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I alternate between being a real fan of Bezos and concern about the company's sprawling and growing power/interests. Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant,

I alternate between being a real fan of Bezos and concern about the company's sprawling and growing power/interests. Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, and absolutely should be rewarded for that. We need more folks like him. On the other hand, at what point has Amazon won enough? Selling things at a loss to drive competitors out of business verticals is surely bad for the consumer in the long-term no?

dominotw 9y ago
>Selling things at a loss to drive competitors out of business verticals is surely bad for the consumer in the long-term no? Not necessarily. 1. They can find efficiencies of scale in the system from operating in such large scale and vertical integration. Then its not bad for the customer. 2.If they have to raise prices when competition is out of business, competition will come back in sooner or later. So maybe its bad for customer in short term.
nerdponx 9y ago
Interesting that you ascribe all good intentions to Bezos and all ill intentions to Amazon. How do you know that "Amazon's" growing power interests are not Bezos'?
- corndoge 9y ago
  Nobody knows anything either way which is why speculating about it is a waste of time
coldtea 9y ago
>Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, and absolutely should be rewarded for that. We need more folks like him. More folks doing the obvious (building an online everything-store) and driving it to a monopoly? I'd rather we'd have several big online stores. As for the other ventures Amazon is in, not impressed. I'd rather we'd have more in-company expertise, than a huge IaaS shop (whose price for convenience is central control, loss of privacy, and inflated costs that trickle to the consumers).
asveikau 9y ago
> a real fan of Bezos > Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, The guy has a business track record surpassing most, I will give you that -- however, I don't think this kind of idolatry is helpful to anyone, least of all yourself.
maltalex 9y ago
> Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, and absolutely should be rewarded for that. We need more folks like him. That's probably true of any billion dollar company founder, not to mention the (more than) trillion dollar Amazon. > at what point has Amazon won enough? Selling things at a loss to drive competitors out of business verticals is surely bad for the consumer in the long-term no? What do you mean by "enough"? Amazon is a public for-profit company and such companies are always looking for ways to improve their bottom line. If they see a dollar they can earn, they owe it to their shareholders to do everything they can to earn it. If Amazon can improve its bottom line by driving competitors out, then that's what it'll do. It's naive to think that the good of the consumer is of any relevance.
- EliRivers 9y ago
  If they see a dollar they can earn, they owe it to their shareholders to do everything they can to earn it. I understand there's no legal obligation to do so, and that companies have a number of motives and desirable outcomes, of which giving money to shareholders is but one. It has become fashionable in recent years to suggest it's all about "shareholder value", but there's no supreme obligation to pursue that.

dominotw 9y ago

>Selling things at a loss to drive competitors out of business verticals is surely bad for the consumer in the long-term no? Not necessarily. 1. They can find efficiencies of scale in the system from operating in such large scale and vertical integration. Then its not bad for the customer. 2.If they have to raise prices when competition is out of business, competition will come back in sooner or later. So maybe its bad for customer in short term.

nerdponx 9y ago

Interesting that you ascribe all good intentions to Bezos and all ill intentions to Amazon. How do you know that "Amazon's" growing power interests are not Bezos'?

corndoge 9y ago
Nobody knows anything either way which is why speculating about it is a waste of time

coldtea 9y ago

>Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, and absolutely should be rewarded for that. We need more folks like him. More folks doing the obvious (building an online everything-store) and driving it to a monopoly? I'd rather we'd have several big online stores. As for the other ventures Amazon is in, not impressed. I'd rather we'd have more in-company expertise, than a huge IaaS shop (whose price for convenience is central control, loss of privacy, and inflated costs that trickle to the consumers).

asveikau 9y ago

> a real fan of Bezos > Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, The guy has a business track record surpassing most, I will give you that -- however, I don't think this kind of idolatry is helpful to anyone, least of all yourself.

maltalex 9y ago

> Jeff Bezos is a true visionary, brilliant, and absolutely should be rewarded for that. We need more folks like him. That's probably true of any billion dollar company founder, not to mention the (more than) trillion dollar Amazon. > at what point has Amazon won enough? Selling things at a loss to drive competitors out of business verticals is surely bad for the consumer in the long-term no? What do you mean by "enough"? Amazon is a public for-profit company and such companies are always looking for ways to improve their bottom line. If they see a dollar they can earn, they owe it to their shareholders to do everything they can to earn it. If Amazon can improve its bottom line by driving competitors out, then that's what it'll do. It's naive to think that the good of the consumer is of any relevance.

EliRivers 9y ago
If they see a dollar they can earn, they owe it to their shareholders to do everything they can to earn it. I understand there's no legal obligation to do so, and that companies have a number of motives and desirable outcomes, of which giving money to shareholders is but one. It has become fashionable in recent years to suggest it's all about "shareholder value", but there's no supreme obligation to pursue that.