Rebirth 76: Industrial Internet Empire

Diane hurried back to Seattle, regardless of the fatigue from the journey. After returning to Cadabra, she went straight into the president's office.

"You're back just in time! Are there any results? What on earth do they want to do?" Jeff Bezos asked impatiently as soon as he saw Diane.

"Your Excellency, President, it has been confirmed that some of the senior management talents recruited by Amazon are from IBM and Walmart. The positions they are applying for should be regional managers of Amazon. What is incredible is that everyone has signed confidentiality and non-compete agreements! ” Diane Hui reports.

"Amazon's regional managers? Have they signed confidentiality and non-compete agreements?" Jeff Bezos asked in surprise.

Diane nodded: "According to my judgment, Amazon is preparing to take advantage of the problems in our capital chain to reopen the track and expand the business scope of the online shopping platform, causing us to lose sight of one thing and watch them make the cake bigger. We But we are suffering from financial pressure and cannot get a share of the pie!”

"What do you base your judgment on?" Jeff Bezos asked in a serious voice.

"I pretended to be an ordinary applicant and sneaked into their interview site. I found that their requirements for ordinary clerks were: art design, photography, marketing, and basic computer operations. These simple skills are not just taking pictures of product details and uploading them to the website. Do you need it?" Diane nodded and analyzed.

Jeff Bezos nodded solemnly: "Which area do you think Amazon will start to develop its efforts in?"

“At present, online shopping users are still mainly young people, especially college students. Their consumption habits are nothing more than stationery, luggage and clothing, toiletries, and electronic products. There are many types of stationery and clothing. Amazon is most likely to launch toiletries and electronic products, and toiletries do not go well with its style of selling books and audio-visual products. I guess the most likely launches are electronic products, such as electronic watches, calculators, and mobile phones. Telephones, walkmans, CD players, personal computers, and phone cards are all products that are favored by college student consumers..." Diane analyzed logically.

Jeff Bezos pondered for a long time and then said: "Is it possible that Amazon will launch these types of products suitable for college student consumers at the same time?"

"Isn't this impossible? There are hundreds of stationery products, and clothing and bags involve brands, sizes, styles, colors, and color differences. Without trying them on, I'm afraid very few people will choose to buy online based on pictures. ? It’s possible to use toiletries..." Diane said confidently.

Jeff Bezos frowned and said: "But just to open a new track for electronic products, Amazon doesn't need to recruit so many employees, right? Electronic products can be purchased and sold together with books and audio-visual products, and there is no need to add any more manpower. …”

"But...if Amazon is involved in stationery, clothing, luggage, and so many categories, we can't possibly know nothing about it until now, right? Their purchasing and sales team will always have to contact major manufacturers, right? This kind of external involvement How could the transaction be kept a secret?"

Diane’s doubts are not unreasonable. Amazon has signed so many supply and sales contracts. Let alone Cadabra, which is a competitor, it is impossible not to hear some rumors. It is impossible to hide it from the all-powerful media reporters...

Jeff Bezos said solemnly: "That's only one possibility! Their plan has just begun. It is still in the recruitment stage and has not yet started. Even the most sensitive media and capital markets have not received the news!"

"Then how should we respond? Should we communicate with the employer immediately? Inform them of the situation in time and start Series B financing as soon as possible. We can't just watch Amazon reopen the track and conquer the city, right?" Diane looked worried. said.

After Jeff Bezos thought for a long time, he shook his head and said, "Diane, keep this secret for the time being and don't tell anyone!"

"Keep a secret? Why?" Diane asked in confusion.

Jeff Bezos said with a wry smile: "If we let the capital know that Amazon has reopened the track and every business layout is accurately ahead of us, how can the capital market trust Cadabra?"

Diane nodded. As Jeff Bezos's assistant, how could she not understand that whether Cadabra could successfully advance Series B financing was a matter of life and death for Cadabra. It could not get money from the capital market. One can only watch helplessly as Amazon takes over the market, one after another, and what awaits Cadabra is that its market share will slowly shrink until it goes bankrupt!

.........

As planned, Diane called all Cadabra shareholders and informed them that the second shareholder meeting would be held in Seattle three days later.

Cadabra conference room.

After Jeff Bezos personally distributed a stack of documents to everyone, he said with a smile: "This is Cadabra's Series B financing plan. Can you please take a look and see if there is anything that needs to be modified?"

"Ah! Launching Series B financing so soon?"

"Jeff, should we wait a little longer? Wait until the data looks better, so that we can get more financing with the least amount of equity?"

"How long has it been? The US$1200 million in Series A financing has been used up?"

"I think it should be more prudent. First focus on book websites and music stores, and then rush into other fields. Will it be counterproductive?"

Jeff Bezos secretly murmured in his heart, what you all say is high-sounding, don’t you just want to raise funds later and get greater returns? This is a typical example of his unwillingness to invest more money and his unwillingness to let new capital come in easily. , to dilute their own equity, it is best for the founding team to use Series A financing and directly stick to the IPO and list on Nasdaq.

However, in the face of doubts from the capital, Jeff Bezos still smiled and patiently explained: "The A round of funds was consumed too quickly because it only took Cadabra more than half a year to complete the two-year journey of other startups. Being chased by Amazon, we had to start a fierce price war, although we stabilized our position through music stores, and by obtaining the exclusive online sales rights from Sony/Columbia Records, we once saw hope of overtaking Amazon!"

"Behind Amazon is the wealthy Zhiyuan International. They can get enough credit from banks through the guarantee of the parent company. From the beginning of this fierce price war, Cadabra has been at a disadvantage. We can't keep selling books and audio-visual products. Domain and Amazon are fighting for each other, and the result of the fight is nothing more than waiting for death. The best result is that both sides will suffer losses. Such a result must not be what you want..."