Chapter Twenty-Four: Sandy Will's Invitation

  Sandy Weill, this man in his fifties standing before me, is he the financial giant who can almost be equated with the word "deal" in later generations? The one praised by Jack Welch as "his experience is like a myth, he is a person who can make money out of thin air!" The controller of Citigroup, the master of Wall Street?

  Sandy Weill, who almost single-handedly led the Travelers Group from a small company of $7 million to a financial giant with profits of over $20 billion, comparable to Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup?

  To this day, J.P. Morgan still recalls the monumental case of the Travelers Group merging with Citibank to form Citigroup, a behemoth that left the world agog.

  In those days, Sandy Weill was the king of Wall Street, looking out over his lifetime achievement.

  Jester suppressed the shock in his heart, he had no idea how his grandfather got to know Sandy Will, as far as he knew, his grandfather had been living on the West Coast since he came to America, while Sandy Will lived on the East Coast.

  Jester's grandfather seemed to have noticed his confusion and smiled, saying: "Don't you know? In the 50s, I went to Cornell University for a year, and Sandy was my roommate. That's how we met."

  Sandy Willett, who had been looking gloomy, couldn't help but show a nostalgic expression on his face when he heard Grandpa Jester's words: "At that time, Li was the oldest student in school and an Asian, you know, it was during the McCarthy era, racism was prevalent, not just against blacks, Asians, we Eastern European Jews were also unwelcome. Li was over 40 years old, strong and powerful, he was different from those other Asians who didn't dare to resist, I saw him with my own eyes one day throw a football quarterback who was a head taller than him into the icy pool, that's when I had the idea of getting along with him."

  "It was probably God's arrangement, and later when I transferred from the Engineering College to the Political Science College, our dormitories were also swapped, and it turned out that I shared a room with your grandfather. It was precisely because of this that I became fascinated with your grandfather's culinary skills, and I really enjoyed eating the Chinese food he cooked."

  Jester stared at his grandfather in some surprise; he had no memory of his grandfather being a Cornell University graduate.

  "At that time, your grandmother was ill, and your uncle was still young and couldn't support the family on his own, so I had to drop out of school and return to San Francisco. It's been over 30 years...". Justin's grandfather also started reminiscing about the past, "Later, after Sandy became successful, whenever he had time to come to the West Coast, he would come visit me, not for anything else, but just to satisfy his cravings."

  Sandy Will shook his head, and the look of defeat reappeared on his face. He said with some self-mockery: "What have I achieved? Over fifty years old and nothing to show for it, and now facing the prospect of being swept out the door."

  "Sandy, don't think about those unhappy things, they're just your own speculations..." Grandpa Jester began to comfort him again.

  "Sweep the floor and go out?"

  Jester's face showed a hint of puzzlement, he had seen Sandy Will's information before, not intentionally, but as a big shark whose every move could affect the direction of a country, it was impossible for him not to pay attention, because there were always his news everywhere.

  He remembered that Sandy Weill was promoted to president of American Express in 1983, a position that looked very high, but American Express was implementing the CEO responsibility system, and the president had little real power. Later, he was forced to resign in 1985, and then fell into a period of more than ten months without work, which was almost the darkest day of Sandy Weill's life. He felt that he was abandoned by the whole world, and at that time, he even had the idea of wanting to spend the rest of his life in obscurity.

  This might have been a decent ending for many people, living the life of a rich man with the tens of millions of dollars made from selling out to CompuServe, but it would never be enough for Sandy Weill, a man forever driven by dreams, passion and an insatiable ambition.

  The day he walked out of the slums in Brooklyn, he vowed that he would succeed, and he could not tolerate failure.

  However, Jeste remembers that he was swept out of Citigroup next year, not now. He should still be the president of Citigroup and one of the most likely successors to the next CEO of Citigroup, a hot figure on Wall Street.

  Then Jester slowly pieced together a roughly complete information map from the information revealed in his conversation with his grandfather.

  In short, Sandy Wil thought he was being framed.

  He had just blown a major deal for the company - unable to bring in a fund called Firemen, he was being undercut everywhere within the company, and now there were rumors of his impeachment circulating around the office. Jester didn't understand the specifics of it all, but from Sandy's venomous tone, he kept hearing the name "Gusner" mentioned over and over again.

  This name Jester has also been heard of. In fact, anyone who studies computer science in the future will hear this name as soon as they have a slight understanding of the history of computers.

  He wasn't a renowned computer expert, nor did he invent some profound algorithm or useful language; what he did was much more difficult and professional, because he saved the world's most influential computer company - IBM, the blue giant.

  He is widely regarded as one of the greatest CEOs in IBM's history and one of the most successful CEOs of all time.

  Hailed as one of the world's best managers, likened to Jack Welch.

  And his rescue of the Blue Giant is a case study, just like Jack Welch's rescue of GE, that every business student will inevitably learn.

  Of course, IBM is now at its peak, whether it's mainframe or personal computer business is booming, and of course, no one needs to come and save them.

  Like Sandy Will, Gao Shi Na also didn't have much fame and status in later generations.

  It so happened that Gary Kusin was also working at Amex at the time, and this man who had been the biggest contributor to the creation of the Optima card had a dream of taking over American Express from Lou Robinson, as did Sandy Weill.

  Unfortunately, neither of the second and third most powerful people in the Yintong Group was able to achieve this goal.

  Sandy Weill will be squeezed out of Citigroup next year, then John Reed will leave in '87, and the person who finally takes the reins at Citi is a dark horse named Stanley Weill.

  It wasn't until later that Sandy Weill realized this and cut off his friendship with the man from Shearson.

  Then, these two people who were swept out by Yuntong respectively started a magnificent and extraordinary performance, leaving a heavy and colorful stroke in history.

  One went from a $7 million company to become the greatest banker in Wall Street history, while another became IBM's savior.

  Jester saw Sandy Will, whose gloomy face had lightened up a lot after being comforted by his grandfather for half a day, occasionally flashing a few smiles in their conversation.

  He knew that Sandy Weill hadn't completely given up yet, he still wanted to make a last-ditch effort before the final annual report came out. As long as he could get the firefighter fund out of trouble, he still had a chance, but after another year, he would probably think differently.

  No one would despise their own small amount of money, and since there was such an opportunity, Jester also didn't plan to let go of the idea of embracing a super bull who could leave a heavy mark in history, but now it's still far from the right time.

  He wanted to partner with Sandy Weill as an equal, not be mentored by him.

  Someone like Sandy Weill, who has such a strong desire for control, is absolutely not going to be someone's number two - he wouldn't even hesitate to sacrifice Jamie Dimon, whom he had mentored for 16 years.

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

  He wouldn't try to control the terrifying giant crocodile, no one in this world could control him - he even disregarded federal law, he would only follow him, and follow his seven hundred million dollar commercial credit company as it evolved into a global financial giant, plundering astonishing profits.

  But all this requires leaving a sufficient impression on him, otherwise when he wants to make a comeback two years later, how will he think of you.

  Jester thought so.

  Maybe Jester's grandfather also wanted to boast about Jester's accomplishments, so he told Sandy Will about what Jester had been doing recently.

  When Sandy Will saw Jester playing video games, a hint of disdain still flashed in his eyes. He was about to advise Jester not to continue playing video games. As a high-ranking executive at Yun Tong Group, Sandy Will knew all too well how many people and funds had gone down with Atari in recent times.

  It can be said that in the eyes of investors on Wall Street today, the video game industry is probably one of the least favored industries.

  But when he heard that Gest got $60 million in the first month for the first batch of orders and an additional $30 million for the second batch, the future CEO of Citigroup stood up from his seat in surprise.

  He looked at Jester with some incredulity, a report he had read not long ago flashing into his mind. It was about the extremely popular arcade game "American Block" currently on sale in the market. Some people on Wall Street also believed that electronic games might revive with the popularity of "American Block", and Mars Entertainment might replicate Atari's success.

  But Sandy Weill scoffed at this statement.

  He bluntly gave his own evaluation, and perhaps the arcade market will have a certain degree of revival, but as long as home video game consoles cannot regain their former glory, the electronic game is an industry with no investment value at all.

  As for now, home video game consoles are still stagnant, and Atari's consoles are still being cleared out at low prices.

  These guys naturally didn't know, and if they did, they'd have to admire Sandy Will's sharp eyesight.

  This person who had never done this line before grasped the essence of the electronic game industry - home consoles are the core of everything.

  In fact, the impact of Atari's crash on arcade games was relatively small. Arcade games were able to survive because an arcade game first had to pass through the owner of the arcade hall, and those rough and crude games were unpopular, so the owner of the arcade naturally would not go and buy that kind of machine to lose money.

  And players who were not hurt by poorly made arcade games would naturally not have that irreconcilable hostility towards arcades like they did with home consoles.

  "Your company is Mars Entertainment? The one that produced 'American Blocks'?" Sandy Wil's memory was exceptional, he had only glanced at the report on "American Blocks" for a second or two, but the main content seemed to be etched in his brain like it was memorized.

  "Yes." Jester also found it odd that Sandy Wil would know the name of his own company.

  "I've read the report about your company's game, and analysts at Morgan Stanley say it's worth billions of dollars. Also, my little daughter loves the game you made, so to keep her from going to those arcades all day, I had to spend $10,000 to get one through connections, and since I brought it home, everyone in my household has become a fan."

  Sandy Will laughed and explained, then his tone changed, and he said seriously to Jester with a hint of appreciation: "I heard about your first promotion, it was bold and confident, you seemed certain that your game would be a huge success. Confidence is a rare quality, and I also heard about your negotiations with the Schwell Group, the whole process was full of desire for profit, which makes me see - you have the talent to become a top financial expert."

  Then he stretched out a hand to Jester, his face still wearing that extremely appreciative expression: "Jes, as an elder I want to ask you a question, are you interested in coming to Wall Street to be a financier?"

  Then Jester was speechless, it seems that Sandy Weill now thinks that even if he can't be the head of Citigroup this time, with his experience, there are still many places he can go after leaving Citigroup. But he absolutely cannot imagine that from next year when he leaves Citigroup, he will start a long period of unemployment lasting over a dozen months. For someone who considers himself a top-notch financier, being unemployed is more terrifying than death, because being unemployed means the entire industry has lost the trust it originally had in him.

  If it weren't for that article in Fortune magazine written about him, he probably wouldn't even have had the chance to rise again with a commercial credit company.

  Moreover, being in the finance industry was not really Jester's interest, although he knew it made one hundred times more money than playing games, but he didn't understand a thing about it. Looking at Sandy Will's powerful palm stretched out before him, Jester thought of how to decline.

  Jester only does what he is good at and then hands over things he is not good at to people who are good at them.

  He also stretched out his own palm and shook hands with Sandy Will, after all, Sandy Will was his elder, and it wasn't right to let the other person be so embarrassed by stretching out his hand like that.

  "Grandpa Sandy."

  Jester thought that since Sandy Wil was of the same generation as his grandfather, despite their large age difference, he should also call him "grandfather".

  Then he continued: "I make video games because I like them, I like the feeling of making them, I like the joy after completing them, the sense of accomplishment that others agree with. As for 'Minecraft' being successful, it's also unexpected to me, this is just my immature attempt, my dream is to make the best video game, to make this industry revive again, to make games popular again, not for anything else, this is my dream."

  Sandy Will listened and didn't show any disappointment on his face, instead, he looked at Jester with even more appreciation.

  "Every young person has the right to pursue their dreams, I was no exception - my dream back then was to become a top-notch engineer like Frank Gehry, but after studying for a while at Cornell University's engineering school, which is one of the best in the US, I realized I wasn't cut out for it, all those physics and math made my head spin, so I switched to a completely useless major that only taught me how to talk nonsense - political science. The biggest gain from this was getting to know your grandfather, who became my best friend."

  It may be that Grandfather Jester's words of advice had an effect, for Sandy Will's countenance returned to its usual state, and the despondency which Jester had seen on his face when he entered the room gave place to a look of confidence.

  “……Jace, I heard you just finished your sophomore year at UC, studying electrical engineering? That's a great major, but you should also read more philosophy and history, they're especially important for a businessman. Luckily you didn't study business, I agree with Jim Rogers' conclusion that it's useless... Hmm, if after graduating from college you still think electronic games are not promising and there's nothing better to do, you can come find me in New York, I'll take you to see a world you've never seen before, where you'll experience the wonderful feeling of controlling everything.”

  "Thank you!" said Jest, with genuine sincerity. He could hear the kindness in his words as an elder, of course, he had also heard Jim Rogers say that when teaching at Columbia Business School.

  "Study history and philosophy, anything is better than going to business school; become a waiter, go travel in the Far East." Rogers would tell all students when he taught at Columbia Business School, "You shouldn't be here, it's a waste of time. With opportunity cost, you spend about $100,000 on tuition, which could be used for investment and entrepreneurship, even if you might win or lose, but either way, you will learn more than sitting in the classroom for two to three years listening to those 'senior professors' who have never done business themselves."

  Jester didn't want to comment too much on this, although Jim Rogers is one of the best analysts in the world.

  And just as Sandy Wil said earlier, Jester indeed went to find him two years later.

  But it's not about following him into finance, but rather wanting to get on that giant ship that no one can predict yet.

  And at that time, it was just when Sandy Will was preparing to make a comeback in the lowest point of his life. If he didn't join, wouldn't that be stupid?