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Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

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Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#321

Post by delecti »

nostromo wrote: post #45
zeusk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon is trying to do the same, but they haven't done so yet. They are not wildly profitable (if at all). They haven't monopolized online retail (and may never be able to do so). Please tell me you're being sarcastic. They're hiding profits and just plowing all the revenue back into the business while undercutting both competitors and their own employees.

I'm ex-Amazon and no, I'm not being sarcastic. It's an open question if Amazon will ever be able to raise prices and reap those promised profits without losing marketshare to the many players that would love to take them down. Right now I view Amazon as a very profitable web hosting company and a retail non-profit. Google and Microsoft, for comparison, were both much faster to get to monopoly-level marketshare. Amazo…

> will ever be able to raise prices and reap those promised profits

That's mischaracterizing the situation. They're not unprofitable because they're charging less than they could, they're unprofitable because they pour their profits immediately back into growing other business avenues. If Amazon spent a quarter or two slowing/halting the development of new business ventures they'd immediately be profitable. If they spent a year doing that and also trimming prior unsuccessful ventures they'd be quite profitable.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#322

Post by tryptophan »

fesoliveira wrote: post #198
01100011 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please explain how Amazon will gain a monopoly on stuff and moving stuff around. I stopped buying shit from Amazon and haven't had a problem finding things elsewhere. Yeah, I pay 1% more... big deal. Fuck those guys.

You are in a minority when it comes to that. Most people still go to Amazon (me included) because it is far easier to find what you want there for a lower or at least more fair price. Convenience is what dictates this kind of stuff, and Amazon, work practices apart, is know to deliver stuff really fast and cheaper than most, being the most convenient choice the same way Google is the most convenient choice when it co…

So because people are too lazy to go to a different website we must destroy the company of a very skilled businessman who's services millions of people use and enjoy? Amazon is #1 because they are the best, not because they are evil. Google is #1 because they are also the best, not because they are evil.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#323

Post by jacques_chester »

sjg007 wrote: post #202
tzs wrote: post #108

OT: I've always wondered, if some multi-billionaire became personally offended by some lesser multi-billionaire and decided to destroy them, what could they do? Assume that they don't want to do anything illegal enough to get themselves into serious trouble. For example, suppose Bezos decided he really hated Rupert Murdoch ($15B). If Bezos decided he could happily live on a mere $100B, that would leave him $50B for t…

Sure to some extent. But.. Say Bezos buys Fox News to wipe it off the map. Another billionaire or two would just start another version of it. The market is still there.

It's not that easy. Television and radio licenses are a legally-fixed supply. Someone who buys the broadcasting side of Fox would be able to start dragging its content hither and yon.

Whether that would prompt somebody to try a takeover of a different network is anyone's guess.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#324

Post by ajmurmann »

TangoTrotFox wrote: post #213
ajmurmann wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes no sense for Amazon to turn a profit. They invest everything back into growth. This way the stock keeps going up, Bezos and co sell their stock and pay long term capital gains tax instead of income tax. This way Bezos can get a better tax rate than his secretary.

At Amazon's scale you cannot simply turn tens of billions of dollars into economically meaningful growth. If you could, and expect proportional increase in valuation, then nearly every company would be doing the exact same thing. Take for instance Apple. They are netting some $48 billion a year with much more than that on hand. They clearly desperately want to move beyond just the iPhone and have been trying all sort…

The bulk of Amazon's "investments" are leaving profits on the table and thus undercutting competitors and in essence buying market share.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#325

Post by dan-robertson »

mudil wrote: post #81
nostromo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Bezos is a bad argument for us being in a new guilded age. When you look at Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, and perhaps even Gates, they had near total control over some aspect of the American Economy. And they used that control to make incredible profits. Amazon is trying to do the same, but they haven't done so yet. Their retail business is not wildly profitable (if at all). They haven't monopolized online ret…

I agree. In terms of market dominance, Google is a far bigger monopoly. It dominates search, ads, and internet overall.

I wouldn’t say google dominates the internet overall. They may dominate your internet as the way into most of the internet for you is google (or some other search provider). For a large number of people, especially in the developing world, Facebook is the internet. But perhaps such people mostly access the internet with android phones and so have sort-of-google phones and perhaps use google maps and google play store and such.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#326

Post by wlll »

TangoTrotFox wrote: post #240
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think with all that cash Bezos could afford to pay his minions a humane rate. But he just doesn't care.

Amazon has 566,000 employees. We have to guesstimate their hours, but let's say it's about 1500 per year. That's probably really lowballing it, but even there that's 849 million manhours per year. Put another way, a raise of $1 would cost around a billion dollars. Don't forget that employers pay additional taxes and fees that scale against employee compensation meaning they get double tapped when increasing compensat…

At a guess there's a decent number of pretty well paid people at Amazon who don't need a raise.

The people who are struggling to make ends meet at the bottom end could do with one though.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#327

Post by mistermann »

stickfigure wrote: post #273
save_ferris wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you look at Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, and perhaps even Gates, they had near total control over some aspect of the American Economy According to TechCrunch[1], Amazon controls 49% of the entire e-commerce market, and 5% of the entire retail market overall. They're also in a position to jockey for even more market share as retail continues to move online. Amazon is in the perfect position to completely own e-…

49% could be the high-water mark; we don't know yet. If Amazon doesn't get a grip on the counterfeit product problem, sales could plummet. The switching cost to a new retailer is low.

> 49% could be the high-water mark; we don't know yet

As could have been 25, 26, 32, 35, 37, etc

If you were a betting man, would you bet 49% is a high water mark?

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#328

Post by delecti »

nsx147 wrote: post #12
whack wrote: post #8

> "Gates would have had a net worth of more than $150 billion if he’d held onto assets that he’s given away, largely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation." Sorry Bezos, you've still got some catching up to do. Lifetime earnings are what really count, even if you give it all away to charity.

Gates does have an ~8 year lead

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, isn't it closer to 20 years? 1975 and 1994

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#329

Post by MikeHolman »

nradov wrote: post #226
pitaj wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the same New Deal that likely extended the length of the Great Depression by a significant multiple?

While the New Deal may have lengthened the Great Depression (impossible to prove one way or the other), it was a net win by preventing a violent socialist revolution. Those uprisings occurred in other countries. It really could have happened here.

That's assuming a socialist revolution is unequivocally bad. The world would be so incredibly different, it's impossible to say that it would be worse.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#330

Post by mistermann »

prolikewh0a wrote: post #216
fullshark wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goods are cheaper, Rent + College Education + Healthcare is much more expensive.

Everything you really don't need is cheaper, everything you do need (rent, groceries, education) is much more expensive while wages haven't increased since the 90's.

And inflation is completely within the desirable range, as it always is, regardless of any real world price changes.

On a positive note, it is encouraging to see a much broader of diversity of opinion on certain topics lately, where one year ago many of the comments in this thread would have been heavily downvoted. I believe there is a genuine change of sentiment underway even among the well paid tech classes.

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