Extraordinary Genius Chapter 686

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“President, our share prices keep dropping!” The a.s.sistantcame running into the office panicking.

Share prices dropped? Norio Ohga’s face was dark. When thepapers reported this incident in the morning, he knows that this would happenand had stepped up measures to prevent this from happening. He exaggerated thesales of PlayStation to try to give the shareholders some confidence.

“How much have the share prices dropped?”

“It is already 5%.”

“What? The share prices fell by 5%?!” Norio Ohga wa.s.shocked. 5%? How come the share prices had dropped by so much? Although Sonywas listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange, it was also listed on the New York stockexchange, and NYSE was their primary focus. But if the share prices fell inTokyo, it will affect their share prices in NYSE.

At night, when the NYSE opens, Sony will have a crisis! Ifthis crisis were not handled well, Sony’s total worth would drop by severalbillion USD!

Norio Ohga had achieved some success with Sony’s movie VCDsand lowered Sony-Columbia Pictures losses. He even felt that Sony-ColumbiaPictures would start to bring in profits next year.

Also, the newly launched PlayStation gaming console willbring in high profits for Sony. Coupled with their CD-ROM technologies andtheir partnership with Toshiba, they would be able to develop DVD-ROM soon.This will be Sony’s newest revenue source. But everything was halted.

Now, all of Norio Ohga’s hopes were dashed because of thenegative news and the drop in share prices!

The negative news will affect Sony’s brand value and theirproduct sales. Whoever that uses Sony’s products will be despised by others:“Why are you using products from that heartless evil company?”

Sony had been making losses all these years. If it weren’tfor Sony’s strong financial backing, they would have been bankrupt years ago.

Sony’s share prices had not dropped due to the losses. Theyhad maintained their share prices with their brand while finding ways to turnlosses to profits. This was also the reason why Norio Ohga was able to bepromoted to Acting President.

But if Sony’s share prices plummeted under Norio Ohga’scharge, then the shareholders and board of directors will pin the blame on himand replace him!

“Is Mr. Akio aware of this?” Norio Ohga asked.

“He should be aware of this news. All the shareholders andboard of directors should also be aware of this.” Before the a.s.sistant couldfinish talking, Norio Ohga’s phone on the desk rang.

“h.e.l.lo? I know.”

After hanging up the phone, Norio Ohga’s face became moregloomy. A last minute board meeting was called, and the reason was apparent.

……

“Norio Ohga, you should know about our company’s shareprices. The prices were dropping until the market close. It had fallen by 9.2%.Do you know how much losses we have suffered?” A director questioned.

“You have been with Sony for quite some time. From the timewhen you are still the Vice President, you sold AIWA shares to a Chinese man,our Walkman sales have been dropping year on year. Our market share had fallenfrom 60% to 20%. We can understand if the market share is taken over byPanasonic, JVC, or other companies. But from what we know, the market share istaken over by AIWA. That Heitaro Nakajima!” Another director shouted.

“What did you do for Columbia Pictures? A large amount offunds is invested in making movies, but none of the movies are selling well.You can’t even create sales from movie-related merchandise. We are sufferinglosses annually. Is this what you are supposed to do?”

Now, someone had mentioned something Norio Ohga couldretort.

“I am not the one who decided to acquire Columbia Pictures.This was a collective decision. I am also not the one who chose to sell AIWAshares to that Chinese man. It is also decided by everyone here! I am the onewho helped Columbia Pictures make profits from their old movie rights. How manyVCDs have we sold this year? This is not considered my contributions to thecompany?”

“That is because the market is getting better overall, andit is not because of your efforts. After Nintendo’s betrayal, you supported KenKutaragi to develop our gaming console. How many funds and resources have weinvested? What happened in the end? The PlayStation has launched a few daysago, and we believed your words that this product will bring profits to thecompany. But now, who is willing to buy our Sony’s products?!”

“Director Watanabe, how can you say this? We have beeninvesting in the video game industry all these years. Are we going to give upyears of effects because of Nintendo’s betrayal? We also need a new revenuesource to increase our profits. Our PlayStation is also very successful. Weused CD-ROM technologies in this console, and our product is the most advancedin the market. Is this not what everyone wish for?”

“CD-ROM? I admit that this technology is good, and to use iton the gaming console is very creative. But to develop this technology, we lagbehind others in the development of DVD. We, Sony, have to follow Toshiba’sstandards?! Also, your decision to corporate with Toshiba is a disaster. Adisaster for our brand image!”

“Those are all false accusations. We do not have anyfactories in China. Toshiba is only producing some products for us. This is tolower our production cost and let us re-enter the Chinese market. This has beenour goal all this while.”

Norio Ohga was almost bursting. He had to bear all the blames.This incident of environmental pollution has nothing to do with Sony. But Sonywas burnt along the way!”

“Do you think Toshiba will come out to give an explanationnow? Do you really think Toshiba will take full responsibility?”

Norio Ohga was quiet. If he was the President of Toshiba, hewill also not take on full responsibility. After all, it was Norio Ohga’sinstruction to get people to create trouble in China. There was no way NorioOhga could escape this responsibility.

Now, this incident had blown up, and everyone sufferedlosses. It was too late for Sony to stay out of the way! If Sony were to pushall the blame to Toshiba to escape responsibilities, then they will fall outwith Toshiba. Toshiba will surely retaliate, and Sony will have one more enemy.Also, Sony will be out of the DVD game.

Sony’s Vice Chairman of the board suddenly speaks: “NorioOhga, it’s time for you to step down. You have to take responsibility for allthe blames. This way, Sony will be saved.”

Norio Ohga felt he was. .h.i.t by a thunderbolt. He had tried toexplain himself, but these people still wanted him to resign!

This moment was the darkest moment of Norio Ohga’s life. Howdid things turn out to be this way?

No! I still have one last chance!

Translator’snotes:

Co-founderof Sony

Akio Morita

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita

KenKutaragi

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kutaragi

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