America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 460 The Chaos Begins

My trip to New York was a very rewarding one.

Besides the painting "Christ in a Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee," Ernst also auctioned two other pieces from his collection.

One of them was a bronze eagle-shaped spire from the Imperial Guard during the Napoleonic era, which cost him $88.

There was another item that I managed to snag, and a really good one at that: Giuseppe Castiglione's "Imperial Hunting with the Eight Banners".

Ernst was certain that the painting must have been looted by the Eight-Nation Alliance, because he had never even heard of it.

Very few of Giuseppe Castiglione's works have survived; he only heard about them from the guide when he visited an exhibition in his previous life.

Apart from the one exhibited at the time, he had some recollection of the names of Lang Shining's other masterpieces, because the prices were so exorbitant, each one costing nearly 100 million yuan, which left a lasting impression on him.

This painting, "The Emperor's Hunting Trip with the Eight Banners," measures 212.3 cm in height and 127.1 cm in width. It depicts the scene of Emperor Qianlong and the banner leaders of the Eight Banners hunting in autumn. Both its size and the content of the painting make it a treasure and one of his masterpieces.

But he had never heard the guide mention this painting, which meant its whereabouts were unknown.

Even now, before Lang Shining's works have become popular, Ernst has already acquired them for $33.

Twenty years from now, this will be considered a national treasure, and you still won't be able to buy it even if you add two more zeros to its name.

As the saying goes, good news makes people feel good, so Ernst didn't mind that Jobs shamelessly hitched a ride back on the plane.

But as soon as the flash sale started, the trouble began.

With a solemn expression, Affil placed a thick kraft paper envelope in front of him. The seal of the envelope still showed signs of being opened, indicating that it had been checked in advance.

"This is a package that the company's front desk received this morning. It contains a copy of the lawsuit filed by Walmart and related materials. They accuse us of illegally poaching their core management personnel and of stealing trade secrets."

"They're not just suing us for poaching talent; they're trying to cripple our rushed logistics and delivery plans." Mark Lewis, the legal director of Flashbuy, slammed his fist on the conference table, the solid wood surface making a dull thud. His face was grim. "Walmart's legal team is known as the strongest legal team in the retail industry. Once litigation begins, we're likely to be bogged down in a protracted legal battle, and we can't afford the time and financial costs!"

The meeting room fell into a deathly silence, and a gloomy look hung over the faces of every attendee.

Ernst sat at the head of the conference table, his fingers tapping lightly on the surface, his mind racing.

He understood what Mark Lewis meant: he wasn't afraid of going to court, but rather afraid that the other party would drag things out and not fight him.

I glanced at Dahlzel sitting next to Affili. This Walmart employee had only arrived at the flash sale yesterday, and today he received a lawyer's letter from Walmart. They were well-prepared.

"Walmart's goal is very clear: to delay as much as possible the time when Dahlzel officially takes over the flash sale logistics business." Ernst broke the silence in the meeting room. "Regarding the poaching of key employees, our legal team has conducted a thorough risk assessment in the early stages. Although there is a non-compete agreement, it clearly stipulates that the scope of the non-compete restriction only applies to traditional retail companies."

"Our Flashbuy is an internet technology-based platform and an internet company. Legally speaking, we are not subject to the restrictions of a non-compete agreement, so it is difficult for them to pose a substantial threat to us in this respect."

"But stealing trade secrets is a different story." Ernst's tone became more serious.

"If Walmart drags this out, the court may issue an injunction to suspend Dahlzel's employment at FlashShop before the case is thoroughly investigated and a final judgment is made."

"This is Walmart's real killer move."

"What are your thoughts?" Ernst looked at Dalzel, who was sitting next to Affiliate. Dalzel's face was also ashen; he probably hadn't expected Walmart's retaliation to come so quickly.

It was clear that Glass had left him no way out and had prepared for all of this long ago.

If the court does rule to postpone his joining Flashbuy, Flashbuy will not wait for him. Even if he does join later, he will be in the same position as he was at Walmart, at most a deputy in charge of a department.

"I think we can find some useful rebuttals in Walton's quotes." Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Dahlzel said, "There's a quote in 'Most Rich in America' that says Sam himself admitted, 'We learned more from our competitors than we learned in any business school.'"

Ernst frowned. "Can this be used as a defense?"

"Of course!" General Counsel Mark Lewis's eyes lit up, his tone filled with barely concealed excitement. He immediately chimed in, "Walmart's core secrets are low prices and efficient logistics, but the essence of low prices lies in optimizing the supply chain, and the key to efficiency is understanding customer needs. These are universal principles of the retail industry, not their trade secrets."

"We hired Dahlzel to be in charge of the storage, logistics and distribution system. Every retail giant operates in a similar way."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, Dalzel hasn't officially joined us yet."

Although Dahlzel has joined Flashbuy, there are too many details in the onboarding contract, and the contract has not yet been formally signed. The two parties have only reached a consensus on a broad level.

Things like holiday expenses and various miscellaneous subsidies are still being determined, but haven't been completely finalized yet.

"This proves that we built our own warehousing, logistics and distribution system, and that Darzel is just a normal managerial position that we hired."

Ernst nodded and ordered, "Go and buy all the books about Walmart. I don't want to drag this out any longer; it needs to be resolved as soon as possible."

"Speaking of which, we should thank Bezos," Affili said with a smile. "I think Walmart is more concerned about the impact Amazon is having on them right now than about us, right?"

Ernst chuckled upon hearing this. He looked at Affili and joked, "So, according to you, should I send that Bezos guy a thank-you note?"

His words made everyone in the conference room laugh, instantly easing the previously tense and oppressive atmosphere.

Besides receiving a lawyer's letter from Walmart, there's something else worth noting for Flash Sale today: Amazon has upgraded its page and is officially expanding into more product categories.

"I took a look at Amazon's latest website, and just as we thought, they came out with a killer move right from the start, launching a price war right away," Affil reminded him.

Ernst, however, remained remarkably calm. He snorted and said with a hint of confidence, "They're just grasshoppers in autumn; they won't last long. Although they have certain advantages in product variety and price, they still have obvious shortcomings in the sophistication of their warehousing and logistics distribution system and the refinement of their user experience."

While Flash Sale was studying Walmart and Amazon, an emergency meeting was being held in a conference room at Walmart headquarters.

Glass stood by the window, looking at the neatly arranged trucks in the parking lot not far away, his face gloomy.

"According to our latest information, in addition to Dahlzel having formally submitted his resignation, twelve other technical employees in the logistics department also submitted their resignations today," Walmart's Human Resources Director, Robert Goldfinger, reported solemnly, holding a list of resignations.

"Based on these employees' resignation applications and information we have learned privately, they clearly intend to join Flashbuy with Darzel."

"A bunch of traitors!" Marketing Director Thomas slammed his fist on the conference table and roared angrily.

"Is there anything we can do about these employees?" Glass said coldly.

Robert shook his head, saying, "It's difficult. It's difficult for us to prosecute these employees like we prosecuted Dalzel."

"They are not part of Walmart's core management team, and even an appeal cannot prevent them from joining FlashShop."

"We still need to cause them some trouble. We can't let Flashbuy build its warehousing and logistics team so easily." Glass turned around, his finger tracing the windowsill. "The lawsuit isn't the goal. The real battlefield isn't in the courtroom, it's on the shelves."

"Amazon has already launched a price war, and we should delay Flash Sale from joining this low-price siege against Walmart until we come up with a strategy."