Bezos was so shameless that even Zane, who knew he could be a bit shameless himself, was amazed.
"Greatness,"
"win-win,"
"sharing"...
All these fancy words just flowed out of Bezos's mouth. He didn't even blink.
"Darn," Zane thought, "Bezos really learned a lot in college. He truly believes that 'profit comes first,' just like those Wall Street guys. As long as he can make money, he doesn't care about looking proud. He doesn't care what anyone thinks."
Zane sighed. He felt like he needed to practice his own shameless skills more.
Amazon was going to be a huge company. In the future, it would be worth more than $1.3 trillion. That's a 13 with eleven zeros! It would be one of the three biggest companies in the world.
But... even when Amazon was that big, it would still ask the U.S. government for money, claiming it was a "small business."
Can you believe that? The bosses of Microsoft and Apple would never do that. But Bezos did!
Everyone in America knew that Amazon paid almost no taxes but still got money from the government.
Did Bezos care? Nope! He believed in "profit first."
So, it made sense that Zane and Bezos got along so well. They were both shameless in their own way.
After visiting the LinkedIn company, Zane and Bezos left and had a wonderful, fancy dinner together.
"Zane," Bezos said suddenly, after they had ordered. "You're paying for this meal."
Zane just stared at him. "Baldy, didn't you say you were treating me? Why do I have to pay? Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm feeling fine," Bezos said, looking very serious. "But it's all your fault. You didn't let me buy a piece of your LinkedIn company. My feelings are very hurt. So, you have to make it up to me... starting with this meal!"
Darn it! Zane thought. I've seen shameless people, but this is a whole new level! You're a billionaire, and you're going to be the richest man in the world. You're too shameless!
Zane just smiled right back at him. "You want to invest in my company? As a friend, I'm happy to hear it. But... how many shares of Amazon are you going to give me in exchange?"
If Bezos was going to be shameless, Zane could be shameless, too.
In the future, "Bezos Treats to a Meal" would become a famous joke. One time, Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg (the boss of Facebook) went to dinner. Bezos made Zuckerberg pay. But Zuckerberg was shameless, too! They argued for a long time about who should pay the bill. In the end, they just split it.
Zane tried one more time. "Jeff, you're the owner of Amazon. You're worth way more than me. If you don't pay for dinner, even God will be upset. Do you need God to come down here and tell you to pay?"
"Haha," Bezos said, not missing a beat. "God can't eat for free, don't you think?"
Darn it! Zane thought. I still underestimated his shamelessness.
In the end, Zane was defeated on the question of who would pay.
But really, both Zane and Bezos were billionaires. They weren't really arguing about the money. A meal was nothing. They were just having fun and adding a little amusement to life.
During the meal, Bezos finally told Zane what he really wanted.
"What?" Zane's eyes narrowed. "The big investors at Amazon want you to hurry up and buy a bunch of other companies? To grow super-fast?"
"Yes," Bezos said, his face now very serious. "I do not agree with growing blindly. I have enough shares to lead the company, but I still hope you will support my decision at the next big meeting. That's why I wanted to talk to you."
Zane nodded. He understood. He agreed with Bezos 100%.
Growing fast just to get big was stupid. Zane knew from his old life that hundreds of internet companies did that in the 90s. They grew into huge, billion-dollar companies in just a year or two.
But when the internet bubble popped, all those "huge" companies that grew too fast went bankrupt. They were gone.
Amazon was different. It lost a lot of money in the bubble, too, but it survived because Bezos was smart. He made sure his company was strong.
"Baldy, you just do what you think is right," Zane said firmly. "I support you. As for those other shareholders? Let them die. Don't listen to their nonsense."
Bezos's serious face broke into a happy smile. "My friend, I knew you would support me. Thank you."
Zane just smiled back. "Don't just say 'thank you.' You're paying for this meal!"
"Hehe," Bezos said. "Don't even think about it."
...
Time flew by, and it was early October.
Zane, after a nice break, flew to Wall Street in New York. He was back at Gale Capital.
"Boss, here are the new financial reports," Henry, the man in charge, said as he handed Zane a folder.
Zane nodded and took it. He hadn't been to this office in a while, but he checked their reports every single day.
"Well, not bad," Zane said, reading the numbers. "You made another $3 million in the past few days. Henry, tell the teams they're getting an extra 2% bonus, just like the company rules say."
"Thank you, boss!" Henry smiled.
Zane was very generous because his team was doing an amazing job. It had been almost 50 days since Zane had given them $20 million to trade on their own.
In that time, they had made another $19.2 million for Zane! They had almost doubled his money.
"Henry, I want you to inform everyone to take a short vacation for a few days," Zane said suddenly.
Henry's eyes narrowed. He knew his boss. "Huh? Boss... are you... planning some... big moves... after the holiday?"
Zane didn't answer. He just smiled.
------------------------------------------------------------------
(New Membership Option)
Discount Also and New fanfiction
Check My New Story : Dimensional Chat Group: Surviving Stranger Things
Huge Content: Read 350+ chapters ahead.+ Access to all my Fanfics Chapters.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter.