Ralph frowned as he looked at the information in his hand. Why did Feng Yu want the information about this smallpany selling books on the inte? Thispany cannot be considered a techpany just because it uses the inte to sell books. What potential does thispany have?


    But his boss’s instructions are absolute. Although Ralph does not understand the reasons, he still gathered and organized the information for Feng Yu.


    Feng Yu looked at the information. Amazon was registered in Washingtonst year. In July this year, it changed its name and be an online bookstore.


    Thispany’s scale is not significant. Since it was set upst year, it did not make any profit!


    Feng Yu was overjoyed. No profits! Then it should not be a problem for him to invest in thispany or buy over the shares from the shareholders.


    Amazon’s model was simple. But this was the lowest point for thepany. Any wrong move will cause the demise of thepany during the Dot Com bubble burst. In Feng Yu’s previous life, lots of techpanies became bankrupt after year 2000. Even a toppany like Yahoo had shrunk by over 90%.


    “Ralph, fix an appointment with Mr. Jeff. I want to meet him.” Feng Yu said excitedly.


    Ralph was puzzled but still went ahead to make the arrangements. He had investigated on this Jeff Bezos. He had worked in the banking industry before. Could it be that Feng Yu wanted to recruit this man?


    But Feng Yu seems to be more interested in this online bookstore. He wants to invest in thispany? Who would buy books over the inte? People can just buy them at bookstores! Ralph could not see how thispany could make money.


    ……


    Jeff Bezos was arguing with an investor. The investor felt Jeff was too conservative and will not be able to make money for thepany. He thought they should make use of the current craze about inte and try to get thepany listed. After thepany’s shares had raised, they will sell thepany away.


    But Jeff refused. This was apany he set up. How can he just sell thepany away like this? Furthermore, he wanted to develop thispany. What’s wrong with having a conservative and safe development n for thispany?


    The current craze over intepanies might increase the value of thosepanies temporary, but it was only a farce. The shares of thosepanies will plummet sooner orter. Jeff prefers to have slower growth in return for lower risk. This was his long term strategy.


    These evil investors only want money. They don’t understand what dreams are! Even if they were only after money, they should not look at the short term profits. Don’t they have long-term visions?


    Why did I get these people to invest in the first ce? These people do not know anything about the inte and management, yet they want to interfere with thepany’s operations! They think they are better than me in investing? I am also from the financial industry!


    “Mr. Jeff. It’s your call. A man who imed to be the assistant of a Microsoft’s director is looking for you.” Jeff’s secretary entered his office.


    What? The assistant of a Microsoft’s director is calling? Jeff was overjoyed. If he could convince Microsoft’s director to invest in him, he will kick all those investors away!


    Jeff immediately picks up the phone. “Hi. I’m Jeff Bezos. May I know whose calling?”


    “I am Microsoft Director Feng’s assistant. My boss would like to meet you.”


    “Sure. When is Mr. Feng free? I can go over anytime.” Jeff replied.


    “No. My boss wants to visit you and at the same time, visit yourpany. Do you understand what I mean?”


    Jeff was overjoyed. He understood what Ralph said. That Mr. Feng from Microsoft was interested in hispany!


    “I wee Mr. Feng to visit mypany. I am free anytime.”


    “How about tomorrow morning?” Ralph asked.


    “Sure. I will be waiting for Mr. Feng at mypany tomorrow.”


    Jeff hanged up the phone and looked at the shareholder who was arguing with him. “You want to sell off your shares? Fine. I will buy over the shares from you!”


    If a Microsoft Director was going to invest in thispany, then thispany will surely have a bright future. Jeff Bezos can even sell off his house and shares to raise money to invest in Amazon. He believed that Amazon will be one of the toppanies in the future!


    That shareholder was stunned. Jeff had really received a call from a Microsoft Director? Microsoft was going to invest in Amazon? If not, Jeff will offer to buy over his shares. But since a director from Microsoft was going to invest in thepany, why should he sell off the shares now?


    ……


    “Boss, I had contacted them. Jeff will be waiting for you at Amazon tomorrow.”


    “Ok. We will go over in the morning. You have also seen thispany’s information. Do you think thispany is worth investing in?” Feng Yu asked.


    “Boss, I can’t tell what’s so special about thispany. It’s only an online bookstore. Bookstores can be found anywhere on the streets. Customers are still able to flip through the books before they decide whether to buy them. Customers can only see the cover of the books on this online bookstore. I think there is not much potential in thispany. Also, thepany’s storage cost of the books will be high. The delivery time is around one week. Which customer would want to buy a book and wait for one week?”


    “Of course, if you invested in thispany and made some amendments to the ounts, it should not be a problem to get it listed on NASDAQ. With the current craze on Tech shares, you should be able to get high returns. But the duration is too long. You might as well purchase a techpany that is already listed. Errr…… these are only my views from my perspective.”


    Feng Yu nodded. “No. You are very right. These weaknesses do exist. Thispany will not be able to generate profits in the short-term. But can you see the strengths of thispany?”


    “Strengths? Other than being an onlinepany, the only strength I can see is it is an online bookstore. They will be able to sell a wider variety of books than a retail bookstore. But it will be hard to look through all the various titles unless they cane up with a good search engine.” Ralph replied after some thoughts.


    “That’s right. If they have a good search engine, then the customers can find the books they wanted. No matter if the customers are searching the author’s name, country, publisher or title, they will be able to find the books they wanted. They should be able to see the year of publishing too. This can be one of the search engine criteria. This is the strength of this online bookstore. They will be able to offer more books to customers. Maybe in the short-term, thispany will not be able to develop, but once it is developed, it will grow into a bigpany.” Feng Yuughed.


    “That’s the reason why you want to invest in thispany?”


    “Of course. If possible, I want to be the biggest shareholder of thispany.” If Feng Yu were able to hold the controlling shares of Amazon, it would be great! But this still has to wait until the meeting tomorrow……


    Trantor’s notes:


    Jeff Bezos