Zhang Chen said firmly: "I'm sorry, the 3% plan I just said is really my bottom line. John, you're someone I look up to, I read it in an interview with Fortune magazine last month, and you said that the Internet market is not overheated, but undervalued, and your expectation for the total value of the Internet is $400 billion. I very much agree with you, but one thing is slightly different, I think the total market capitalization of the Internet is definitely not more than 400 billion, but a much larger market. Amazon, is one of them. In the face of such huge benefits, I couldn't let go. ”

John Doerr took a sip of his coffee, "Zack, I understand, I had the same idea as you when I first entered this industry. But it turns out that there is always more to be gained from working together than going it alone, and I learned this in three years. Now there are many opportunities in the Internet industry, and in addition to Amazon, there are also many companies worth investing in. If you're just going it alone, you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities. ”

Zhang Chen smiled, what John Doerr said was indeed a good word, but it didn't apply to him very well.

Because he is born again and knows almost all future investment opportunities.

"In addition, if the style is too unique, we will be called a lone wolf in our industry. You know, it's not just us investors who choose entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who also choose investors. If from the very beginning, Tinder Source has been branded as exclusive, it will leave a very bad reputation among many entrepreneurs. Under the same conditions, the other party will often choose other partners. In addition, each company will be more wary of you. ”

Zhang Chen was slightly moved, John Doerr's words were not a threat but better than a threat.

Because what the other party said is true.

Later, there was an angel investor in China who had a strange vision and a ruthless style, and he did invest in many projects at the beginning.

But later, whenever the project he fancies, as long as other companies know about it, they will go to compete.

And because of his bad reputation, gradually, as long as there are other options, entrepreneurs will not accept his investment.

In addition to those projects that other companies really can't look at, he can also invest in a few, those real tuyere projects, he will never have a chance again.

John Doerr's words really made Zhang Chen think deeply, and after thinking for a while, Zhang Chen raised his head and said: "5%, 4 million, I will cooperate with you to let Bezos give up 5% of the equity, but there is one condition." ”

John Doerr was excited: "What conditions?"

Zhang Chen said slowly: "I will send a team of five people to join Amazon's IPO promotion work, and you must involve them in the whole process." In the meantime, I retain my seat on Amazon's Board of Directors. And, whether it goes public or proceeds to the next round of funding, if Amazon's valuation or market capitalization exceeds 8 times the current total valuation of $80 million, or $640 million, I have the right to reclaim 5% of the shares sold to you at eight times the current price, or $32 million. If Amazon's market capitalization on the day of the IPO is less than $640 million, I also have the right to get back 5% of the price sold to you at that time. ”

Zhang Chen did this so that John Doerr could use all his strength to promote Amazon's IPO, after all, if John Doerr did not contribute, he would lose himself.

John Doerr said happily: "Deal!"

John Doerr agreed very quickly, according to the operation of KPCB, after the IPO, it would have to sell part of the shares to recover profits to reduce the risk. Depending on the price-to-earnings ratio, the number of shares sold is generally between 10% and 30%. Although Zhang Chen's request was higher, it was not impossible to agree. Moreover, the eight-fold price recovery that Zhang Chen said has also reached John Doerr's psychological bottom line.

After all, you have made a lot of money, and you can avoid risks, so why not.

After all, Yahoo, which has the highest market capitalization, only has a market value of $12 billion, and today when the news of AOL's acquisition of ICQ came out, AOL's stock price rose 8% to $11.5 billion, which is only a line away from Yahoo.

Even if John Doerr has excellent vision, he is not a reborn person after all, he cannot be 100% sure whether a company can really shine, let alone think that a year later, Yahoo's market value will exceed 100 billion, and AOL's market value will exceed 170 billion by 99.

It was a time of extreme madness, beyond everyone's expectations, but it was everyone who worked together to make him so crazy.

Neither mentioned what would happen if Bezos didn't agree to give up another 5 percent.

John Doerr was in a relaxed mood and ordered another cup of coffee, although Zhang Chen will lose $28 million in the future, but at this price, he feels that it is worth the money to train the team and promote cooperation with KPCB, especially in promoting Amazon's listing.

Zhang Chen blew the bubble of the coffee: "John, you said you were going to Cincinnati a few days ago, why did you come back so soon?"

John Doerr put down his coffee cup and was a little angry: "Don't you know? The silverfish in the state legislature have come up with a Proposition 211 to be discussed in next week's Congress. In any case, I'm going to stop this group of idiots. ”

Zhang Chen was curious: "What does Act 211 do?"

John Doerr wondered, "You really don't know? ”

Zhang Chen shook his head: "I just came back from Huaxia, and I have been busy with other things in the past few days, so I haven't paid attention to these." ”

John Doore shook his head: "Zack, you Chinese people are too uninvolved in politics, I know several Chinese people who are just like you, indifferent to the proposals and decisions made by the parliament and the government. ”

Zhang Chen was sweating, and hurriedly asked, "I really just heard, what kind of content is the proposal?"

John Doerr explained to Zhang Chen in detail, and after Zhang Chen heard it, he also broke out in a cold sweat.

California Proposition 211 involves shareholder lawsuits, the so-called shareholder lawsuits, to put it bluntly, are shareholders of a company, because the resolutions of the general meeting of shareholders and the board of directors violate the law and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of shareholders, the shareholders file a lawsuit with the court to stop the illegal acts and infringements.

In the original legal provisions, there were many restrictive conditions for shareholder lawsuits, such as the fact that the board of directors did violate the law. Salomon Brothers has been subject to shareholder lawsuits and lost a lot of money due to bond violations.

But now California Proposition 211 has basically abolished all of these restrictive provisions, and shareholders can even sue the company for losses in stock price fluctuations caused by the company's decision-making mistakes.

It's scary, especially for high-tech companies, where stock prices could be a roller coaster ride, and if this proposal does pass, it will be a fatal blow to Silicon Valley.

Evil law!

Zhang Chen was not so anxious, this proposal should not have been passed, at least not all of it.

Otherwise, how can there be the rise of Google, Apple, and Facebook?

(End of chapter)