The Tyrant Billionaire

Yoshida Shigeru met with Hardy, bowing respectfully, "Envoy Hardy, I've come to discuss the matter of the banks. Several banks have come to me, saying that companies are withdrawing their funds en masse, putting immense pressure on them. They are asking for some relief from this situation."

Hardy looked at Yoshida and invited him to sit. Once they were seated, Hardy spoke calmly, "You've probably already guessed what's going on, haven't you?"

Yoshida was taken aback. Explore hidden tales at empire

He hadn't expected Hardy to be so direct about it.

"Envoy, what do you mean?" Yoshida asked cautiously.

"I'll be clear. I intend to restructure those banks. As the prime minister, you should know that the banks in question were at the heart of Japan's six major conglomerates."

"Before Japan went to war, those conglomerates controlled 60% of the country's major enterprises, 55% of its capital, 60% of its sales channels, and 20% of its workforce. They manipulated politics and even started wars to exploit economic resources. I'm not wrong, am I?"

Sweat began to bead on Yoshida's forehead.

"To prevent that from happening again, the old zaibatsu system must be dismantled. This is a key part of transitioning Japan to a democratic society. Go back and tell them they have two options."

"First, they can accept acquisition and investment, relinquishing controlling interest. Second, their funding chain will collapse, their banks will fail, and they'll ultimately go bankrupt and be acquired."

Hardy was brutally frank.

Unlike the traditional Eastern approach of speaking in circles, leaving things implied, Hardy spelled everything out plainly.

He was essentially saying, "We're taking you down. You can either submit or go bankrupt."

And he had the power to back up such statements.

If a bank's funding chain broke, it wouldn't be able to meet the financial needs of its clients. Other depositors, seeing this, would lose confidence and withdraw their funds too, creating a vicious cycle that would make it impossible for the bank to function.

In such a situation, it would be nearly impossible for the bank to avoid bankruptcy.

Finally, Hardy said, "Prime Minister Yoshida, I've told you before, Japan has the potential to regain its independence and return to the international stage. But Japan must undergo a thorough transformation, and this restructuring is part of it. You'll have to weigh the pros and cons yourself."

Yoshida left.

Back at the prime minister's residence, he convened a meeting with all the cabinet ministers, sharing Hardy's clear stance.

The cabinet fell silent again.

They had no viable solution.

Resist?

How?

If they were a sovereign nation, they could use government power, even the military, to protect their economic interests.

But they were an occupied country, with no military, no governmental authority. The Americans held the power of life and death over them. They were in no position to resist.

One cabinet minister finally spoke, "Most of the large enterprises have already been acquired. Both the companies and the capital are now controlled by American conglomerates. What use is it to hold on to just the banks? The Americans have their own banks in Japan, and if our banks can't engage in economic activity, they'll eventually close down anyway. I think it's better to cooperate.

At least we can preserve some of our strength."

In the end, Japan chose to surrender.

Several major banks were injected with capital from American conglomerates, losing their controlling interest. Although the banks continued to operate, the real owners had changed.

In fact, in later years, Many of Japan's largest banks would also have traces of American conglomerate influence behind them.

This fate was inescapable.

Only in this timeline, it happened earlier and more directly, unlike in later years when it was the result of decades of economic imperialism.

Hardy didn't waste time with subtlety.

Yesterday, Hardy was seen as Japan's economic savior by the public, but today, to the business leaders of Japan, he was a blatant plunderer.

The perspective changes depending on where you stand, and so do the conclusions you draw.

...

A cruise ship docked at Tokyo Harbor, and a thousand passengers disembarked. Among them was a large contingent of managers and technical personnel sent by various conglomerates to Japan.

This was already the third group.

In total, more than two thousand people had been sent so far.

The seven major conglomerates had acquired hundreds of companies in Japan, including dozens of banks. For each of these companies, they needed to dispatch their own management teams.

Some companies required technical upgrades or needed to purchase advanced production lines from the U.S., so they also brought technical personnel.

If it were just a single company, it would never be able to support such a large deployment of personnel. But for the seven major conglomerates, this was nothing.

Each conglomerate had dozens of well-known large enterprises, and hundreds of subsidiary companies, with even more affiliated companies.

The number of managers and technicians brought over seemed substantial, but spread across the hundreds of companies acquired by the conglomerates, it was insignificant. In the future, even more personnel would arrive, potentially reaching ten to twenty thousand.

This was the foundation of the conglomerates.

When Hardy initially envisioned controlling Japan's economy, he decided to bring in these conglomerates—not just for their economic and governmental influence but also for the talent and technology they possessed.

By deploying overwhelming forces, one can achieve overwhelming advantages.

Relying solely on Hardy's own group would be insufficient; they couldn't conquer Japan alone. But with the combined strength of the seven major American conglomerates, they had the power to seize control of Japan's economy. Coupled with America's military occupation, Japan had no chance of resisting.

Today, there was another major meeting.

After each representative finished reporting their respective progress, it was Hardy's turn. He said, "Overall, things are progressing well, and we've basically gotten everything on track. But I want to bring up another issue."

"Before we came to Japan, we purchased several military-industrial companies, but we haven't taken possession of them yet because MacArthur has been obstructing us. We spent $570 million on those companies, and every day we don't get control of them, we lose money."