It took me a while (20 mins) but I read the whole 3 x pages....It just goes to show, that back in 1983, Gary was prepared to do whatever it took to stay profitable by moving sideways, backwards, forwards, whatever it took to stay profitable.....and at that time, pinball was dying from his point of view....so his focus was video games til he saw the wind change direction again when pinball started to get more profitable...
It appears he was smart enough to acquire/buy n sell quite a few bankrupt companies and also sell off some of his own profitable businesses to stay ahead of the game back in 1983...This allowed him to purchase the premises he now has, and alot of the plant/engineering stuff as well...We all know that he got involved with Data East at a later time, then sold that to Sega, then acquired Data East n Sega back from Sega for 10cents in the dollar etc....
Garys talents it seems, is to buy companies, or buy into companies cheaply when their numbers are looking not so great, then turn them into much more profitable businesses.....and he is still going strong today...his survival skills are due somewhat to reading the market, and either holding firm, or making a move to keep the $$$ rolling in....he sells when things are great, and buys when things are crappy....a smart move in Real Estate when buying both companies (intellectual property) and physical buildings full of equipment for low amounts.
At 67 years he is going strong, and pinball has been back under his name ofcourse for the past 13 or so years......
Even the previous 15 years must have been full of ups n downs with Data East, then with Sega....but he keeps riding the waves and knows when to kick hard or just wait.....he's no dummy...hes not perfect, and when he recently said that he still hasnt got his business model in pinball "right" or "perfected" yet, that showed he is still humble.....a good quality to have in any business....
