As Dr. Cooper had encountered, a few days after Dr. Parkinson’s departure, the board representatives had a very peaceful conversation with Dr. Cooper.
A few days later, Dr. Cooper sent out an internal email. He said that he was getting old and felt his mind was a bit muddled, and his fingers could no longer type with strength. Coupled with the current tumultuous period at Goldman Sachs, Dr. Cooper had decided to abdicate his position as President of Goldman Sachs, return to his estate to enjoy his twilight years, and live a happy life.
In this email, he reviewed the various events that had occurred during his 20 years at the helm of Goldman Sachs. Finally, he made a concluding statement about himself, saying, “During these past 20 years, I have done many things correctly, but I believe that the sum of these correct actions cannot compensate for my one mistake: standing by and watching the rise of Jiangnan Group and the Chinese people, which may bring fatal impact and crisis to Goldman Sachs in the future. I am deeply concerned about this.”
“However, it is fortunate that we have a strong board of directors and new leadership. I believe that under the leadership of these strong successors, Goldman Sachs will surely overcome these crises and become the best Goldman Sachs forever.”
After publishing such a letter, Dr. Cooper left Goldman Sachs very decisively. The successor was undoubtedly Professor Parkinson.
It is worth mentioning that one of the reasons Dr. Cooper gave for his resignation was his advanced age. However, Dr. Cooper was 72 years old this year, while Professor Parkinson was 73 years old, making him a year older than Dr. Cooper.
Simply put, both used age as a reason to retire their respective presidents, only to appoint an even older president. This could almost be considered a humorous anecdote.
After taking office, Professor Parkinson also published a company-wide internal letter outlining his strategy for Goldman Sachs' future development. He stated his intention to cooperate more extensively with global enterprises and establish more branches in emerging markets worldwide to bring stronger development momentum to Goldman Sachs' business.
Unlike Dr. Cooper, who directly identified Jiangnan Group as a competitor to Goldman Sachs in his letter, Dr. Parkinson’s discourse did not mention Jiangnan Group at all from beginning to end. This difference in their specific policies was evident.
As expected, Goldman Sachs and Jiangnan then entered a honeymoon period of mutual non-interference, and even cooperation.
The U.S. economy, under the influence of the bailout plan, began a strong rebound. The entire country seemed to be doing exceptionally well, returning to its peak years. The world, except for a few localized areas with ongoing wars, seemed to have instantly entered an era of prosperity.
However, beneath this prosperity, there were still a few unlucky individuals. The unluckiest among them was probably our Mr. Bezos, who was about to leave the company he founded.
This time, however, it wasn't because someone acquired his company, but because his Wanbaoge company had completely collapsed.
To outsiders, Wanbaoge was severely affected by the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, making it unable to continue operations and leading to its closure in 2009.
But Bezos knew very well that his Wanbaoge had already begun to decline under the attack of its competitors.
“Sir, you don’t need to worry too much. Everything will be fine, just as you left Amazon to create Wanbaoge. Even if Wanbaoge falls today, you will surely have a new future!” Seeing his president’s spirit somewhat dejected, his secretary offered comforting words.
“Even if there is a new future, it will definitely not be in the e-commerce industry. The entire e-commerce industry no longer has a future, because it has been completely monopolized by Jiangnan Group!” Bezos sighed, reflecting on his experiences over the past three years with much emotion.
He recalled three years ago. Although he was forced to leave Amazon, the company he had founded, the situation was completely different from now.
At that time, even though he left, he still felt that the entire market belonged to him. Moreover, his departure was incredibly majestic and powerful. With a wave of his right hand, almost all the employees of Amazon followed him, leaving only an empty shell for the opponent.
With another wave of his left hand, he took all the merchants from Amazon with him. With just himself, he changed the ranking of the entire industry. How magnificent he felt then.
At that time, he firmly believed that he was the person who understood e-commerce the best in the world. Even if he switched companies, he would be able to become the world’s number one again and reclaim the Amazon that once belonged to him.
But now, looking at the completely tidied office, Bezos revealed a bitter smile. Everything was over. His glory and dreams had completely ended.
As Bezos packed his belongings and left with his secretary, the remaining employees of Wanbaoge, still in the office building, watched Bezos nervously. This was likely the last time they would see Bezos in the office building, as they too would have to leave after completing the final wrap-up work in a few days.
Bezos originally wanted to say something to them, but the words caught in his throat, and he was unable to speak. In the end, he could only wish them all a bright future.
As Bezos left the office building and prepared to get into his chauffeured car, he noticed a rather understated Porsche parked beside his car. However, upon seeing this car, Bezos’s brows furrowed tightly.
This was because the dozen or so parking spaces around his car were his exclusive parking spaces. No other vehicles were allowed to park in these spots, and security guards were responsible for monitoring them daily.
But even though he was leaving today, a car parking in his spot still felt like excessive provocation.
However, considering his current state, being bullied seemed fitting, so Bezos sighed and was about to obediently get into his car to leave when the car door suddenly opened. A man in a suit, dressed very professionally, who clearly looked like a secretary, stepped out and respectfully said to Bezos, “Mr. Bezos, our boss would like to speak with you.”
“Who is the boss?” Bezos asked curiously.
“You’ll know when you go inside!” the other man said lightly. Bezos hesitated for a moment, then simply slid into the car and met someone he never expected.
“Madame Versailles!” Bezos never imagined that the person sitting in the car was Versailles originally.
In the United States, “Madame” is both a common and uncommon word.
It is common because as long as a woman has a husband, almost everyone will call her Madame, and they will also use her husband’s surname, making her an appendage of a man.
Many domestic radical feminists yearn for the lives of foreign women, believing that foreign women have so many rights and are so independent and self-reliant. However, these foreign women cannot even have their own independent surname after marriage; they must use their husband’s surname to have meaning.
In China, women always hold up half the sky.
Conversely, if a woman is unmarried, outsiders rarely call her Madame. However, there is a special case: if the woman is extremely powerful, possessing immense wealth or authority.
In this case, Madame is no longer just Madame but a term of respect.
Just as in China, “Sir” is no longer just “Sir” but a form of respect.
And now, the proud Bezos subconsciously referred to Versailles as Madame Versailles, which indicates that Versailles’ power in the entire United States has become very formidable.
This is indeed the case. Under Madame Versailles’ leadership, the U.S. Priority Fund and its subsidiary enterprises have become prominent companies in the United States.
The Weibo they created has now become the world’s largest social media platform, even suppressing Facebook’s expansion in the Americas and parts of Asia. This has ultimately formed a duopoly in the social media sector.
Meanwhile, because Madame Versailles resolutely implemented the policy of cooperating with Jiangnan Group, she would always insert herself into Jiangnan Group’s endeavors by leveraging her personal friendship with them.
For example, in Atari Communications, U.S. Priority holds a 40% stake, and in Oriental Amazon, it also holds a 10% stake. In essence, the U.S. Priority Fund has inserted itself into most of Jiangnan Group’s enterprises in the United States, with only a few exceptions.
Then, they boarded the high-speed development train and became incredibly wealthy with the growth of Jiangnan Group.
Concurrently, Madame Versailles also invested in many industries on her own. For instance, she previously invested in a cloud computing company and, relying on her strong relationship with Jiangnan Group, purchased a large quantity of servers from Jiangnan Group at a 10% discounted price, directly crushing the established U.S. data service provider Oracle. Her Versailles Cloud Palace became the largest data operator in the United States, providing cloud data services to over 70% of businesses nationwide.
In addition, she has invested in many internet companies, the most recent investment being a ride-hailing software called Uber. According to incomplete statistics, her total assets have exceeded $300 billion.
Although this figure may not seem to reach the level of 00 Network, how many women in the world can wield businesses worth $300 billion?
However, for Versailles, assets are far less powerful than her personal reputation.
In fact, Madame Versailles rarely interferes with company operations. She entrusts all companies to professional teams and only occasionally orders the teams to acquire or invest in certain enterprises; she does not get involved in other matters.
Her most significant work is charity.
It is not uncommon to do charity work in the United States, but Madame Versailles is the biggest anomaly in the entire field of charity!