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Bezos’ wealth is a function of the Amazon’s stock price. It is a company with a P/E ratio of 137. That is not normal. He does not set his stock price. So when

Bezos’ wealth is a function of the Amazon’s stock price. It is a company with a P/E ratio of 137. That is not normal. He does not set his stock price. So when people talk about taxation, its taxation based on the general stockholders speculation. Which seems fair if we think BTC or 401k holders should be paying taxes on their annual values. Pretty sure most on HN would want not want that. So it’s a question of limits, or a line, picked by society on how much something of arbitrary valuation one can own. But I’d bet there are many here with >$1M is assets and >50% of the public would find that outrageous. As far as AMZN being too big, I’d be fine with breaking it up as the components would probably be valued more than they are together (remember Standard Oil). Which would be good for my 401k. The people have voted on the Walmarts and Amazons of the world. They lost something for the convenience, and it’s 100% their fault, not Bezos.

basch 6y ago
>But I’d bet there are many here with >$1M is assets and >50% of the public would find that outrageous. 171.6/137 is still $1.2525B. Lets say 15 is a fair P/E ratio, thats almost $19B. 1900 Million. People with >$1M is assets and >50% of the public still cant fathom the difference between a million and 10 billion. And historically, despite having a high P/E ratio, Amazon exceeds growth expectations. I don't know who is saying to tax his assets. But the laws, rules, economies of scale, feedback loops, and anti competitive behaviors that allow one person to amass that much money should be treated as glitches that need to be patched.
- hindsightbias 6y ago
  Bezos doesn’t care about his wealth or the valuation anymore than John D. Rockefeller did. It’s just more paper. He cares about maintaining control of Amazon and dabbling in his hobbies. Kneecaping Amazon would result in hundreds of billions in wealth loss spread across millions of investors.
  - basch 6y ago
    If you look at it from the perspective of Amazons own internal wealth being its own currency, money has a different value in the system and outside it. He buy things directly with stock, like we would use cash. He can downgrade his value store from Amazon bucks to USD, but he doesnt have to to spend it. Knowing how Amazon shares convert to USD is probably less useful than knowing what you can buy directly with Amazon shares.

basch 6y ago

>But I’d bet there are many here with >$1M is assets and >50% of the public would find that outrageous. 171.6/137 is still $1.2525B. Lets say 15 is a fair P/E ratio, thats almost $19B. 1900 Million. People with >$1M is assets and >50% of the public still cant fathom the difference between a million and 10 billion. And historically, despite having a high P/E ratio, Amazon exceeds growth expectations. I don't know who is saying to tax his assets. But the laws, rules, economies of scale, feedback loops, and anti competitive behaviors that allow one person to amass that much money should be treated as glitches that need to be patched.

hindsightbias 6y ago
Bezos doesn’t care about his wealth or the valuation anymore than John D. Rockefeller did. It’s just more paper. He cares about maintaining control of Amazon and dabbling in his hobbies. Kneecaping Amazon would result in hundreds of billions in wealth loss spread across millions of investors.
- basch 6y ago
  If you look at it from the perspective of Amazons own internal wealth being its own currency, money has a different value in the system and outside it. He buy things directly with stock, like we would use cash. He can downgrade his value store from Amazon bucks to USD, but he doesnt have to to spend it. Knowing how Amazon shares convert to USD is probably less useful than knowing what you can buy directly with Amazon shares.