Chapter 3505: The Perfect Solution

Everyone with eyes can see that the American media suddenly started exposing Bernard Arnault's past scandals because he refused to back down on the White Horse Island incident.

Although everyone understands the tactic, once Bernard Arnault's scandals were exposed, many people still felt some dissatisfaction or their admiration weakened somewhat.

In fact, the President's move itself is an open plot.

Everyone knows I'm the one exposing his scandals, but so what? Once the scandals are out, people's attitude toward him will definitely change.

But no one expected Bernard Arnault to be this hardcore—he actually shut down dozens of his brands' thousands of stores nationwide over a disagreement.

You know the American market generates over a hundred billion dollars in annual sales and several billion in net profit—just saying he'd shut it down and doing it? That's ruthless.

The President watching the live stream in his office was stunned.

He had been monitoring the press conference live stream, originally planning to wait for the Q&A to see reporters question Bernard Arnault about the scandals, then watch how this old man would respond—surely making him look embarrassed.

But who would have thought that before the reporter Q&A even began, this old coot went all out!

The round-faced aide beside him was also stunned, muttering: "This... is this old thing mentally ill?! He's shutting down all stores tomorrow over such a trivial matter—does he really need to?!"

The President also felt bewildered: "Yeah... looking at this, it doesn't seem like a sound business move at all... feels like I accidentally farted and offended him, and now he's threatening me that if I don't apologize, he'll chop off one of his own legs... this is fucking sick! He needs a neurologist and a psychiatrist to intervene simultaneously!"

The aide asked embarrassedly: "So what should we do now? The situation has become too passive because of this old coot—we were just threatening him, planning to slap a parking ticket on his car, but this guy just ditched the car entirely. If he really shuts down all stores, public opinion will surely turn directly in his favor..."

"I don't know what to do either!" the President shouted angrily: "This is ridiculous! Absolutely absurd! Originally, we were just giving each other a way out, and this could have been settled, but this old bastard won't give me any face at all. Now I was just about to ruin his reputation, and he just... quit living..."

At the scene, after Bernard Arnault announced his decision, reporters raised their hands one after another to ask questions.

This time, Bernard Arnault still prioritized AFP.

The AFP reporter asked him: "Mr. Arnault, as far as I know, your group's annual net profit in the American market is roughly two to three billion dollars, possibly even more. You suddenly want to shut down all your stores in the United States—doesn't that seem like too great a loss for you?"

Bernard Arnault said without hesitation: "The loss is significant, but it doesn't matter. What I care about now is whether justice can be served."

Saying this, he looked down at several American media reporters below the stage and smiled: "The American journalist friends present should all be aware—your media has been digging into my past behavior and deeds since just minutes ago. I admit that during the primitive capital accumulation process, I, like many businessmen who have appeared on the rich lists, have had some or other original sins. I won't deny this, nor can I deny it. What I can do now is to repay society as much as I can through concrete actions—also making amends for the mistakes I made back then. People make mistakes, but some never admit their faults in a lifetime, let alone pay for them. But I'm different—I admit it and am willing to bear the responsibility."

Seeing this, the melon-eating crowd instantly changed their view of Bernard Arnault: "Although the old man used to do plenty of shady things, he's turned over a new leaf now—for justice, he's giving up several billion dollars in annual net profit. So what if he was dirty before? Answer me! Look into my eyes and answer me!"

The reporters on site were also convinced—the old man's attitude and words had formed an impregnable copper wall and iron wall; from now on, his divine skill is complete, blades and spears cannot penetrate.

Of course, the premise is that he firmly implements the store closure decision, rather than feinting once to toy with the public.

Moreover, some reporters didn't believe he'd make such a sacrifice, so they asked him: "Mr. Arnault, are you sure all stores will close today at midnight? Or are you just playing a word game with us—stores naturally close at midnight, but reopen tomorrow morning for normal business? I'd like to know: after your stores nationwide close at midnight today, when will they resume operations?"

Bernard Arnault said calmly: "No deadline, but it absolutely won't be too short. Knowing you're worried I'm exaggerating here for attention, I can promise you one thing: the shutdown of American stores will begin in three years, with no upper limit!"

"Holy shit! Pure fucking beast!"

The President in front of the TV slammed his half-drunk cola onto the ground—he was extremely furious yet also felt utterly powerless.

As the President of America, I can guarantee that everyone in America and everyone wanting to come to America to live and make money must look at my face—I make them do as I say, or else I have plenty of ways to deal with them.

But if they don't want to come to America to live or make money, then to them, my influence is nearly zero.

If you go to those underdeveloped countries and ask the local farmers and lower-class people, they might not even know the American President's surname or given name. Once Bernard Arnault gives up the American market, his relationship with the President will be just like that with those underdeveloped countries' lower-class farmers—no matter how huge the difference in status and position, in the end, neither can do anything to the other.

Moreover, Bernard Arnault publicly announced that American stores will close for at least three years—he's very likely to lose ten billion dollars in net profit.

And to cut costs, he'll definitely have to lay off tens of thousands of employees in America—by then, those tens of thousands of employees and their families will become my opponents, and public opinion will definitely side with Bernard Arnault!

The President was furious beyond measure, wishing he could directly slap that old coot hard.

At that moment, a CNN reporter with a dark face asked Bernard Arnault: "Mr. Arnault, if you really shut down all your stores nationwide in America, does that mean your company will lay off tens of thousands of American local employees? And do you think that's fair to those employees and their families?"

Bernard Arnault smirked inwardly: "Lay off staff? Don't joke—I could never lay off staff! These tens of thousands of American employees are my experience-boosting cheat! Although each person's amount isn't much, added together isn't that an astronomical figure? At least starting from ten billion dollars! Doing business is like sailing against the current—if you don't advance, you retreat. Once I shut down all stores here, I won't just lose over a hundred billion in annual sales and several billion in net profit—I'll also have to bear the extra burden of rent for these thousands of stores and wages and benefits for tens of thousands of employees. How could I possibly pass up this good thing?!"

So he waved his hand grandly and said generously: "Shutting down stores is my personal protest against the American government shielding Blackwater. How could I let tens of thousands of American employees suffer because of my personal decision? So I want to announce here to all American employees: during this three-year store shutdown period, everyone's salary will continue to be paid normally!"

"Fuck me!"

The people in Washington directly broke down.

This is fucking deadly—facing such an enemy, even immortals couldn't possibly win!

The reporters on site were also dazed.

They've been rolling around in the news industry for so many years, seeing all kinds of bizarre things, but they've never seen anything like this now.

A boss shut down an entire market worth several billion dollars annually just because of a minor personal temper.

That's bad enough, but the key is that no employees are laid off, and salaries are still paid.

If I'd known this earlier, I'd have quit a day early and gone to work at one of his group's stores—wouldn't I just be lying around collecting three years' salary?

At this moment, all employees of Bernard Arnault's group's American stores were wildly celebrating—happiness came too suddenly; this truly is a dream-come-true super blessing, so good that even if you went to church, you'd have no face to ask God for such a wish.

But now, Bernard Arnault has made it come true for them.

When Bernard Arnault said those words, he himself felt a pang of pain in his heart.

As a capitalist, his pain isn't about losing money—because losing money looks like gaining money to him, since he gains experience points from losing money at Ye Chen's.

What truly pains him is that his employees get three years' salary without working—really too cheap for them.

The essence of a capitalist is to exploit employees' surplus value, but bought-in employees can't be exploited, so he feels like he's suffered a huge loss.

However, being an old-school capitalist bred in an old-school capitalist nation, he quickly thought of a countermeasure and said with a smile: "Of course, I want to clarify here: when I say stores are closing, I don't mean I'm driving employees away and locking the doors—I mean I want my employees to keep working in my stores, and my stores will remain open to all American customers, except that all American stores will no longer have sales function—I'll just treat them as exhibition halls to show our products and brand philosophy to the American public!"

As soon as he said that, the employees' earlier wild celebration came to an abrupt halt.

But it didn't affect the public's admiration for Bernard Arnault.

And for Bernard Arnault, shutting down the American market, paying employees' salaries and store rents despite no sales, will make the group's American financial reports look extremely ugly—losses will definitely be astronomical. This way, at Ye Chen's, he can maximize experience gain.

Although the thousands of stores that only open for display without sales can't generate revenue, they can still contribute enough publicity to the brand.

This way, Americans wanting to buy our luxury brands can only choose to purchase overseas or go through overseas agents or overseas online shopping.

By then, the income from these American orders will be counted in the group's sales performance in other countries—not only will I have made money, but I won't interfere with the American market's continued losses—equivalent to me gaining experience points while money keeps earning through another channel—truly the perfect solution!