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Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

aboutamazon.com

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Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#141

Post by leipert »

s3r3nity wrote: post #110
ksec wrote: post #66

From https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/email-from-jef... >Fellow Amazonians: >I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be a…

Yeah - the man is 57, and at this point does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. Looks like he still intends to run his philanthropies, Blue Origin, and the Post, but after the type of run he has had, he's probably taking some more free time while he's healthy. I try not to fall into the "cult of personality" trap, but Amazon is where it is _because_ of Bezos, and it'll be fascinating to wat…

With his wealth he doesn’t need to work anymore since a long time. See e.g. here: https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

In my opinion there is hardly a justification or a _need_ for an individual to own billions. But I think we haven’t found a good way to redistribute money, apart from billionaires self-pledging to give their wealth away.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#142

Post by boringg »

uptown wrote: post #126
s3r3nity wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah - the man is 57, and at this point does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. Looks like he still intends to run his philanthropies, Blue Origin, and the Post, but after the type of run he has had, he's probably taking some more free time while he's healthy. I try not to fall into the "cult of personality" trap, but Amazon is where it is _because_ of Bezos, and it'll be fascinating to wat…

"...probably for the rest of his life." Ya think?

Replace probably with "there's a chance" he won't have to work for the rest of his life....

Assuming he has managed to figure out how to live forever ... at some point this wealth would get depleted.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#143

Post by danbolt »

personjerry wrote: post #111
munificent wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For comparison, using national total wealth, that makes Amazon worth more than Saudia Arabia, Denmark, Portugal, or New Zealand. It's $280.5 billion in revenue in 2019 put it above the GDP of Romania, Peru, Ukraine, etc. Corporations should never be allowed to get this large.

> Corporations should never be allowed to get this large. Why? Bonus question: Why should governments be allowed to get that big?

Neither have to be that big. If something's going to be so big and pervasive into people's lives though, then I'd rather be able to have a democratic say in a government than the Shinra Electric Power Company.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#145

Post by mywittyname »

ianai wrote: post #87

I’m just going to piss into the wind a little. After seeing what happened to Microsoft and Apple after they lost their founder CEOs, I don’t welcome this news as freely as others might. We’re not necessarily likely to see the company go directions that are for the better. (Maybe though this is really a rant about Cook. Amazon has lots of room to improve. Looking at all those forged brand names, for instance.)

Apple is doing quite well under Cook. Same with Google under Pichai. Microsoft had some pains during the Balmer years, but I think that's partially due to the anti-trust suit making them gunshy and Balmer being a generally poor choice as a tech CEO, but they are doing very well with Nadella.

I expect Amazon to be as ambitious as ever. Though, I am slightly afraid of a shift in focus towards AWS over retail. But I suspect Jassy's selection had to do with fears that a pick from the retail side may see Jassy as a threat and may seek to undermine AWS in an effort to keep him in check.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#146

Post by almost_usual »

ksec wrote: post #66

From https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/email-from-jef... >Fellow Amazonians: >I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be a…

All of that and he’s probably exiting because he’s jealous of Musks’ success.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#147

Post by orev »

jimbob45 wrote: post #113
ianai wrote: post #87

I’m just going to piss into the wind a little. After seeing what happened to Microsoft and Apple after they lost their founder CEOs, I don’t welcome this news as freely as others might. We’re not necessarily likely to see the company go directions that are for the better. (Maybe though this is really a rant about Cook. Amazon has lots of room to improve. Looking at all those forged brand names, for instance.)

What is it you perceive that happened to MS? They appear to be doing well and are the top competitor to Amazon's AWS.

MS completely missed on mobile phones and tablets, despite trying so many times at it. The “Windows everywhere” approach prevented them from doing what really had to be done (make something new for these new devices). That was all under the Ballmer era.

It’s only now that they have a new CEO who is happy to pursue other approaches that they have been able to start going in a better direction again.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#148

Post by arcticbull »

personjerry wrote: post #111
munificent wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For comparison, using national total wealth, that makes Amazon worth more than Saudia Arabia, Denmark, Portugal, or New Zealand. It's $280.5 billion in revenue in 2019 put it above the GDP of Romania, Peru, Ukraine, etc. Corporations should never be allowed to get this large.

> Corporations should never be allowed to get this large. Why? Bonus question: Why should governments be allowed to get that big?

What do you mean by "get this big"?

Governments aren't defined by a market cap, but rather by the services they provide to their citizens.

Consider that a private company's only goal is to enrich its shareholders, and they have no responsibility to the people or places around them. They are only accountable to their shareholders and the government.

A governments responsibility is solely to its citizens who also control it by vote.

The bigger your biggest companies are, the more powerful your government must become to keep them in line - to ensure they don't break the rules. If you want a small government that is able to retain order and fairness, you must also limit the size of the companies within its purview.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#149

Post by systemvoltage »

munificent wrote: post #106
ksec wrote: post #66

From https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/email-from-jef... >Fellow Amazonians: >I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be a…

For comparison, using national total wealth, that makes Amazon worth more than Saudia Arabia, Denmark, Portugal, or New Zealand. It's $280.5 billion in revenue in 2019 put it above the GDP of Romania, Peru, Ukraine, etc. Corporations should never be allowed to get this large.

I think corporations should get absurdly large.

You know, I’m saying things without substantiating them. No offense, but anti-Corp is cool these days. Virtue signaling without thinking on one’s own.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#150

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

jimbob45 wrote: post #113
ianai wrote: post #87

I’m just going to piss into the wind a little. After seeing what happened to Microsoft and Apple after they lost their founder CEOs, I don’t welcome this news as freely as others might. We’re not necessarily likely to see the company go directions that are for the better. (Maybe though this is really a rant about Cook. Amazon has lots of room to improve. Looking at all those forged brand names, for instance.)

What is it you perceive that happened to MS? They appear to be doing well and are the top competitor to Amazon's AWS.

But they did have a rough patch under Ballmer.
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