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The problem I have with most super rich people is that they consider genuine risk far less important than potential embarrassment. E.g. they won't dare taking a
by stupidcar 8y ago
The problem I have with most super rich people is that they consider genuine risk far less important than potential embarrassment. E.g. they won't dare taking a stand politically because of the chance that someone will go public with some scandalous nonsense. Bezos on the other hand seems willing to calculate differently. I have to say, this has changed my opinion of him a lot in his favour. On the very remote chance you're reading this Jeff, good on you!
- creaghpatr 8y agoAlthough, it did, I assume, trigger the divorce which will cost him a couple billion dollars
- Balgair 8y agoThen all the more kudos to Jeff for doing this. Taken from the point of view of the divorce court, this is a LOT more ammo for his soon-to-be-ex-wife and her side. These photos are very soon to hit the greater web/papers and WILL be used against him in the proceedings. You are correct, this decision by him to speak out is likely to cost him Billions.
- loeg 8y agoWhy should his wife get more or less than half of their common property (Washington is a community property state) regardless of who had an affair with who? They're both multi-billionaires and will live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
- kerng 8y agoI think they are pretty mature about their divorce. I'd assume they just split things in half, because they built it together anyways. Seems pretty straight forward - I doubt their will be any public drama.
- everdev 8y agoI don't think it works that way. You can't get the majority of someone's fortune because of bad behavior.
- pureagave 8y agoThey are in Washington state. It is a no-fault state and property is split 50/50. Photos don't matter.
- Balgair 8y agoOh, my bad! Thanks for the clarification!
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- daveFNbuck 8y agoIf his wife is divorcing him because he's cheating on her, the divorce was inevitable anyway.
- ceejayoz 8y agoNah. The public nature and embarrassment of the reveal may be a factor, as plenty of marriages survive cheating - and there are plenty of cheaters who don't get caught.
- joezydeco 8y agoTimestamps on the photos could show Bezos’ affair taking place earlier than previously stated, which would definitely affect a divorce trial.
- nullc 8y agoWashington State is a “no fault” divorce state, so I would guess that the court wouldn't care about who was cheating on who when.
- lapnitnelav 8y agoAll the money in the world can't buy your pride / dignity back, especially if some "embarrassing" evidence get out there. It's something in the way people would look at you, talk about you, etc ... If you combine that with the Streisand effect, there's no way a public figure can take this kind of hit and walk away unphased. It's very much human nature, and that's why Jeff's move is bold.
- ocschwar 8y agoStanding up to that fucker does, in fact, buy you your pride and dignity back. The only thing missing here is Bezos offering to up the ante with a newer dickpic.
- CamperBob2 8y agoA good reply might have been, "Sorry, Mr. Pecker, but I'm not interested in working with you on this. But I'd suggest you hold off for a couple of weeks before releasing those photos. Playgirl has an exclusive on them in their next issue, and their lawyers are probably better than yours."
- sundvor 8y agoAgreed. Bezos gained more respect (in my eyes, and I'm delighted to see a lot of others too!) by the way he's handling this than anything that could be lost by the "reveals". (My own carefactor is zero). In fact offering the full text of the extortion attempt shows true courage, and at the same time claims back all the power the items might have had. It just makes me despise these dickheads even more and totally root (the Australian version) for Bezos - go get them!! I'm super interested in what happens next.
- buboard 8y ago> All the money in the world can't buy your pride / dignity back, especially if some "embarrassing" evidence get out there. AFAIK we are talking about a naked pic. If that was really so dangerous, people would never take naked selfies in the first place. I think it's hyperbole, even by american's puritan standards
- 8y ago
- monkeydreams 8y agoI agree. One thought did occur to me is that he is basically daring AMI to release the pictures. What if he knows the providence of these pictures, knows how they got into AMI hands, and knows that if AMI publish them he can sue them, Gawker (not Buzzfeed) style, into the ground?
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoIf AMI committed a crime by threatening to post them if he didn't keep quiet, and he posted this, AMI definitely also committed a crime if they then posted the pictures in retaliation. Bezos is reasonably safe in airing this, because AMI will only dig itself a deeper hole if they post them. AMI botched the crud out of this operation by leaving a paper trail: They made accepting their offer completely unnecessary; I don't think there's any chance the pictures get posted now.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- function_seven 8y agoGawker style?
- monkeydreams 8y agoLol. That's embarrassing.
- collinmanderson 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollea_v._Gawker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollea_v._Gawker
- mises 8y agoGawker outed Peter Thiel as gay. Thiel got pissed and paid for Hulk Hogan to sue Gawker for releasing a sex tape of Hogan. Gawker went under.
- deleted 8y ago
- philwelch 8y agoJeff Bezos has mentioned before that he tries to make big decisions from a “regret minimization framework”.
- inopinatus 8y agoThe "Principle of Least Regret" is an excellent way to make decisions, particularly binary ones: Given a choice between action X and action Y, and given all the facts and experience and self-knowledge currently at one's disposal, which option will you look back on in future with fewer/lesser regrets? You then commit to the path that you currently judge minimises your future contrition. The very literal minded will take this at face value and miss the point of the construct, which is that having committed to a given path you have minimised your regret even if it turns out to be the wrong choice. Because you can look back and say "given the information I had, it looked like the right one". Which is another way of saying, "if I had my time again, I'd do it the same way", only now with rational evidence of this claim. Thus turning confirmation bias into an affirmative and effective decision tool, by preforming the outcome around it. If you follow this procedure, you may still turn out unhappy, but you won't blame yourself. It is especially recommended for people who may otherwise experience chronic decision paralysis comorbidly with crippling imposter syndrome.
- alasdair_ 8y ago>Given a choice between action X and action Y, and given all the facts and experience and self-knowledge currently at one's disposal, which option will you look back on in future with fewer/lesser regrets? One practical issue with this advice is that it can lead to the "death of a thousand cuts" where any single binary event can be weighed one way but over the course of thousands of iterations, the aggregate would be weighed the opposite. Sure, in theory one would take into account all possible futures where this could happen but in practical terms that is a tough thing to do and there is seldom a good point to stop.
- inopinatus 8y agoThat hasn't been a problem in practice. What you're describing makes it sound like The Dice Man, but decision regret hasn't turned out to be an aggregate function. Under the POLR framework each past decision becomes a sunk cost; each committed decision is the new baseline. On the other hand I tend only to apply it for substantial life decisions. Quitting my job to launch a startup; getting married; moving to another country (x4); not eating the entire cheesecake; choosing Vim over Emacs etc.
- pluma 8y agoWell, he's still Jeff Bezos, the man who runs Amazon, with all the unethical implications that come with that. He has demonstrated a certain level of integrity, but that doesn't make him a Good Man.