On November 1, 2005, a surprising yet unsurprising announcement was made: Amazon declared that to optimize and integrate its business lines, it would temporarily suspend accepting any new orders for one month. However, it pledged to fully support the shipping of already purchased goods and ensure that all users who placed orders before November 1, 2005, would receive their items.
This announcement appeared directly on Amazon's official website. Upon seeing this news, everyone sighed, saying, "Amazon is finished."
After all, it was well understood that under normal circumstances, a company should do its utmost to ensure its normal operations. Even if it meant canceling orders, reducing business, shrinking markets, or employing any other means to cut expenses and labor costs, it was normal. But it was never acceptable to halt operations entirely, because ceasing business signified death.
Yet, Amazon had directly announced the suspension of all its business operations. What else could this be but a sign that Amazon was on the brink of collapse?
Although Amazon did assure everyone in its announcement that the entire business consolidation process would only last one month and that it would reopen for business and resume normal operations afterward.
But everyone could see that these were just empty promises meant to deceive unlucky sellers. It was estimated that after a month, Amazon would be deserted, leaving nothing behind.
It wasn't surprising that Amazon had reached this point. After all, the speed at which Wan Xian Ge had risen and poached over 80% of Amazon's employees within three days was akin to pulling out all of Amazon's bones. It wasn't just Amazon suspending new orders; it was already remarkable that Amazon could guarantee the completion of all accepted orders and their delivery.
Therefore, although this news was shocking, it was also logical. Amazon's stock price plummeted once again. In just one hour, its total market value dropped from $20 billion to $10 billion. By the closing bell that day, Amazon's total market value was less than $3 billion.
The stock market was in a state of widespread despair. Everyone who had purchased Amazon stock was desperate enough to jump off a building. Fortunately, there weren't many such people, as over 80% of Amazon's circulating shares were held by various institutions.
These institutions were the ones who truly wanted to jump off buildings because they had lost their money so unjustly.
Originally, Amazon's stock was not a stock that many institutions paid attention to. The market's 80% circulating shares were actually held by retail investors, and no institution deliberately tried to speculate on Amazon's stock. This meant Amazon was just an insignificant small enterprise in the stock market.
So, why did institutions come to hold 80% of the circulating shares in just one month?
This was naturally due to Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs intended to set a trap for Jiangnan Group within Amazon. Although this was an extremely guarded secret, it was not a significant secret within the financial institution circles centered around Goldman Sachs.
Because in order to "kill" Jiangnan Group using stock prices, Goldman Sachs needed to control the vast majority of Amazon's shares and make the entire market cooperate with its scheme.
Thus, Goldman Sachs proactively contacted most of the institutions holding Amazon stock and presented their plan. Consequently, these institutions readily agreed, uniting to trap Jiangnan Group.
Following Goldman Sachs's original plan, if the trap was successful, these institutions would at least double their profits. No fool would refuse such a good deal. Therefore, these institutions entered the fray, aggressively acquiring circulating shares in the market, waiting to "slaughter" Jiangnan Group with these shares.
However, no one could have anticipated that the plan would collapse halfway through. Jiangnan Group's ruthless action made it impossible to continue executing the plan.
Although Goldman Sachs was incredibly powerful, it immediately used Bezos to completely counterattack, recreating a brand new Amazon within a week, once again proving Goldman Sachs's strength and terror to the entire market.
But this was Goldman Sachs's victory, not the victory of the previous institutions. On the contrary, Goldman Sachs only managed to extricate itself and begin its counterattack, but it left all the institutions that had heeded Goldman Sachs's call and couldn't escape in time trapped in the mess that was Amazon.
At this point, 66% of Amazon's shares were held by Jiangnan Group. Of the remaining 34%, 30% were held by those institutions. These 30% of shares had fallen from a peak market value of $12 billion to just over $1 billion. It was imaginable what state of mind these institutions were in.
The leaders of these institutions were undoubtedly facing severe reprimands from their respective boards or behind-the-scenes bosses. Many prominent figures who had previously held sway on Wall Street were now being insulted like dogs. Some unlucky ones had even received news that their boards intended to dismiss them.
It was only natural that these institutions were in a state of utter despair. Some institutional leaders had even climbed the Empire State Building, preparing to jump.
Just as everyone was about to admire the "flying man," these institutions collectively received news: Huang He, the Chairman of Jiangnan Group, invited them to the Amazon headquarters building to attend a shareholders' meeting and discuss how to save Amazon.
"Is there any possibility of saving Amazon?" Almost all institutional leaders sneered when they saw this message, but after sneering, they still obediently arrived at Amazon's headquarters building on time.
Because sneering could not solve any problems. On the contrary, Amazon still had a market value of over $3 billion, and the most crucial issue was to find ways to salvage their interests as much as possible.
When these institutional leaders arrived at Amazon's first-floor lobby, they discovered that the entire lobby, except for a black service staff at the front desk who greeted them with a smile, had no other people in it.
Even the elevator access points, which used to have long queues, were empty. All elevator access points were directly open, allowing anyone to take an elevator to any floor of the building.
"They're about to move out, aren't they!" A representative from an institution couldn't help but sigh upon seeing this.
"Nonsense. With Amazon in such a state, can they afford to use such a building? They should just find a small country building to move into, which would save costs!" Another institutional representative said with a smile, but the smile was filled with bitterness.
However, the receptionists were still energetic as they greeted these Wall Street big shots and led them into Amazon's headquarters conference room.
In contrast to the emptiness of the first-floor lobby, the conference room was bustling with people, all of whom were familiar faces: Wall Street magnates... almost all the victims of the Amazon world had gathered in this conference room.
But with so many big shots in the conference room, very few could smile. They all sat stiffly in their chairs, constantly looking at their watches, waiting for the meeting to begin and for Huang He to appear.
Fortunately, Boss Huang did not keep them waiting long. As soon as the time arrived, Huang He's figure appeared on the conference room's projection screen, and Hao Jianguo, the person in charge, also appeared in the conference room with a smile.
"My dear directors, can it be said that you are all getting what you deserve? In order to cooperate with Goldman Sachs and set a trap for me, you have all ended up in this predicament!" To everyone's surprise, Boss Huang started by speaking so directly, pushing the atmosphere to an extremely awkward point.
Many of the big shots wanted to retort, but when they thought about how they had ended up in this situation, all the words they wanted to say got stuck in their throats and could not be spoken.
They could only curse Huang He while hating Goldman Sachs even more for its betrayal.
"What? Boss Huang, seeing how miserable we are, are you very pleased with yourself?" Of course, someone couldn't help but retort directly.
"What am I pleased about! I spent $25 billion, and yet everyone sees what Amazon has become. What is there for me to be pleased about?" This time, Boss Huang did not immediately retaliate but showed a look of suffering.
Yes, everyone suddenly remembered that Huang He was actually the most injured person this time. A colossal sum of $25 billion had truly gone down the drain.
Thinking of this, everyone suddenly didn't hate Boss Huang as much. Their mood even became somewhat cheerful, because although they were miserable, there was someone who was even more miserable than them! xxs one
"Everyone, we are all victims. My intention to buy Amazon is a legitimate business act. Your desire to make money from Amazon and from me is also a legitimate business act, but why have we ended up in a situation where both parties lose?" Huang He continued to guide the conversation as he saw the atmosphere shift.
"Actually, this was originally a win-win situation. Although I thwarted Goldman Sachs's plot midway and took over Amazon, the shares of Amazon are still in your hands. Moreover, imagine how terrifying the future development of Amazon would be if Amazon and my Wild Horse Wallet formed a strong alliance, injecting the hundreds of billions of dollars in Wild Horse Wallet into Amazon. How many times would your stocks multiply?" Huang He said, and everyone began to fantasize along with Boss Huang's words.
Yes, if the strong alliance between the two were successful, Amazon's market value would likely have exceeded $60 billion.
"But now, everything is ruined. We have all lost everything, and who is the one who truly profited, quietly obtaining over 80% of the shares of a new Amazon?" Huang He said coldly.
This blatant, unreservedly hateful guidance was very successful. At that moment, someone gritted their teeth and uttered Goldman Sachs's name. At this moment, everyone became united in their hatred.