This time Simon learned from his previous mistake and didn't present any extravagant gifts when he and Sarah returned from Japan. Even though she didn't receive something as expensive as the Ferrari 250 GTO she was actually even more happier than before, because she felt substantial improvement in their relationship this time.
It was no longer just about having a partner for a vacation and just about a superficial relationship, but they learned to truly enjoy each other's companionship. This felt a lot better than receiving a famous car as a gift. But truth be told, she still received some gifts while they stayed in Kyoto together, but only a few new clothes and some Japanese jewelry.
Simon was extremely happy with how this trip to Japan went. Not only did he get to enjoy a beautiful romantic trip with a girl he grew to like a lot, but he also snatched away a big reason why a future competitor could become the largest gaming company in the world for a while.
After settling Gunpei in a five star hotel in New York and leaving his secretary in order to deal with his future housing, he could finally return home. After dropping off Sarah at her family's villa and enjoying a long and passionate goodbye-kiss he finally arrived home an hour later and just dropped in his bed, exhausted from the long journey.
His personal bodyguard Dennis received a well earned vacation notice and a large bonus for his service. At first he didn't want to agree to leave Simon for such a long time, but after repeated insistence by his employer he walked away happily in order to enjoy some time with his family and friends. Meanwhile Simon's protection was replaced by some family bodyguards, but as he didn't really planned to travel for a while there was not much need for additional safety measures.
After a long and rejuvenating night of sleep he received his first guest the very next journey. Compared to last time his sister Caroline was in a way better mood. Obviously she didn't receive any news about a ridiculous large gift this time and in turn didn't care about the relationship of her younger brother with the girl from the Harrison family. She didn't mind her brother playing around as long as he didn't marry her into the Smith family.
But her great mood was not a result of her brother's shenanigans, but because the development of the first ever energy drink was finally a complete success. The taste and medical properties of the new Red Bull was finally confirmed and production and sales could start. Even the patents and large legal matters were completed and would no longer be a burden for Red Bull in the future. She managed to finish all the preparation before the christmas holidays and could even bundle the new Red Bull together with Atari's new game.
This is the next great news that Simon received by phone call this morning. The production and trial process of Tetris was finally finished and the game could start selling right before Christmas. Over the last few months the market for Snake in the United States was no longer in an extremely hot state because the production could finally keep up with the demand and Dennis already started large-scale preparations for the sales in Europe. Tanja assured Simon that the production capacity was no longer a problem.
Caroline could already feel the great mood of her younger brother from just his genuine smile and how happy he seemed this early in the morning.
"Well, I thought I would be the one with the exciting news, but it looks like your day started even sweeter than mine. Care to include me in any news?"
Obviously Simon would like to do nothing more than this, because it was honestly amazing news. Atari achieved everything he planned and with the help of Dennis and Tanja he didn't even need to put as much work into it as he expected in the beginning.
"The happy news is that your brother got really rich in the last few months. Over the last four months the sales of Snake reached incredible heights. We sold 6000 arcade machines in June with a profit of 1500$, 7500 machines in July with a profit of 1550$, 8500 machines in August with a profit of 1650$ and finally 12500 machines in September with a profit of 1800$.
Overall this makes for a profit of roughly $57 million in the last four months, without the current Oktober that will reach even more heights as the production capacity will finally reach 17500 arcade machines per month."
Caroline was greatly shocked by this number. $57 million of pure cash in 1970 was an immense wealth even the whole Smith family could never come up with easily. Simon was very amused by his sister's reaction but decided to calm her excited mood a little and bring her back to reality.
"It sounds like a crazy amount and it honestly is very sensational, but we invested roughly $30 million just into new production equipment and research costs in the last few months. I needed to use some of the profit as an additional increasement for Red Bull and I needed to hire talents for the company's future with very large costs. Overall roughly $8 million are still left right now.
But with the release of the new game and the production capacity reaching 20000 arcades per month in November we will reach new levels of profitability at the end of the year, for sure.
If Tetris is as successful as Snake or even better than Atari has finally reached the threshold of a new unicorn company in the United States. So I really need you and Red Bull to go on a sensational run in the next few months in order to release me of the pressure from Wall Street and put their focus on you. You will not let your pitiful little brother down, will you Caroline?"
Everything she just learned worsened her mood a lot. Her little brother not only had immense success with little effort, spent the last week touring around in Japan with a girl she didn't like, but is also planning to use her and the success she is working so hard for as a shield for himself. Since when has her status in the Smith family changed so much?