pay off those extortionists?!"

Jim’s face showed no excitement now, only a calm look toward Jonathan, who was questioning him. The excitement when he had first returned and explained the whole situation, all the moves Tommy Hawk had made, had vanished. After his explanation, Jonathan was still angrily unaware of what to be angry about, which Jim simply didn’t understand.

They both should have been as excited as he was, burning with eagerness to decide quickly to buy Actor Corporation and use the same trick against other companies to make more money. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The reaction of these two bookworms told Jim that they clearly did not trust him, thinking he was making a big deal out of nothing to exaggerate the threat and to assert his importance in the company. Whatever, he’d given the best advice he could. If they wanted to go to the gallows, Jim would, of course, respect their choice.

But seeing Jonathan glaring at him, waiting for a response, Jim could only say in a calm tone:

"That’s right, this is the business world. There’s no law or morality at play here, every company could be the murderer, every company could be the lamb. It’s just that this time, the lamb is Lotus Corporation. But I think buying Actor for eighty million is fine. I’ve spoken very clearly. Jonathan, the information Robert has is detailed enough. We stand no chance. The other party is like a robber who has been in the dark, silently wiping his dagger, observing us for a long time, then suddenly appearing before us, pressing the blade to our throats, telling us to pay up quietly or he’ll kill Lotus Corporation under the guise of eliminating a public threat. And the ignorant bystanders will only clap and cheer, while other participants in the darkness seize the opportunity to gather riches."

"Even if we lose, Lotus Corporation won’t die. Mitch, do you believe what Jim said? If Lotus doesn’t agree, will it end up shutting down or suffer heavy losses?" Jonathan turned to look at his companion Mitch, his tone full of disdain for Jim.

"Circumventing Lotus Corporation’s current and future products to set industry standards is called creating a ’walled garden.’ No matter how large a company is, when it operates outside the industry ecosystem and standards, it’s just a tiny island—because of incompatibility, lacking interoperability. Each time Lotus updates, it receives countless legal letters from other companies, warning Lotus that if they detect even the slightest patent infringement, they should brace themselves for another collective attack," said Jim, biting his straw and taking a forceful sip of Coke:

"The end result is that if Lotus Corporation wants to continue making money in the software industry, it will have to spend even more cash to break down those garden walls. I think that by then, the money Lotus spends will be much more than eighty million."

Jonathan sneered at Jim, "Jim, do you know what? You’re talking nonsense! You and that bastard from Actor Corporation are cut from the same cloth. You think people like us, who only understand technology, who only know how to study, are easily frightened. You believe that if you threaten us a little, we’ll be so scared that we’ll throw out money just to avoid torture. But I’m telling you, not anymore! I have tens of millions in my bank account, but I absolutely won’t give crooks like you a dime!"

"What do you think, Mitch?" Jim asked, biting his straw and rolling his eyes toward Mitch Kapor, who hadn’t taken a stance earlier.

"Jim, why not take a break..." Mitch had been quiet all along, listening to the two of them argue, but now that Jonathan had made his stance clear, Mitch could only look up, sigh, and say to Jim Manzi.

Jim snuffed out the tiny flame of hope in his heart and interrupted Mitch Kapor with a decisive tone, "Forget it, Mitch, no need for a break. I resign. I guess since you suggest I take a break, you’ve found someone to replace me. It’s a pity I couldn’t complete a full year at Lotus to claim the shares you promised. I can’t blame you for that; blame only Tommy Hawk for acting too soon, that’s all."

"Jim, if you are willing to help..." Mitch pressed his lips together, showing a polite smile, attempting to retain the vice president he had personally invited.

"There are no ifs. I’ll be damned if I lose fifteen political friends over this shitty lawsuit! Understand? No amount of money could make me give up those connections," Jim said as he stepped toward the door and then quickly turned back and strode to the desk, gripping it tightly and glaring at Mitch:

"You said you trusted me before! This is your trust! Between me and your bloody idiot partner! You always choose the idiot!"

After cursing, he took several deep breaths, "Well, at least before I leave, you ought to tell me who’s going to take over my job."

"Byron Kennedy, a Harvard Business School graduate who worked at Goldman Sachs and IBM before," Mitch said to Jim Manzi, "Jim, we are grateful to you..."

"No need to be grateful anymore. Remember my last piece of advice: hurry up and write a will for Lotus Corporation! That waste of space, pampered by Goldman Sachs on a hefty salary because of his Kennedy Family name, only necessary for public relations when needed, won’t be able to do anything. While Congress members are idiots, they won’t care about his PR this time because, as stupid as they are, they know the difference between making money once or five to ten years’ worth of money," Jim said, heading for the door without pausing:

"This ship is sinking, goodbye."