When Bernard Arnault finished his interview at the airport and headed straight to the United Nations headquarters accompanied by UN officials, major American media outlets received instructions from Washington.
The instructions were simple: discredit Bernard Arnault as much as possible, the dirtier the better.
Although American media claim to uphold press freedom, they are actually controlled by a group of tycoons. These tycoons, mingling in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, are fundamentally driven by profit. They often fabricate fake news and distort facts for gain or to please Washington. Even the President, before taking office, would angrily denounce these media outlets as “fake news.”
However, to the President, these media are like a toilet. When not in use, he finds them foul, smelly, and dirty. But when he needs them, he happily sits on them, making full use without complaint.
These media outlets dare not defy the President now. Moreover, Bernard Arnault had not given these domestic media any face, so they were eager to take him down. With the President’s orders, it was as if they had been given official permission to seek revenge, and they were naturally delighted.
Thus, they began digging up dirt on Bernard Arnault, each outlet showcasing its own ingenuity.
To be fair, Bernard Arnault had plenty of skeletons in his closet.
For instance, when he acquired the Dior brand, he had deceived the French government. Before the acquisition, he promised to retain workers and jobs, but afterwards, he promptly sacked thousands of employees, breaking his word without hesitation. He had also manipulated the stock market, been implicated in money laundering, and engaged in numerous illegal backroom deals during the acquisition of Louis Vuitton.
However, Bernard Arnault was unfazed by these accusations.
He was a quintessential pragmatist, focused solely on results, willing to cross any line to achieve his goals.
Consequently, American media practitioners eagerly got to work, unearthing every shady or potentially illegal business tactic Bernard Arnault had ever employed, and they reported on them with gusto.
Headlines flooded the newsstands.
For example, “The Dirtiest Billionaire in History,” or “The Bernard Arnault You Don’t Know,” or even “Former World’s Richest Man: A Shameless Scoundrel Who Rose Through Robbery and Theft,” and “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.”
After arriving at the United Nations, while preparing for a donation ceremony in the lounge, Bernard Arnault’s assistant said dejectedly, “Boss, the American media are relentlessly smearing you.”
Bernard Arnault didn’t even raise an eyelid. He snorted, “Smearing me? It’s just those old stories, already public knowledge internationally. Let them have their fun.”
The assistant, somewhat uneasy, said, “But the intensity is overwhelming. Almost every American media outlet is involved, and the coverage is massive.”
“No matter,” Bernard Arnault sneered. “Let them revel in it. Who among those who climbed to the top of the world’s richest list started clean and pure? Didn’t the President pull all sorts of tricks in his business dealings? Let them smear me as much as they like. The worse they make it, the better. Ideally, they’ll make it impossible for me to operate in America.”
The assistant was dumbfounded.
What was the boss up to?
This wasn’t like him at all.
In the past, he was ruthlessly profit-driven, willing to turn against his own father for business. His first hostile takeover, ousting a founder from their own team, was tested on his own father. Once successful, he used that tactic for decades.
Now, this profit-obsessed man seemed indifferent to his American operations, even hinting at pulling his business out of the country. Why?
The assistant couldn’t fathom it, but Bernard Arnault had already thought it through.
Relying on Ye Chen’s permission to slowly accumulate experience points was tough; 50 billion points might take a decade to earn.
Since Ye Chen had sent him to America to stir things up, he had to seize this chance to thoroughly offend them, deliberately causing losses to maximise his damage.
For him, the greater the loss, the greater the reward.
Few in the world could grasp this bizarre logic.
With a sly smile, he thought to himself, “If I ruin the American market, Ye Chen better not back out.”
Twenty minutes later.
As the storm of scandals about Bernard Arnault blanketed the skies of free America, he adjusted his suit, stepped out of the lounge, and walked into the spotlight.
Reporters snapped photos furiously, many eagerly awaiting the interview session. The media war had just unilaterally declared an attack on Bernard Arnault, and he had yet to retaliate. Everyone was curious to see how he would respond.
UN officials, uninterested in the drama, were only concerned about securing Bernard Arnault’s money.
