> Most likely only a small fraction of the people who were going to make a purchase heard this news This is the part I was referring to as "not actually true".

> Most likely only a small fraction of the people who were going to make a purchase heard this news This is the part I was referring to as "not actually true". Fact: the site itself, which was loading although not working entirely, displayed a big banner saying this during the problem periods. It was hard to miss. The rest is indeed just speculation either way. I doubt the losses are as high as estimated, but there's no way to say without inside data.