How Amazon Lost China
In the summer of 2004, Amazon was hungry for China. More than 80 million people were already online there, the number was climbing fast, and Jeff Bezos wanted in. There was just one problem: Amazon couldn’t simply show up and start shipping books in Beijing. It needed a way in, and the obvious move was to buy one.
Its first target was Dangdang, a fast-growing Beijing online bookstore that people liked to call “the Amazon of China.” According to reports at the time, Amazon spent months negotiating and offered a huge sum, by some accounts up to a billion dollars, for a company with modest sales. Dangdang’s founders said no. Amazon wanted control, and they weren't willing to give it up. Years later, Dangdang's co-founder Li Guoqing claimed Amazon had warned them that if they didn't sell, it would start a price war.
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