in this early thin trading, enticing more and more holders to "sell on
strength." What issues? First off, anything to do with computers. Of
course there weren't all that many hardware manufacturers left around
by then, after the shakeout and mergers of the mid-eighties, but
somebody was buying heavily into the few that remained. They were also
actively purchasing little software outfits. Those stocks had taken a
heavy beating over the past week, so prices were at an all-time low for
most.
Other industries they started to nibble at were telecommunications,
aerospace, biotechnology. They seemed to be looking for outfits with
substantial R&D operations: the focus was on creativity, growth
sectors, the sunrise industries.
Of course, what this mysterious new buyer was really doing was snapping
up outfits loaded with labs and Ph.D.'s. Dr. Richardson and my new
client Matsuo Noda had DNI acquiring companies short on competent
management and market share but long on research, innovation--the one
thing we were still halfway good at. Looked at differently, what Dai
Nippon was really buying was underused brainpower, the American smarts
currently going to waste thanks to inept corporate management.
Explanations began to sprout all over the place--from the "Heard on the
Street" column in the Journal to Dan Dorfman, a guy with a bloodhound's
nose for Wall Street shenanigans. But the hard truth was nobody could
put it together. Who could have? The play was too ambitious even to
imagine.
You guessed it. With the trillions and trillions now at its disposal,
Japan was about to take charge of America's future.