521–530 of 568 posts
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In 1999, AMZN peaked ar $80. Two years later it was trading at $10, and didn’t recover until 2007. The interviewer was right; Amazon was over valued.
Or was it radically undervalued in 2001?
Sears died because of Lampert, that's the beginning and end of the story. While they were far from perfect, post-Kmart "acquisition" both the service and stores became garbage and he used Sears as a personal slush fund.
Both Sears and K-Mart were crappy dumps 30 years ago. Not saying a competent manager couldn't have turned them around, but they've been on their way down for a long time.
--Lampert, probably...
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Name recognition This can't be understated, and is something a lot of new companies don't understand. If people know your brand and trust your company, they will hand you money. Anecdata: My parents were massive Sears loyalists. When they bought an appliance, my father researched the various GE models, then bought the Kenmore version. When he wanted a video game console, he researched and decided he wanted an Atari 2…
>If Sears had a lumber yard In a way, they did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Catalog_Home
I wonder if there is some sort of design trademark on them. I would love to build a house like these in Australia.
Ahh, I came to this thread far too late, but hopefully this won't be missed. In 1980 The Yankee Group (a tech consultancy) reached out to my dad to help them understand how Sears could respond to the growing tech phenomenon. For reasons too long to get into, Gates and my pops (a Canadian) knew each other and were even both covered in The Intelligent Machines Journal out of Palo Alto in the same issue during the wanin…
60 minutes interview with a young Jeff Bezos, 1999 https://youtu.be/VuI-ss5aQU8?t=629 "how do you view that phenomenon [laugh] that Amazon is worth more than Sears!? [condescending laugh]" "a couple of geeks [laugh laugh], who sketched out some software, could destroy Sears Roebuck [laugh]" same 60 minutes "expert", telling young Bezos, Amazon stock was wildly expensive https://youtu.be/dTxuzW9RAO8?t=20 "Amazon is wo…
In fact they were only saved because he had secured financing mere months before the collapse, had that not happened Amazon would be listed among the likes of Pets.com.
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Yeah a brick and mortar book store could never compete with an online retailer warehouse when it comes to selection. Eventually book stores started to create their own websites but by then it was too little too late.
Yup -- and some (Borders) made the strategic mistake to literally just use Amazon. When Borders finally broke off the relationship, not only was it too late [1], it was at literally the worst possible time it could have done it, from a business perspective -- given the financial crisis. Toys R Us did this too and as a result, never built a really solid e-commerce strategy. In fact, when Toys R Us left Amazon in 2006…
Knew a couple other folks at Borders, and visited them at work a couple of times. Borders was just clueless at tech, and BN was starting to take a lead in tech, which helped them with sales a lot more.
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60 minutes interview with a young Jeff Bezos, 1999 https://youtu.be/VuI-ss5aQU8?t=629 "how do you view that phenomenon [laugh] that Amazon is worth more than Sears!? [condescending laugh]" "a couple of geeks [laugh laugh], who sketched out some software, could destroy Sears Roebuck [laugh]" same 60 minutes "expert", telling young Bezos, Amazon stock was wildly expensive https://youtu.be/dTxuzW9RAO8?t=20 "Amazon is wo…
There's significantly more information in 2018 or even 2008 to indicate Amazon was worth that valuation. A companies potential has to be adjusted by risk if you want a good valuation, and in 1999 there just wan't enough evidence. This is validated by it dropping dramatically after the bubble popping. In fact they were only saved because he had secured financing mere months before the collapse, had that not happened A…
But, the 60-minutes reporter didn't justify his claims based on risk or on math. He was skeptical because Sears is huge, and to him it was laughable [and yes, he did literally laugh many times in that interview] that Amazon can someday be worth more than Sears. To him it was "messed up", and a sign of things wrong with the world
Sears had everything. Global supply chain, check. Top notch distribution operation, check. System and infrastructure to take orders and handling billing, check. Name recognition and established customer base, check. They threw it all away, ending catalog operations in 1993 a year before Amazon.com opened in 1994. They owned part of Prodigy in 1984! Yet somehow thought it was a better move to expand into bigger box re…
At that time in the industry sure, but they failed to pivot. This supply chain by todays standards would be laughable.
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In 1999, AMZN peaked ar $80. Two years later it was trading at $10, and didn’t recover until 2007. The interviewer was right; Amazon was over valued.
Amazon worth more than Sears? Can you imagine?
Ahh, I came to this thread far too late, but hopefully this won't be missed. In 1980 The Yankee Group (a tech consultancy) reached out to my dad to help them understand how Sears could respond to the growing tech phenomenon. For reasons too long to get into, Gates and my pops (a Canadian) knew each other and were even both covered in The Intelligent Machines Journal out of Palo Alto in the same issue during the wanin…
How is that in the interest of sears?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
60 minutes interview with a young Jeff Bezos, 1999 https://youtu.be/VuI-ss5aQU8?t=629 "how do you view that phenomenon [laugh] that Amazon is worth more than Sears!? [condescending laugh]" "a couple of geeks [laugh laugh], who sketched out some software, could destroy Sears Roebuck [laugh]" same 60 minutes "expert", telling young Bezos, Amazon stock was wildly expensive https://youtu.be/dTxuzW9RAO8?t=20 "Amazon is wo…
There's significantly more information in 2018 or even 2008 to indicate Amazon was worth that valuation. A companies potential has to be adjusted by risk if you want a good valuation, and in 1999 there just wan't enough evidence. This is validated by it dropping dramatically after the bubble popping. In fact they were only saved because he had secured financing mere months before the collapse, had that not happened A…