Everyone thought Huang He's agreement was insane, utterly unreasonable. He truly believed Amazon could reach a trillion-dollar market capitalization in the future.
But what if?
What if it actually happened, and Huang He then demanded to forcibly repurchase the shares at $50 billion according to the agreement, what would they do?
So, at that point, they would have no choice but to obediently follow Huang He's word, absolutely not daring to anger him, otherwise, he could directly reclaim the shares. This was truly a way to control them completely!
Huang He's agreement was practically an open ploy, and an open ploy that everyone present could not refuse.
They would get back all their invested shares with doubled profits in three years, a condition impossible to refuse for everyone in distress. As for the right held by Jiangnan Group to forcibly repurchase shares, that would have to wait until Amazon was actually capable of reaching a market capitalization of over $50 billion.
For Boss Huang, this was naturally a losing proposition, but there was one point: it would firmly bind all the institutions present to his own war chariot. In order to obtain the promised share buyback from Jiangnan Group in three years, Amazon had to survive for three years. They had to unconditionally support Huang He.
And after three years, if Amazon's market capitalization exceeded $100 billion, then to prevent Huang He from forcibly repurchasing shares, they would all have to grovel before Jiangnan Group and try their best to please Huang He.
Ultimately, everyone present signed the two cooperation agreements, and such a tightly bound community of interests was born through the cooperation under these two agreements.
After the agreements were signed, Huang He said with a smile, "Now, please allow me to introduce Amazon's new President. For a very long time to come, he will be fully responsible for the entire operation of Amazon."
"Amazon's new President? Is there still someone willing to jump into this pit now?" Hearing Boss Huang's introduction, everyone present was somewhat surprised.
Because in their opinion, Amazon was currently an absolute quagmire, a place where even Peppa Pig couldn't jump out and would only be buried alive. Yet now, someone was willing to jump in and be the President of Amazon?
Under the gaze of such curiosity, a person walked into the conference room with steps that appeared steady but were actually a bit flustered.
To the surprise and yet not surprise of everyone, this person was still an Asian face.
Well, Huang He, a Chinese person, using a new Chinese person to serve as President of Amazon was a reasonable thing. But for a Chinese person to attempt to lead Amazon's rebirth was an unreasonable matter.
"Hello, esteemed ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Liu Qiangdong. I was previously the Chairman of Express Delivery Company of USA, and now I am the President and CEO of Amazon. I thank Chairman Huang for his personal trust and support. In the time to come, I will be fully leading Amazon's recovery and rebirth!" Although it was evident that this Chinese man was somewhat lacking in confidence, and his English was spoken haltingly and not fluently, there was an underlying confidence deep within him, as if he truly had a way to make Amazon reborn.
"Express Delivery Company? Is that the emerging express delivery company that claimed to challenge FedEx!" To the surprise of these industry magnates, they had actually heard of this Express Delivery Company, and it was even on the investment lists of many major institutions.
There was no other reason than the fact that this Express Delivery Company had caused quite a stir in the past year or so.
Previously in the United States, the express delivery industry was dominated by two major players: FedEx Corporation and UPS.
One had extensive express delivery services globally, with even hundreds of aircraft dedicated to transportation. The latter specialized in the US parcel market, offering very affordable express delivery prices, and had snatched a considerable market share from FedEx.
This was basically the entire structure of the US express delivery industry, because express delivery companies, unlike other businesses, needed to have outlets throughout the country. Express delivery companies required enormous financial resources.
And once the volume of business could not support the costs, the only path for an express delivery company was bankruptcy. Therefore, the vast majority of US express delivery companies had almost collapsed under the pressure from these two giants.
Only a small number of express delivery companies specializing in one or two routes struggled to make a living in the market. This was the market structure before.
The entire capital market once believed that this structure would not change for at least 30 years, unless a large enterprise invested heavily into the entire express delivery market, which might then alter the situation.
However, there was no need to wait 30 years; in just about a year, this situation began to change with the emergence of a company called Express Delivery Company.
This Express Delivery Company was founded in New York, the absolute commercial center of the United States. At its inception, the company only had one route: from New York, the capital of New York State, to the major metropolitan areas of San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles in California.
This start appeared very insignificant, as countless small express delivery companies did the same, operating only one route to minimize their costs and gain space for survival.
However, upon closer inspection, it was evident that Express Delivery Company was different. Although the company operated only one route, the endpoints of the route covered the entire New York City area and the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area and the Los Angeles metropolitan area in California, the two most crucial regions of California.
In these two areas, Express Delivery Company established 108 outlets. These outlets, with an average radius of about 10 kilometers, perfectly covered and overlapped all the areas along the route's endpoints.
Then, Express Delivery Company began placing advertisements in local media newspapers and websites covering the areas where its outlets were located.
Placing advertisements was not unusual, but what was unusual was that Express Delivery Company claimed in its advertisements that any package and mail from New York to California would be delivered to your doorstep, company, or any place covered by an outlet within three days.
Furthermore, they guaranteed the safe and stable delivery of items, even fragile items like porcelain, which would be delivered perfectly intact if advance insurance was purchased, otherwise, the express delivery company would compensate at the original price.
Upon seeing such a promise, all Americans were stunned. They couldn't believe that an express delivery company would dare to make such a promise; it was a fairytale in the United States.
To understand how fantastical this matter was, one must first grasp how dismal the express delivery industry in the United States was at the time.
For a user who uses express delivery services, what they desire most is an excellent experience in terms of timeliness, safety, and convenience. These three characteristics are also known as the three elements of express delivery (rules invented by Boss Huang himself).
That is to say, an express delivery can reach its destination on time in a short period;
Simultaneously, during transportation, the express delivery will not be damaged, and the safety and privacy of the sender and receiver can be guaranteed;
And finally, whether it is picking up or delivering a package, it should go to the last mile, directly to the user's hands for pickup, and then delivered to the user's hands,
rather than making the user travel a long distance to pick up a package. These are the most important user experiences for an express delivery company.
In terms of timeliness, as the strongest company in the United States at the time, FedEx promised users that same-city express delivery would be delivered within three days, inter-state express delivery within a week, and express delivery with a straight-line distance of over 1500 kilometers would be delivered within a month.
Don't think these times are absurd; this was the reality of the US express delivery industry at the time. Deliveries from New York to California, from the easternmost part of the US to the westernmost part, would take a month for transportation.
Of course, one could also use FedEx's highest-tier VIP air express service, which could shorten the maximum transportation time from New York to California to within three days. But the problem was that the cost of using air express services was staggering, so much so that even top billionaires like Bill Gates admitted they couldn't afford such express delivery, as it was simply too expensive.
If even top billionaires felt this way, let alone ordinary users, they could only patiently wait for a month.
However, even if the delivery was made within the set timeframe, it would be one thing. But according to statistics, over 10% of express deliveries ultimately exceeded the transportation time limit, with the longest express delivery even taking 54 years to reach the user's hands, which was simply outrageous to the nth degree.
This was the timeliness of express delivery in the entire United States. Therefore, US e-commerce websites never sold any time-sensitive products, because the products would definitely be damaged during transportation.
After discussing timeliness, it was time to talk about product safety.
There was no need to worry too much about privacy, as normal people would not be interested in the privacy of the accounting parties. What was truly problematic was the damage to the express delivery itself.
First of all, US express deliveries were absolutely handled roughly, with no norms whatsoever throughout the entire process. It was all done in the easiest way possible. While the specific logistics and transportation aspects are not elaborated upon, as these are not visible to ordinary people, let's describe a situation that all ordinary people could see: when the delivery truck finally arrived at your doorstep with the express delivery, these delivery personnel would not get out with the express delivery and gently place it at your doorstep. Instead, they would directly throw it from the truck towards your doorstep and then drive away.
This disheartening situation was not an isolated incident; over 30% of express deliveries received such treatment. Even some packages that were marked as fragile and should not be dropped would be directly thrown if the delivery person was in a bad mood.
According to statistics, over 20% of express deliveries in the United States suffered damage to varying degrees during logistics, and about 20% of these were damaged to the point of being completely unusable.
The most classic story was about a US citizen who bought an iron pipe online. When the express delivery arrived at his home, the iron pipe was actually bent. As for how it was bent, it remained unclear.
Another person bought a bottle of ketchup. When the ketchup arrived, the sauce was still sauce, but it had all flowed out within the package... the glass bottle containing the ketchup had been shattered.
Finally, there was the convenience of express delivery. This was the only aspect that could be praised, because most Americans lived in detached houses, so the express delivery only needed to be thrown at the doorstep, which indeed reached the last mile.
However, regarding the issue of whether the express delivery left at the doorstep would be stolen by others, that was not a concern for the delivery person, but rather a matter of whether the local customs of your city were honest.