In Evan's office, it is not Evan who occupies the desk, but a woman with a good back.

She frowned, buried her head in the papers, and only raised her head when she couldn't make up her mind about the instructions, looked at the owner of the office, and asked for advice on how to dispose of it.

He sat on the side, holding the ear of a porcelain cup in one hand, while looking at the report on the cover with a steel seal representing the secret.

"Evan, is it okay if the prize money is so high?"

"Evan, the microwave oven project team has lost hundreds of thousands, why do you need to invest more?"

"Evan ......"

"Linda, what about this, that's what ......"

As for Linda's questions, Evan did not refuse, and explained as much as he could, neither hiding his personal interests nor finding it troublesome.

Evan had begun to grow tired of the endless sea of papers, but this paperwork was the inevitable product of a well-structured organization.

As the apex of this organization, Evan can't easily delegate his own paperwork, because that's the generation of power.

But after feeling disgusted, Evan decided to start trying to lighten his load even further.

Until then, he had tried to decentralize power as much as possible. For example, the Magic Seven Company, with General Manager Davidson presiding, Evan's interference with him has been minimized.

But with the exception of the Magic Seven, all other Los Angeles-based businesses would approach Evan from time to time to ask him to express his opinion on certain decisions, or simply push him to make decisions.

Among them, Carl, who has high hopes for Evan, is also a virtue, at most the frequency is a little lower.

Evan knows that this is not because these executives are incompetent, but because they are there, they dare not specialize, and some even simply form a habit.

Because every time Evan is asked, he can always give an appropriate solution or suggestion.

Evan decided to make a change.

The first step in change is to restructure the top-level structure.

Evan is the final decision-maker for this organization, but not every decision is made by him.

Two years ago, Evan convened his executives for an annual meeting. This year, Evan decided to reopen the Annual Meeting and will give more power to its members.

Evan intends to form a board of directors that will serve as the highest permanent governing body for all the companies under its umbrella. At the same time, he will set up a secretariat dedicated to himself.

In Evan's vision, the Secretariat would have no small amount of authority to organize information and reports for Evan, and to interfere in the company's operations and decision-making as instructed by Evan.

And Linda was Evan's first chief secretary.

Whether it's trust or his own ability, Evan feels that Linda is the most suitable person.

That's why Evan asked Linda to approve the documents for him.

It's just about getting used to it in advance.

Linda's work became more and more proficient, but Evan closed the report with a distressed look on his face.

The confidential report sent by Vidaq focused on two things.

One thing has to do with Bank of America.

The other one has to do with Xerox.

Speaking of Bank of America, the core bank of California's largest conglomerate has not been stable lately. In June of this year, Giannini, the founder of Bank of America and a central figure in the Bank of America consortium, passed away. After the death of this 80-year-old man, his inheritance in the consortium was naturally divided and inherited by his children.

Giannini had a son and a daughter, and the eldest son, Mario, took over as president of Bank of America, while the board of directors of Bank of America fell to Mario's sister, Claire Giannini Hoffman.

Claire's appointment as a director of the bank caused an uproar in the banking world. Because before that, no woman had ever been on the board of directors of any bank.

On the one hand, the Giannini family shows that they still have enough influence in the Bank of America, and on the other hand, it also shows that Mario, as the first heir of the family, does not have enough ability to control the Bank of America alone.

The Inter-American banking consortium inevitably ushered in a crisis.

In Vidak's report, the whereabouts of several people appeared: first, Henry Morgan arrived in San Francisco on December 3, and the next day, JP Morgan Bank senior vice president Cherno checked into the same hotel; second, Chase National Bank sent a team to San Francisco on December 5, led by a young man, suspected David Rockefeller.

Seeing these names, Evan knew that at least two large knives were sharpening their knives and slashing at the head of the Bank of America. In this regard, Evan can only just watch and worry.

He did not want the Bank of America consortium to fall into the hands of the "Big Two". Although this has little impact on him at present, it will greatly reduce the space for him to develop and grow in the future, but for a while, he can't think of any way to avoid this ending.

He could only secretly pray that the two siblings, Mario and Claire, would not be too incompetent.

If the crisis of the Bank of America Evan has no way for the time being, then there is another thing that Evan cannot afford not to pay attention to.

At the end of April this year, Xerox officially launched the Xerox Model A, a photocopier with electrostatic copying technology. Thanks to the promotion that began as early as last year, the product has received a lot of orders after it was launched.

Just when everyone thought that Evan was going to create another hot product, the market gave the entire Xerox company a big slap in the face.

The photocopying feature offered by the Xerox Model A really caught the eye of quite a few people and placed an order. However, when the physical product is obtained, its endless failures make customers annoyed. Although Xerox has set up a relatively complete after-sales service team, the actual use experience is still prohibitive for customers, and there are few follow-up orders.

The unexpected performance of the Model A put the entire Xerox company in a difficult situation, but Evan did not waver in his determination, and despite the huge losses, he ordered Carlson to step up the problem and develop a follow-up product.

In this case, Vidak's report notes that two companies have set up special project teams to develop machines with similar photocopying functions.

One of the two companies is RCA, and Applied Physics is a head-to-head rival in the field of television.

The other company is Evan's acquaintance, a partner of the Magic Seven from its inception, 3M.

According to the information collected by Vidarch, in order to avoid Xerox's patent barriers, the two companies proposed different ideas to implement the photocopying function.

However, what the specific idea is, Vidak did not get clear information.

But it doesn't matter, Evan cares that the actions of RCA and 3M show that the market prospects for photocopiers have been affirmed.

They want to get in and get a piece of the action.

This is absolutely bad news for Xerox

The carefully prepared first cannon did not fire, and Xerox was nervous up and down, and at this juncture, there were competitors entering the game, which was almost worse for Xerox.

As soon as he got this information, Evan decided to do something about it.

First of all, RCA and 3M can't be allowed to come up with competing products easily. The time frame is before Xerox eliminates the negative effects of Model A.

This must be done. If not, even if Xerox can provide a stable product later, customers will not choose it because of their previous convictions, which is disastrous for Xerox's marketing team, and doubling the effort may not achieve half the effect.

Second, Xerox needed to reverse the image of photocopiers as expensive and delicate as soon as possible, and not only the advertising campaign, but also Carlson's R&D team.

For now, though, Evan doesn't need to put too much pressure on Carlsen for the time being. Before the photocopier was released, Evan and Carlson had a disagreement about product standards, but Carlson insisted on his opinion. However, Evan's high standards proved necessary. While this is not to say that the post-launch repair disaster could have been avoided completely by following Evan's request, Magnus was naturally the primary responsible person in this matter.

Therefore, in the past six months, Carlson can be said to have faced the biggest crisis and pressure in his life. If he wasn't a shareholder in Xerox and the inventor of electrocopying, Evan needed him to lead the R&D team, and Carlson believed he would have been scapegoated and would have been either assigned idle or liquidated.

Faced with such a crisis, Carlson regretted not doing it in the first place. In order to maintain his current position and wealth, he had to devote 12 points of energy to the improvement of Model A and the research and development of next-generation copying technology. In order to save communication costs, he moved his lab in Sacramento to Los Angeles. I almost lived in a laboratory.

The consequence of Carlson's desperate efforts was that in less than three months, most of his hair had turned gray and he had almost lost a lot of weight.

Seeing this, Evan had to forcibly order Carlson to take a break for a while, while calling his wife, Helen Higgins, from Sacramento to Los Angeles to take care of his life.

With Helen's care, Carlson quickly returned to his normal routine and his body recovered.

"Now, it's time to put a little more burden on him. ”

In addition to Carlson's electrostatic copying, there is also a photocopying technology, which is in contrast to the state in which the electrostatic photocopying is completely dry, and the other is realized with liquid, so it is called wet copying. ”

"RCA couldn't exploit the loopholes in electrostatic copying and had to turn to wet copying. ”

"I didn't study wet copying because it was more limited than the versatility of electrostatic copying, and now, even if it's to disrupt the situation, Xerox should take action. ”

"You can't save money at this time......"

"However, Xerox has lost a lot this year, and if it adds additional funds, others are expected to have opinions...... I had no choice but to try my best to convince. ”

"Well, let's go to Xerox later......"

Evan bowed slightly, made up his mind, glanced up at Linda, and asked, "How many more haven't you finished reading?"

Linda replied without looking up, "At least a third more." ”

Evan opened his mouth in surprise, this speed was much faster than his own, he raised his wrist to look at the time, and said, "It's not early, let's go to lunch." ”

"The rest is not in a hurry......"

"After lunch, let's go to Xerox first. ”

Linda paused and said, "Okay." ”

After saying that, she put the pen on the cap and put it in the pen holder, moved her stiff neck, and stretched.

Linda has a good figure, and the chest part is especially prominent, which can't be hidden even if she wears a warm line coat.

Evan consciously looked away, waiting for Linda to move before getting up and going out.

……

Also at the Imperial Hotel, 100 McAllister Street, San Francisco.

The main body of the Imperial Hotel is a 28-story Gothic-style high-rise building. Until the end of World War II, the building was home to the offices of the federal government, and several agencies, including the Army's ordnance procurement department, worked here. After the end of World War II, the federal government cut back on spending, the department was abolished, and the building was sold. The identity of the buyer is generally unknown, and soon after, the newly renovated Imperial Hotel opened.

On the top floor of the Imperial Hotel, there is a special SKY Room, which has a great view and large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking San Francisco.

At this time, the Sky Lounge was occupied by a distinguished guest.

He was dressed in a well-fitting all-black handmade suit, which perfectly showed off his tall figure, and he wore a modest mechanical watch in his left hand, which was not adorned.

He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a high-heeled wine glass in his right hand, which contained a third of red wine, and looked personable.

If Evan were here, he would have noticed that this man had seven points of resemblance to a face he knew.

The man Evan knew was Francis, who had handled the loan when he first talked to JP Morgan.

And this man was none other than Francis's father, Henry.

That is, Henry Morgan, mentioned in the Vidaq report.

Henry Morgan is here, as Evan had guessed, for the Bank of America.

Since the implementation of the Marshall Plan, Wall Street's funding has recovered a lot. Especially after the establishment of the Brettonson system and the depreciation of the British pound in the United Kingdom, the dollar appreciated and became a global currency, and Wall Street took advantage of this shadow to become the dominant player in the world's financial industry.

When the strength is restored, expansion has become the natural choice of the giants. As a result, the two major consortia led by Rockefeller and Morgan naturally set their sights on the western part of the American continent, which was a gold rush a hundred years ago and is now an important part of the United States.

California is a top priority.

Because of World War II, California has gathered a large number of military industrial enterprises, the banking industry is very developed, coupled with a large population, unique geographical conditions, California's economic strength is very prominent. On the basis of this economy, three local consortia were born: the Bank of America consortium, the San Francisco consortium and the Los Angeles consortium.

However, a local consortium is a local consortium after all, and although it can be the king and hegemon in the local area, it is not even a younger brother in front of Rockefeller and Morgan.

The reason why the two giants are eyeing California is that there are two main targets, one is a core bank like Bank of America, and the other is California's military industry.

The military industry and banking are the most lucrative businesses of the moment, and both Rockefeller and Morgan value them.

The death of Giannini, the head of the Bank of America, was the trigger for the two families to come to San Francisco in person.

Shopping malls are like battlefields, and they also like to take advantage of their illness and kill them.