Takayuki's strategy had worked.
He used the massive investment in games to divert attention, forcing YOO to respond.
This, in turn, would break some of Nagao's previous plans and strategies.
Nagao had been persistently troublesome, and Takayuki was finally fed up with dealing with him.
If you were willing to compete with me openly in game development, I wouldn't have done anything to you.
But you always want to use underhanded methods to hijack other people's negotiations and use deceitful tactics to tarnish your competitors' reputations behind their backs.
In that case, Takayuki wouldn't hold back anymore.
Through some special channels, Takayuki had already learned who the masterminds were behind the campaign to discredit and resist the Final Fantasy 7 movie—this person was Su Rui Electronics, but Su Rui was just an executor. The real mastermind was Nagao.
...
...
Nagao was really despicable. He refused to compete fairly.
Since that's the case, don't blame me for going all out.
So, Takayuki deliberately attracted Nagao's attention during the game development process, leading this hot-headed man by the nose.
Many internet startups had a common problem: they rose too quickly and were often too young. Especially Nagao, who had been smooth sailing and faced very few setbacks along the way, a classic characteristic of the trendsetters of an era.
They rose rapidly, propelled by the wind at their backs, but their mentalities changed much slower.
Bob had the same issue, but he had one advantage: since Takayuki had given him many ideas and directions for website development, all of which were correct, Bob had come to see Takayuki as a mentor, always carefully considering his suggestions.
Because of this, Facebook had remained very stable.
But YOO was different. The company expanded too quickly.
Nagao had plans to infiltrate every industry, trying to conquer everything with the most money in the shortest amount of time, with profits to be figured out later.
If you think about it, Nagao's plan was truly long-term. If he succeeded, he could become a new capital giant in the new era.
But to achieve that goal, he had invested far more money in the early stages than most companies would have imagined.
One or two hundred billion dollars was probably just the beginning, and more money would be needed to continue the expansion.
Nagao might have a mindset like a time traveler, able to foresee future trends.
However, the investors didn't know that.
They couldn't allow Nagao to keep burning money endlessly. After all, their own money wasn't easily earned. After not seeing returns for a long time, they began to get nervous.
They were worried that YOO would keep spending without limits, and their funds couldn't withstand such a frightening drain.
In reality, if Nagao had slowed down a bit and developed some industries that could generate stable profits first, then gradually expanded, it would definitely have been fine.
But now, there were no such options.
The plane had just landed in the U.S., and Nagao headed straight for Wall Street.
This was Nagao's second time here. The first time, he had been full of confidence, negotiating with the capital giants.
At that time, he thought of himself as a business genius, certain that he would one day carve out a place for himself in the world.
But now, his mindset had changed.
He then went to an investment firm.
This was the largest investment firm in the U.S., and it was rumored to have government connections.
"Mr. Nagao, please follow me."
As soon as he entered the building, someone came to greet him and invited him to the meeting room for talks. The capital giants were going to meet with Nagao in person.
They had something important to discuss with him.
Nagao had no other good options, so he could only listen to them and go to the meeting room.
After about half an hour, Nagao, feeling more and more uneasy, saw a man in his sixties walk in.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Mr. Nagao."
This man was one of the owners of the investment firm and was one of the first investors to show confidence in YOO.
He had led a group of top investment firms to invest in YOO.
"Some of our other friends will be arriving soon. Let's have a chat for now."
The man in his sixties casually sat next to Nagao, his presence commanding respect.
Nagao could feel a bead of sweat on his forehead.
Previously, this capital giant had been very friendly, always kind and willing to agree to Nagao's unreasonable requests without hesitation.
This had given Nagao a false sense of equality, as though he was on the same level as such people.
But now, he realized he had been too naive.
Before, Nagao was valuable to them, so they didn't mind being friendly and accommodating. But now, that attitude had completely changed.
This capital giant seemed distant now, and although he still had a smile, it was cold.
"Mr. Nagao, you've made a lot of investments. I'm curious as to why you're involved in so many projects at once. Don't you realize how expensive this is?"
Nagao took a deep breath. Since he was already here, there was nothing he could control. It would be better to lay out his original vision, maybe he would have a chance to soften things: "Boss, it's like this. I believe the future belongs to the internet, and to have a place in the internet era, we need to secure as much ground as possible ahead of time. Only by occupying more space early can we prevent others from coming in. But yes, it's very aggressive, and we've spent a lot of money, but none of this money has gone into my own pocket. It's all been invested in expanding the company."
The man waved his hand, "I don't need you to explain all of this. What we need is for you to show us how your plans will bring in profits for the company, not just keep throwing money into it."
"Boss, this will take some time and some money."
"We're not philanthropists. We can't keep giving you endless funds. The internet is a powerful thing—just a few hundred thousand or a few million users was enough to boast in the past. Now, the internet can scale to hundreds of millions of users, and that's why we're supporting you. But you need to realize that we can't keep supporting you indefinitely."
The message was clear. These people didn't want to keep investing in YOO unless they could see profits.
At that moment, Nagao felt like his situation was slipping away. Without financial support, he would soon be in a difficult position.