Jeff Bezos and the Future of Amazon
Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos are in an interesting position after the Washington Post story ran and his personal blog was attacked by Donald Trump. On one hand, he seems willing to forgive and forget. On the other hand, he’s already blaming media for blowing up the story. If the timing and the content were wrong, then Amazon could lose even more business and its already declining market cap. Here’s my take on this issue and why I believe it is so critical that Washington Post reporters be careful with what they write and who they target with their reports.
I honestly don’t understand why Jeff Bezos and other so-called “conservatives” think that criticizing Trump and his business interests is somehow “patriotic” or somehow” patriotic” when it’s simply a desperate attempt to attack something that doesn’t really deserve any criticism at all. AWS is a company that Jeff Bezos started with his father in a spare bedroom, and it is a company that have made no secret that Jeff Bezos spent almost a billion dollars on buying and is developing its online retail presence in the “virtual retail space.” What I don’t understand is how anyone can view something as “nothing special” and “essential” when it’s their paycheck to live off of and drive their car. And, worse of all, how anyone can claim to care about anything other than themselves when they are running a multi-billion dollar company that makes no secret that they care about nothing else except making more money.
Worse still, how anyone can claim to be anything more than a “conservatives” if Jeff Bezos is throwing money around like a hippie biologists throwing honey in the hive to collect honey. For someone who makes it their hobby to collect honey, hippie biologists, and even regular, everyday people, calling Jeff Bezo’s parenting methods “baby-boomer” and his business interests “agingist” is totally uncalled for. Amazon’s CEO and founder seem to have the same interests that cause folks to go to college, take degrees in what they believe in, and spend their lives working towards a goal which will help them get rich one day, while at the same time preventing the future. It’s either that or he’s just an incredibly lucky person.
So, why is Amazon’s greatest competitor Walmart (which happens to be a much bigger company with better management) being “pushed” by the “alt-right” fringe? Well, consider the fact that Walmart doesn’t sell books and doesn’t carry fashion accessories and electronics. They sell hardware and serve gas, water, and clothing. That’s not a “merchandise dependent” as Amazon’s competitor Sears is, and Amazon doesn’t run on e-books, anyway.
The future of Amazon is focused on its computer hardware and software sales. It’s already been generating a lot of revenue from its purchase of Simple Machines, and its partnership with Microsoft. And through its acquisition of Whole Foods, it appears that the company is gearing up for its own virtual food market, which could revolutionize the way we eat. The Whole Foods Market is slated to open for operation in the next year or two. It will be a totally free online grocery that will compete directly with Wal-Mart and grocery stores.
Jeff Bezos and his fellow venture capitalists seem to understand the future of markets, and how they will evolve. They seem to care more about building winning stocks than selling out, as evidenced by their multiple acquisitions of solid companies. In fact, during an investor call this week, one of the investors implied that perhaps we should be “ashamed” of our society for expecting economic miracles from a small corporation with one employee and little capital. I’d say that’s not very funny considering all the talk about capitalism these days. Let’s hope that Amazon can pull it off.
