Chapter 446: Amazon (2)

After the press conference ended, the application store and online payment functions of the Igreat portal were officially launched.

Simon's afternoon work schedule was mainly focused on e-commerce.

However, the software and game content resources of Ystore at this stage would inevitably appear somewhat thin.

To promote the use of the Ypay tool, Igreat Company collaborated with Compaq to launch an online machine purchase discount event.

This was also why a Compaq executive took the stage at the press conference to introduce their 'Internet PC'.

Users who activate their Ypay accounts by applying for a special credit card or through point cards can get a discount of up to $300 when purchasing certain types of Compaq computers online.

Of course, users still had to pick up their orders at offline stores.

Additionally, AOL has also opened up the Ypay payment channel, allowing users to directly pay for their AOL account network fees online. Users who do so can also receive a certain level of discount.

These two supplements outside of Ystore can greatly promote the users' enthusiasm for using the Ypay tool.

But this was still not enough.

Thus, Igreat Company decided to start another e-commerce plan in advance. Igreat had already registered a subsidiary brand for this purpose—Amazon.

Because it needed to coordinate supply, warehousing, logistics, and other issues, and Ypay also needed some testing time, the Amazon online store did not launch simultaneously with the two products but was planned to start operations in January next year.

Although Westeros had a strong advantage in audio-visual entertainment, this time the Amazon online store would still focus on book sales in its early stages. This decision was made by Simon after careful consideration and referencing a lot of information from his memory.

At present, e-commerce was still in its infancy, barely even sprouting. Apart from Simon, no one else had any similar operational examples to refer to, so a steady development path was necessary.

Selling books online had significant advantages compared to other goods.

On one hand, most users accessing the internet at this stage belonged to the upper-middle class, who were well-educated and more inclined to purchase books for daily reading, providing a consumer base.

On the other hand, an online store could offer far more types of books than a physical bookstore. Even the largest physical bookstores could only offer tens of thousands of types of books, while an online store could offer hundreds of thousands for users to choose from.

The plan for the Amazon online store was discussed until five o'clock in the afternoon.

In a conference room at Igreat's headquarters, the other executives dispersed, but Simon called Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, and Carol Bartz to stay.

Simon didn't sit back at the conference table but leaned on its edge, looking at the projection screen in the conference room and said to the three, "I have a few more things to discuss with you, so we'll have to work late."

Even if Simon hadn't called them, the three had been working late frequently during this period.

The female assistant operated the computer connected to the projector, and a tree diagram of Igreat's current business products appeared on the screen.

Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, and Carol Bartz looked at it together.

This tree diagram was different from their daily conceptualizations. Internally at Igreat, if divided by the 'territories' of Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz, the second level of the tree diagram should have two branches.

But the tree diagram in front of them had three branches at the second level: Network Services, Portal Website, and E-commerce.

The three sub-branches then extended further. The Portal Website branch had more subdivisions, including Email, News, Online Games, Forums, Search Engines, and Social Blogs. The other two second-level branches also extended into several sub-branches.

Seeing Simon suddenly show them this tree diagram, Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, and Carol Bartz first thought of Simon's aloof housekeeper, Alice Ferguson.

The development of the Ystore system had always been personally overseen by the housekeeper.

Alice Ferguson had actually been in San Francisco for the past few days and attended today's press conference. However, she did not personally introduce her project this time, instead letting Jeff Bezos take the stage.

They originally thought Simon intended to officially promote Alice Ferguson, but Simon's question was about something else: "Tim, Jeff, and Carol, if you had to abandon some of these businesses, what would you choose?"

After a year of rapid expansion, compared to most of the fledgling internet companies, Igreat could be described as a 'giant.'

In Simon's memory, Yahoo had only 150 employees around the time it went public in 1995.

In contrast, Igreat currently had more than 2,300 employees. Not just in San Francisco, but also in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, and Chicago, Igreat had branches. Additionally, Igreat had begun expanding into overseas markets in the UK, Japan, and Australia.

On the projection screen, the three main branches and their sub-branches were each managed by different project teams within Igreat's over 2,000-strong workforce.

Because of the Igreat team's ambitions, the current 2,300 employees were still insufficient to meet the company's expansion needs, so they continued to recruit relevant talents.

Hearing Simon's question, the three were taken aback.

Did Simon think Igreat had become too bloated?

After a moment of thought, Jeff Bezos was the first to speak: "Simon, I believe all of Igreat's current businesses have great development prospects and don't need to be streamlined."

Simon nodded directly and said, "Of course, in the short term, Igreat will only continue to expand. The internet industry is a completely untapped land where we can freely plant whatever seeds we can think of. However, you should know that too much dispersion often leads to nothing being done well. So, I hope you all start to focus now."

Simon then gestured towards the projection screen and said, "Think it over carefully."

After a moment of silence, Tim Berners-Lee spoke: "Simon, I think even if it's difficult to abandon any of the current businesses, it's not easy to separate them. One thing, though: the three main businesses under the company are all covered under one account system. Users can use almost all services with an email account, including space rental, email, online games, forums, online payment, and the application store. Also, based on the market team's analysis, all these services have very good commercial prospects."

Carol Bartz also said, "Even if we can't manage everything, we are confident that we can make most of the services excellent."

"Alright, I'll tell you my choices directly. Think about it carefully in private," Simon said as he straightened up and took a few steps forward, looking at the projection screen, "I remember saying before that Igreat should be positioned as a technology company, not a media company producing content. Because, with the expected user scale of the internet industry, no company can meet all users' diverse content needs alone."

The three nodded slightly. They remembered this saying from Simon's memo and found it very reasonable.

However, due to the prominence of the portal website, many media outlets now classified Igreat as an internet media company, and the concept of internet media was gradually being hyped.

Simon understood their thoughts and said, "Igreat's portal is just a guide for users to get content in the early stages of the industry. Once users become familiar with the internet, they won't rely on the portal anymore and might even reject the fixed content recommended by the portal. So, what we should do is establish a platform where others can produce the content users need, and we get the service fees through the platform channels. YWS can provide a space platform for enterprise users; online payment can offer a payment platform for the entire internet e-commerce transaction; the search engine can provide a content search platform for the exploding internet sites; the online store can provide a transaction platform for books, clothing, daily necessities, electronics, and other physical goods; social blogs can offer a platform for internet users to showcase themselves. So, these five items are what we should focus on."

After Simon finished speaking, the three looked at the tree diagram again, realizing that following Simon's idea, many of Igreat's current businesses would be marginalized or even abandoned.

For example, news, which supported the largest part of the portal's traffic.

For example, very active online forums.

Even the popular email service under Igreat.

After a while, Jeff Bezos asked, "Simon, what about the application store?"

"The application store will eventually be integrated into the physical store. Also, because of the 30% commission from the application store, although we have an advantage now, there will definitely be similar competitors in the future. Large software or game manufacturers might prefer to sell products on their own official websites to avoid our commission. The physical store is different. Few brands would create an online store just to sell their products. Most merchants probably won't have the capability, and our integrated sales platform, from payment to logistics, will have a strong competitive edge."

"Payment systems are a big issue," Carol Bartz said. "Simon, ordinary software or game manufacturers can't support a payment system. They need a universal payment tool, and our Ypay can do just that. We can use this advantage to force them to turn to the application store."

Simon shook his head, "Doing so will only lead to the emergence of a second payment tool. You must be aware of the recent formation of the AIM alliance by Apple, IBM, and Motorola."

Tim Berners-Lee said, "Simon, didn't you dismiss the AIM alliance at the luncheon?"

"Of course, but that doesn't mean our future competitors will lack prospects like the AIM alliance."

Jeff Bezos examined the tree diagram on the projection screen again and asked, "Simon, what should we do next?"

Simon appreciated Bezos' pragmatic attitude and said

, "Focus. Since we have decided that these services will be Igreat's future focus, we must prioritize them. And I can tell you now that because Igreat is involved in too many internet businesses, it will eventually need to be split, whether actively or passively. Given this, I prefer a phased proactive split."

Tim Berners-Lee couldn't help but glance at Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz.

If Igreat were to split, it would first split the departments managed by the two of them.

The businesses managed by the two, due to their different client groups, were the easiest to split within Igreat.

Simon, following Lee's gaze, smiled and said, "Yes, the first step is to separate basic services from network services. This will be done before Igreat's IPO."

The three were surprised, and Carol Bartz instinctively said, "Before the IPO?"

"Yes," Simon nodded and continued, "But don't worry. Unless you volunteer, your contracts won't change. Even if Igreat splits, under the original agreement, you will receive the appropriate equity rewards from both companies."

As Igreat continued to expand, especially after Cisco and AOL went public and broke the $10 billion market cap, the three had a stronger sense that the five-year contract Simon had revised for them last year, which could bring them 5% of Igreat's equity, might represent an enormous fortune.

Just comparing with Cisco and AOL's scale, 5% equity would be $500 million.

At this time, there were not many who could become billionaires as executives.

Moreover, the three believed that Igreat's potential might far exceed $10 billion.

Simon was even more aware of Igreat's development prospects. With just 5% of Igreat's equity, the three could easily become billionaires during the peak of the new technology wave.

Of course, Simon welcomed this.

As the Westeros system continued to grow, Simon was even inclined to create a large group of billionaires and multi-billionaires.

Moreover, within the Westeros system, the treatment of employees should be far better than that of other companies in the same industry.

Doing so could cultivate a sense of superiority and cohesion among Westeros system employees. Superior treatment could also improve the execution of Westeros system teams, ultimately creating a truly powerful super business empire.

The three continued discussing for nearly an hour. Finally, Simon said, "Janet will leave a document for you. I hope you will start adjusting internally at Igreat according to the plan I just outlined. During this time, if you have any thoughts, you can contact me anytime by phone or email."

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