Chapter 354： internet crisis

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As time entered March, "American Beauty" and "There's Always a Sunshine" launched a fierce competition.

"American Beauty" producer Richard Gladstein publicly accused Miramax of spending huge sums of money trying to bribe jury members in order to win an Oscar.

Faced with Richard Gladstein's accusation, Miramax Films not only flatly denied it, but also ridiculed the crew of "American Beauty" for not abiding by the Oscar's PR guidelines. Before the nomination list was announced, it had already started a private PR behavior .

The Oscar jury and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are not opposed to the film company and crew's public relations for the awards.

But there is a premise, before the Oscar nomination list is announced, any public relations activities are absolutely prohibited.

There are also similar bribery methods, which are also on the absolute prohibition list.

Of course, the film company and the crew will not fully abide by it.

Whether it is Orion Films and DreamWorks, Miramax Films or other film companies, before the announcement of the Oscar nomination list, there will be more or less private public relations.

It is relatively rare to use public relations in the form of bribes.

It is generally done in a more stealthy way rather than outright bribery.

It can be said that in order to compete for Oscar awards, DreamWorks and Miramax Films collided fiercely, and they did not back down from each other.

In addition, there seems to be Universal Pictures and Disney.

The Oscars are not like competition at the box office of films, where they can give in to each other without causing much loss.

Once Oscar backs down, it is almost equivalent to all the previous public relations investment in vain.

Orion Pictures and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" have sunk into supporting roles.

It is not difficult for the media to find that the public relations focus of Orion Films is not as expected, it is placed on the best director and best film awards, but on the best foreign language film awards.

Ang Lee felt very disappointed about this.

However, at the moment when the competition between the two films was at its most intense, the attention of the media in North America was attracted by another matter.

A thing that is enough to cause shocks in the American financial world.

On March 10, 2000, when the NASDAQ index reached the highest point of 5048.62, and even the NASDAQ composite index reached 5132.52 that day, just as all investors were cheering.

The Internet bubble, hidden under the false prosperity, has also reached its peak.

With the arrival of Monday's trading day, billions of dollars of sales orders poured out of Nasdaq just after the opening of the market. Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, Yahoo and other leading high-tech stocks are all among them.

As a result, it fell from 5038 to 4879 as soon as the market opened on the 13th, a full drop of 4 percentage points.

A large number of sell orders triggered a chain reaction of selling: investors, funds and institutions began to liquidate one after another. In just 6 days, NASDAQ lost nearly 900 points.

In just one week, Nasdaq, which was originally a prosperous scene, turned into a devastated place, and countless investors went bankrupt.

"Jeff, take it easy."

Ryan looked at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was a little panicked, and showed a confident smile, saying: "This Internet crisis that is spreading will not really spread to Amazon. Everything will happen soon. will pass."

As a listed company, Amazon was inevitably involved in the Internet crisis. A large number of investors blindly sold and cashed out, and the company's stock price fell sharply, causing widespread panic among the company's employees.

"Unfortunately, this crisis has spilled over to Amazon."

Jeff Bezos grimaced and said, "Ryan, I need your support."

In the first three years from 1997 to 1999, Amazon became the "world's largest online retailer" through category expansion and mergers and acquisitions, and its stock price rose to $106.

However, with the advent of the Internet crisis, Amazon's stock price plummeted, and many acquired websites were on the verge of bankruptcy.

According to Jeff Bezos' preliminary calculations, if the Internet crisis cannot pass as soon as possible, Amazon will face a loss of more than US$1 billion this year.

"I can inject a sum of money in no time."

Ryan knew that Amazon must be lacking in cash flow. After thinking for a while, he continued: "For this, I only have one request. Keep Amazon's retail prices, and even lower some retail prices appropriately, so as to take the opportunity to expand market share."

"This crisis will not last forever, and sooner or later it will end."

"Now is the perfect time for Amazon to expand."

This is not his whimsy, Amazon did this in his previous life.

Instead of raising prices due to the Internet crisis, it reduced the prices of books and audio-visual products with more than 50% of the business volume at that time by 20%-30%, adhering to the "everyday low price strategy".

In addition, various postage reduction activities have been launched, which has determined the status of Amazon's online retailer.

Amazon CEO Jim Siegel, who sat beside him, was full of astonishment.

What Ryan just said about maintaining retail prices and taking the opportunity to reduce prices to expand market share is very similar to his thinking.

"Ryan, I will seriously consider your proposal."

"However, I prefer to obtain funds from banking institutions in the form of loans." Jeff Bezos cryptically refused.

Ryan continues to increase his shares through capital injections, which is not a good thing for him and Amazon.

"Then what support do you want from me!" Ryan asked very frankly.

As long as it is not too conducive to the development of Amazon, he can agree to it.

"Guarantee." Jeff Bezos took a deep breath and said, "Amazon needs a solid guarantee to convince the banking institutions to get the funds."

guarantee!

"This is impossible."

"I can't personally vouch for Amazon!"

Ryan flatly refused, and then proposed another solution, "I can provide an upfront fund and announce the repurchase of Amazon shares at an appropriate time."

Stock buybacks!

Jeff Bezos and Jim Siegel looked at each other, and couldn't believe their ears.

"Mr. Gosling."

"I'm afraid this will require an astonishing sum of money." Jim Siegel said.

"First of all, I have sufficient funds." Ryan said.

"In addition, Orion Films has some very low-priced purchase channels, which I think will be very helpful for Amazon to reduce operating costs."

With cheap goods made across the Pacific, Amazon could easily emerge from this crisis.

"Can you be more specific!" Jim Siegel asked curiously.

Ryan picked up a fountain pen and said, "On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Orion Pictures has a lot of cooperation there."

"For example, the normal retail price of this fountain pen in North America is about five or six dollars, but the CIF price of goods on the other side of the Pacific Ocean is only about a few cents, and the CIF value of T-shirts, books, and audio-visual products is also only a few cents. A fraction of North America."

Across the Pacific!

Jim Siegel frowned and was lost in thought. The quality of the goods on the other side of the Pacific Ocean made him a little worried.

But the price!

After a long while, Jim Siegel said: "I need to go back and have someone investigate."

If it is really only a fraction, then it is a great news for Amazon.

The purchase price of retail goods has been greatly reduced, which can completely reduce the burden on users due to postage, and even gradually cancel the postage payment for some commodities.

"So what about you, Jeff!" Ryan's eyes fell on Jeff Bezos.

"I can agree to an upfront injection of funds." Jeff Bezos has no other choice but to agree.

Unless there are assets of sufficient value as collateral , it is absolutely impossible for a banking institution to lend to an Internet company right now.

What's more, the stock repurchase plan proposed by Ryan made it impossible for him to refuse.

In fact, Ryan is very optimistic about Amazon's prospects, otherwise he would not propose a stock repurchase.

Under the Internet crisis in the previous life, in the first quarter of 2002, Amazon officially ushered in its first profitable quarter, announcing a net income of 5 million US dollars.

At that time, Amazon was still able to make a profit despite increasing its investment in logistics and online website function development.

It is enough to prove that Amazon has not only survived the Internet crisis, but also developed rapidly.

Of course, Ryan would not choose to repurchase Amazon shares immediately, but wait until the stock price has fallen to the bottom, and then buy the bottom at a low price.

In the previous life, in 2001, when Amazon's stock price was at its lowest, it was only $6 per share.

That is to say, the stock repurchase mentioned by Ryan just now is only a piece of cake in a short period of time.