"Of course not." Facing Tang Huan's gentle but sharp gaze, Edwin Cartum hurriedly laughed and said: "After getting the news of the acquisition, we are all optimistic, and we will no longer have to worry about resources when making animated films in the future." ”

"Don't worry, I'll be a good boss." Tang Huan smiled and patted the other party's shoulder, "I won't stay here for too long, hurry up and take me around to see what I have." You know, I'm going to pay George Lucas a lump sum of $7.5 million, and I'm going to have to add an additional amount of money to run the company. ”

This is the proper meaning of the question, Edwin Cartum and Elvie Smith have been prepared for a long time, and hurriedly do their best to give treasures, and the status of this company in the eyes of the boss will depend on today's performance in the future.

The intellectual assets of Lucasfilm's computer department are mainly divided into two categories, one is the Pixar Image Computer on the hardware, and the other is the research results at the software level, which is more important.

Edwin Cartum and Elvie Smith tried to show off their expertise in computer graphics with the special effects they had done for Paramount Pictures' 1982 film Star Trek II: Khan's Roar.

Unexpectedly, Tang Huan's professional level is far beyond their imagination, including "alpha channel", "rendering", "particle effects", "coloring" and other proprietary technical terms and concepts, not only know, but also understand very deeply, these people don't talk about showmanship, even dealing with the big boss's questions in turn are a little difficult, and they were suddenly hit enough.

After quietly teaching a lesson to his new subordinates, who were a little unruly, Tang Huan began to announce a series of his decisions.

"You can't stay at Lucas Skywalker Ranch in Marin County anymore, get ready to move." Tang Huan groaned and said the first point, "Let's go to the EA Park in Redwood City in San Francisco Bay." The office environment, the transportation conditions, the creative atmosphere, etc., are excellent, and you may be able to get some orders for games and animations in the first place. ”

Naturally, everyone had no objection to this instruction, and all the belongings were sold to Tang Huan, so it was not good to continue to stay on Lucas's territory. Besides, Lucas Skywalker Ranch has nothing else to offer, just one feature. Close to nature, very secluded, everyone's life has long faded out of the bird, I wish to change to a more modern environment.

"The company's future business direction does not include computer hardware." Tang Huan pointed to the Pixar graphics computer used for display and said: "It is obviously inferior to Fangyuan graphics workstations in terms of performance, programming excuses, hardware scalability, product future upgrades, etc., it's time to retire." Pixar should be the name of the new company, which can be regarded as a memorial to the products of the past. ”

Edwin Catum nodded, "That's fine, we can focus more on animation." It's just that the entire authoring platform is transferred to the Fangyuan graphics workstation. It will take a while. ”

"I still have that patience." Tang Huan casually agreed, while recalling George Lucas's previous reminder that "Edwin Catem, Elvie Smith and others have no intention of developing computer hardware", it seems that George Lucas, the former boss, still knows his subordinates very well, and he also saw some clues from it by the way.

As the leaders of the team in front of him, Edwin Cartum and Elvie Smith, two PhDs over 40 years old, have a very high starting point in their careers.

In 1974, Edwin Cartham was the director of the Computer Graphics Laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology, a research institute that was among the best in the industry at the time. At the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Elvie Smith, who worked at XeroxPARC and contributed a lot to graphical user interfaces, joined the Computer Graphics Laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology the following year.

However, with the research results of the computer graphics laboratory of the New York Institute of Technology in practical applications, it is not satisfactory. Joining the recruitment of important Hollywood figures such as George Lucas, and their own optimism about the future of combining computer animation and film, Edwin Cartham and Elvie Smith left the sluggish computer graphics laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology to join Lucasfilm.

Judging by Edwin Catem and Elvie Smith's achievements in the professional field over the years, as well as their attempts to buy Lucasfilm's computer division alone, they are very ambitious in their bones.

Such people are appeased. It really takes a little skill.

Tang Huan asked his assistant to bring the documents and handed them to Edwin Cartham and Elway Smith, while explaining: "I will take 80% of Pixar's shares, and leave the rest to your management." In addition, I will invest another $7.5 million. Help the self-contained Pixar start the next operation. ”

Speaking of this, Tang Huan looked around at everyone, slowed down his speech and said, "I only focus on finance and strategy, and you are responsible for the specific daily operations." As you may know, I also have a computer special effects and computer animation company called D2, and I hope you can catch up with it. ”

Tang Huan further emphasized in an accentuated tone: "I will not restrict the freedom of Pixar in business cooperation, you can continue to maintain contacts with Disney and other companies, but major projects must be approved by me." ”

Edwin Cartum and Elvie Smith felt their necks tighten, and after glancing at each other, they nodded solemnly.

"Then you should hurry up and get ready to move." Tang Huan stood up, "I still have something to do, so I won't stay longer, and invite everyone to dinner another day." ”

……

As the haze of the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash gradually dissipated, the Japanese elite began to have fun again, and the Japanese figure of Pebble Beach Golf Course also increased significantly.

Even Japan's Minister of Finance, Noboru Takeshita, is preparing to relax at Pebble Beach Golf Course on Sunday, September 22.

Looking at the fax, Tang Huan couldn't stop laughing, which made Tang Wenmao and Zhuang Menghua next to him feel creepy.

"What are you nervous about?" Zhuang Menghua asked angrily.

"The chrysanthemums are broken, the ground is full of wounds, your smile has turned yellow, and the flowers are broken. I lay quietly with my mind in mind. After Tang Huan hummed a few words happily, Zhengse ordered: "Japanese Minister of Finance Nobuna Takeshita is a distinguished guest, you must be prepared to entertain." Inform Masako Wada on the Japanese side and accompany the other party to come over. In addition, the chrysanthemum plan can be started. ”

"Look at your excitement, weird." Zhuang Menghua who doesn't know why. Roll your eyes and go and get busy.

……

September 22 is a Sunday, and the next day is September 23, which is the day of the autumn equinox, a public holiday in Japan, so it is a small holiday that is rare to get together, and the whole country is filled with a relaxed atmosphere.

The political bigwigs also have to take vacations, and Noboru Takeshita let out the news early that he wants to take advantage of the rare vacation to play golf. As a result, his itinerary did not attract much media attention.

Merely. Takeshita released the richest man's pigeons, and on September 22, he did not go to California on the west coast, but allegedly went to New York on the east coast "temporarily", and the news was passed on by Masako Wada, who was pulled all the way to New York, and at this time Tang Huan and his party had been waiting at the airport for a long time.

was no-shown, and the mood was inevitably depressed, and the subordinates all picked up and humbled for their bosses, "This little Japan holds its own identity." It's so rude. ”

Tang Huan didn't have the slightest displeasure, he had a playful smile on his face. Before getting into the car, he said to Tang Wenmao in a deep voice: "It's actually a good thing to release my pigeons, because that means a signal." Immediately inform Xiaomei that the chrysanthemum plan has entered the second stage. ”

……

Since the beginning of this year, the US economy's "twin deficits" -- the foreign trade deficit and the government's budget deficit -- have become more and more serious.

The former, in particular, worries the American business community even more. Last year, in 1984, the annual foreign trade deficit was $160 billion, or 3.6 percent of the gross national product (GNP) of that year.

In this case, the incumbents are feeling the most pressure. So they lobbied the Reagan administration to take steps to increase the export competitiveness of American goods, including grain exporters, automakers, heavy industrial equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar, and even IBM and Motorola in the high-tech fields.

The Reagan administration, which pursues a "small government, big market", cannot ignore these voices, and must make corresponding demands and take corresponding measures, and the US-Japan semiconductor negotiations can only be said to be a small drop in the bucket.

The most effective and most appropriate measure is undoubtedly the depreciation of the US dollar, and the heavyweights of the US financial and economic circles have been giving verbal briefings on various occasions early on to prepare for the depreciation of the US dollar.

"The wolf is coming" shouted more times, and the audience became numb and unresponsive.

No one would have imagined that on this ordinary Sunday, September 22, an extremely important meeting would take place quietly.

U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker, Japanese Minister of Finance Noboru Takeshita, Federal German Treasury Minister Gerhard Stoddenburg, French Finance Minister Pierre Begber, British Finance Minister Nigel Lawson, the finance ministers of the five most advanced industrial countries, and the central bank governors of the five most developed countries gathered at the Plaza Hotel, a luxury hotel next to Grand Army Plaza at the intersection of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, to reach a joint intervention in the foreign exchange market by the governments of the five countries and to make the dollar fall against major currencies in an orderly manner. An agreement to address the huge trade deficit of the United States.

When the Plaza Agreement, which was reached at an incredible speed, was announced, it dawned on those who got the news that the time had finally come, but this point in time was too hidden by the G5 government to be elusive. Japanese Minister of Finance Noboru Takeshita played so many tricks to cover up, and even did not hesitate to release the pigeons of Mr. Richest Man to hide his actual itinerary, which shows his good intentions.

It has always been a common practice for governments to choose weekends to announce major news at the policy level. Because this is just in time for the financial market to close, the announcement can give the sensitive market a sufficient buffer to react.

The introduction of the Plaza Accord also follows such a convention. No matter how much talk is being made about the appreciation of the yen and the West German mark against the dollar, no action can be taken, and the global financial markets are currently closed.

Perhaps, only Tang Huan, as well as a few speculators with unique vision and daring to take risks, caught up with this time difference in advance.

It is entirely expected that the exchange rate, which would have fluctuated around 250 yen per dollar, will fluctuate dramatically when global trading hours reopen.

There is no doubt that both at the G5 meeting, where the Plaza Agreement was finalized, and at the press conference where the Plaza Agreement was announced, Japanese Minister of Finance Noboru Takeshita was the most high-profile figure.

This is determined by the strong position of the Japanese economy at the present stage, and the media's reference to the United States and Japan as "G2" in addition to the "G5" is the best description and commentary.

When the reporter asked the question of "why would Japan, an export-oriented economy, tolerate the appreciation of the yen?" the high-spirited Noboru Takeshita replied humorously: "Because my name is 'Nobori'." ”

In essence, Noboru Takeshita's use of the coincidence of the homonym of "Deng" and "Sheng" in Japanese is nothing more than an attempt to convey a meaning: now Japan can do more and better in international affairs, and participate in the formulation of international currency exchange rates.

"Everybody is red-faced, but why is the Federal Minister of Finance, Gerhardt Stoddenberg, having a black face? Could it be that as the party with the second largest currency appreciation, he is dissatisfied that his limelight has been stolen by the Japanese? Tang Wenmao stared at the picture on the TV and quipped.

"Tomorrow is Monday, and global financial markets are reopening. Originally, the Tokyo foreign exchange market, located in the East Kowloon ward, was the first to face the Plaza Agreement, but the whole country was on holiday, so West Germany became the first market to open for business. It's not easy to be a leader, I guess he reacted. Thinking that he has fallen into the trap planted by the Japanese in advance, then he still has the heart to be happy. Tang Huan cocked Erlang's legs and analyzed.

"Everybody is red-faced, but why is the Federal Minister of Finance, Gerhardt Stoddenberg, having a black face? Could it be that as the party with the second largest currency appreciation, he is dissatisfied that his limelight has been stolen by the Japanese? Tang Wenmao stared at the picture on the TV and quipped. (To be continued.) )