Chapter 883 The Gap Between Collaborators

The executive Amazon sent to China this time to be in charge of the entire China business is named William Yang, an American with a quarter of Chinese descent. So he gave himself the Chinese name of Yang William.

Before William Yang came to China, he was assigned an order in a critical situation. Amazon has been struggling in the quagmire since the bursting of the Internet bubble until this year. This year, it finally began to shake off the shadow of the bursting of the Internet bubble. The entire Amazon began to gradually turn losses into profits. In this case, Amazon is all thinking about how to optimize the industrial model and consolidate the domestic market, and has never thought about expanding overseas markets at this critical moment.

However, the "Internet Going Home" policy suddenly launched by the Huaxia government has attracted the attention of the Internet giants in the United States to Huaxia, a huge market with a population of 1.3 billion.

For U.S. capital and enterprises, they are very aware of the execution and driving force of the Huaxia government. This kind of execution and driving force is so powerful that the West can't match it. For example, reform and opening up, a single policy has made the world aware of Huaxia. The strong executive power of the government, so in their eyes, as long as it is a favorable policy promoted by the Huaxia government, it must be the biggest benefit for the industry.

It is also because of this policy that Amazon focused its attention on the Huaxia market. When they discovered that there was already a large-scale enterprise with a clear model such as Taobao in Huaxia, they made a decision almost immediately: they must set foot in the Huaxia market immediately, otherwise Once you miss this opportunity, it will be much more difficult to enter the Huaxia market in the future.

William Yang has Chinese descent, can speak Chinese, and has a certain understanding of China. It is precisely for these reasons that he was appointed as the eo of China Amazon.

At this moment, Yang William looked at the red-faced Boss Ma and the silent Boss Li, and felt extremely unhappy, and secretly said: "If there is no such a big enemy as Taobao, how could Amazon be with you two unknown Chinese children. Enterprise cooperation? These two people, one has no pattern at all, and the other has a small pattern that makes people irritable."

Boss Ma was speaking to Yang William in fluent English at this time: "We can't invest too high publicity costs in the initial stage, 10 million RMB is the highest limit within the reasonable range in my opinion, and it can be added up to 2 million US dollars at most. More!"

Yang William knocked on the table, and said to Boss Ma with a bit of contempt, "Mr. Ma, Taobao has the backing of Muye Technology, and its ability to promote online is extremely powerful. Under the threat of being the first to take the lead?"

Boss Ma said: "What we need to do is to compete with Taobao in a differentiated way. They rely on the brand day to strengthen Taobao's advantages in electronic product sales in front of consumers across the country. Then we will use our promotional activities to lay a solid foundation for us. Take advantage of department stores.”

After speaking, Boss Ma added: "It is important to carry out a certain amount of publicity and promotion on this basis, but there must be a degree. Right now, we have a total of more than 30 million US dollars on the book of Le Tao, and we must do a good job in fighting with Taobao. Preparation for a protracted war, rather than starting the heavy-asset operation model as soon as it comes up, otherwise, once our funds can’t keep up, everything will be lost.”

The reason why a Letao that has not been launched is valued at 500 million is not because the shell is really valuable, but because Softbank and Amazon have to set a tone at the beginning: we are going to do a big thing together, order this The keynote, everyone pooled money together to work.

Amazon invested 30% of the shares at a valuation of 500 million yuan. This 150 million yuan was not given to Boss Ma, but was put into the account of Hangzhou Letao.

Boss Ma also relies on SoftBank to provide money to make up for this part of the funds that belong to him and SoftBank.

It stands to reason that Ali accounts for 51% and needs to invest 255 million yuan.

However, because the entire plate of Letao is made by Ali, the team is owned by Ali, the framework is built by Ali, and the resources of Ali are used, so Ali enjoys a certain discount of resources. 153 million.

As for Li Guoqing of Dangdang.com, the Dangdang.com he brought in has a certain value, so he directly used Dangdang.com as his investment part.

The original valuation of Dangdang.com was at least 50 million US dollars, but it was hit by Taobao. Although the loss was huge, it was slightly stronger than Zhuoyue. Now it is worth about 178 million to 20 million US dollars. About 150 million RMB.

If Li Guoqing fully invested in Dangdang, it would be reasonable to give Li Guoqing at least about 30% of the shares at a valuation of 500 million. However, Boss Ma is not very optimistic about Li Guoqing, so he does not want his share to be too high. %, and then supply him with an additional 50 million yuan in cash for the M&A plan. Li Guoqing knew that he was in the greatest danger at the moment, so he did not hesitate to agree to Boss Ma's proposal, in order to share his danger among other partners.

As a result, Letao currently has nearly 250 million funds, which seems to be a lot, but this money is to maintain the operation of an e-commerce platform after it goes online, to fight a protracted battle with such a large platform as Taobao, and to maintain a consistent With an ever-expanding team and continuous investment in promotion, in general, 250 million RMB is not a lot, and it is just over 30 million in US dollars.

Boss Ma also knows that with Li Mu, after Le Tao goes online, don’t expect the possibility of making a profit in a year or two. If the money is burned out, everyone will either increase capital or raise external financing.

Amazon must have the ability to increase capital at any time, but Softbank is a little disappointed with itself now and has lost confidence in itself, otherwise they would not bring Amazon into Letao’s project to do it together. Based on this situation, I want to Plan carefully and act cautiously, and don’t burn the money too early, otherwise, once SoftBank feels that this is a bottomless pit, it is likely to lose confidence.

SoftBank is a capital company. Once they lose confidence in the project, they will definitely find a way to cash out so that they can take out the money and invest in other projects.

Amazon is an e-commerce company. It understands the industry better and has money. The most likely situation at that time is: SoftBank directly sells its shares to Amazon, and then takes the money and walks away, regardless of whether the project is successful or not. If the investment can be recovered, it may be profitable.

At that time, I was miserable. Amazon borrowed its own shell to gain a firm foothold in China, but it lost the support of Softbank. At that time, Amazon will definitely occupy the shares, and Li Guoqing and himself are likely to be washed out. The real winner in the end It's Amazon and SoftBank, nothing to do with themselves.

From Boss Ma's point of view, Sun Zhengyi probably just wanted to leave a way out and let Amazon take over for Letao in the future, so he brought Amazon in, so Boss Ma must do his best to avoid this from happening.

Regarding this point, Boss Ma guessed right.

The reason why Yang William wants Boss Ma to invest more in publicity and promotion is because he has a bigger plan. He hopes that Le Tao will start a strategy of burning money as soon as he comes up, and burn money quickly. The faster it burns, the less opponents will follow. On the rhythm, as long as the rhythm is opened, not to mention catching up, but you will be able to gain a firm foothold quickly.

Yang William's so-called firm foothold is to gain a firm foothold in the market share. To achieve this goal, Letao must continue to invest on a large scale.

It is very difficult for e-commerce platforms to make profits, not to mention that in such a situation with strong opponents, it is even more necessary to prepare for long-term unprofitability. On this basis, if the speed of Le Tao’s money-burning can be accelerated, Softbank will definitely be affected by this The rhythm is frightening. If the money is quickly burned out and the capital increase is started, SoftBank may have to reconsider whether to continue to follow up. If they have the intention to withdraw, Amazon will directly invest in the shares in SoftBank’s hands and buy it. At that time, it will definitely control Le Tao, And Letao also has a certain foundation in China. Amazon will find a way to force Ali and Li Guoqing to sell more shares through capital increase, acquisition, etc., and then they can occupy the magpie's nest and completely take Letao into the bag.

Amazon's idea was to find two local Chinese companies to build fortifications and dig trenches together, and then find a way to drive these two companies out after the fortifications and trenches were dug.

Once Amazon achieves this goal, it can directly introduce more funds from the U.S. capital market, let a large number of dollars flow into their bridgehead in the Chinese market, and then occupy the entire market in one fell swoop with an unstoppable offensive.

It is precisely because of their own misconceptions that Boss Ma and Yang William have been very disrespectful from the very beginning. They don't like each other very well. Before that, the two people's dislike of each other was just hidden in their hearts, but today's meeting, the two For the first time, the contradiction is revealed.

Yang William's attitude was extremely firm, and he asked Boss Ma to make additional investment.

Boss Ma's attitude was even more determined. He even clapped the table and said loudly to William Yang: "The maximum is two million dollars, which is already a big concession! I won't pay a penny more!"

Yang William also slapped the table angrily: "Mr. Ma, our cooperation has just begun, please don't create cracks and gaps in everyone's hearts at the beginning of cooperation!"

Boss Ma said coldly: "If Mr. Yang feels dissatisfied, he can withdraw from this meeting. Don't forget that Amazon only holds 30% of the shares. Even if President Li supports your strategy, I will not agree!"

Saying that, Boss Ma pointed to himself and said with extreme force: "Here, I have the final say!"

Boss Ma is a person with a strong sense of territory, and his management skills are extremely strong. In his previous life, Sun Zhengyi and Yahoo together are not his opponents. Otherwise, how could Alipay break the agreement control relationship with Alibaba? separate out?

Yang William really didn't realize that Boss Ma, who was short and thin and looked weak, could be so strong. He originally wanted to put pressure on him, but he didn't expect that he would directly use the holdings to press himself, leaving no room for himself, so he only Can be resentful for the time being to die.

Although he no longer insists on the surface, in Yang William's heart, he has secretly made up his mind that if people like Boss Ma stay in Letao, the possibility of Amazon's backdoor entry into China will be greatly threatened, so he accepts it. The most important thing after coming down is how to get him out of Le Tao!