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Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

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Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#51

Post by computerJanitor »

badman_ting wrote: post #12

> Occasionally, you’ll have to show those cards and win a hand to prove that you can. But the rest of the time you call and fold, as you await the monster to take the entire pot. Wait, just which game are we talking about here? I thought it was chess and checkers but now we're on to cards. I'm only sort of kidding -- Bezos certainly does seem like a genius to me, no argument there. But this is just the author going "…

If we can hit that bullseye the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#52

Post by tomkarlo »

ctdonath wrote: post #33
jeffasinger wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if the ultimate goal was to integrate the WaPo with Prime, he may have made the purchase as Amazon, instead of as a personal purchase. There's something else going on here.

Amazon per se may not be interested in WaPo per se under current conditions, but repackaged into a suitable form it may be. Bezos could make a tidy sum selling an Internet-future-ready news service to Amazon.

That's a potential nightmare of self-dealing that I don't think is Bezos (or Amazon's) style. You'd have to get some third party to come in and validate the transaction price as fair, etc. Amazon's done a number of transactions where it chose to maintain or transform the target as a separate entity (think Zappos, IMDb), so if he thought there was long term interest he would have just had Amazon buy it.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#54

Post by patrickdavey »

Zimahl wrote: post #46
rhizome wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is just the author going "No, you don't get it, he's so smart!" I'm a little curious what TC thinks the purpose of insulting their readers in the title of their piece is. The hopelessly mixed metaphor is just icing on the cake, but you do have to break a few eggs to throw the baby out before it's hatched.

but you do have to break a few eggs to throw the baby out before it's hatched. "If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!" - Zapp Brannigan

Still laughing! Thank you :)

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#55

Post by acqq »

selter01 wrote: post #17
badman_ting wrote: post #12

> Occasionally, you’ll have to show those cards and win a hand to prove that you can. But the rest of the time you call and fold, as you await the monster to take the entire pot. Wait, just which game are we talking about here? I thought it was chess and checkers but now we're on to cards. I'm only sort of kidding -- Bezos certainly does seem like a genius to me, no argument there. But this is just the author going "…

/facepalm. He's not playing poker though, he's playing chess!

As one German football player famously stated: "this game is just like the game of chess but just without dices."

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#56

Post by riotingpscifis »

rpgmaker wrote: post #34
badman_ting wrote: post #12

> Occasionally, you’ll have to show those cards and win a hand to prove that you can. But the rest of the time you call and fold, as you await the monster to take the entire pot. Wait, just which game are we talking about here? I thought it was chess and checkers but now we're on to cards. I'm only sort of kidding -- Bezos certainly does seem like a genius to me, no argument there. But this is just the author going "…

He might be a genius but not all genius can make a profitable business. I doubt that will be the case for Amazon eventually (I may well be one of the suckers heh) but let's remember that they just LOST money on the last quarter and consistently earn little to no profits.

That's part of the plan. Amazon make a loss in Q1-3 and turn a profit in Q4, this results in a slight profit over the year, a boatload of investment in infrastructure and it being almost impossible for competition to keep up.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#57

Post by kingraoul3 »

ianstallings wrote: post #37
kingraoul3 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it depends on which poker game you're playing and the table texture of your game.

What I thought was telling was they said "most of the time you're just calling and folding.

You're right, that's terrible, didn't read closely enough.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#58

Post by kingraoul3 »

badman_ting wrote: post #29
kingraoul3 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it depends on which poker game you're playing and the table texture of your game.

It does, which is why I wrote "tends to". But I knew someone would get pedantic about it anyway -- this is HN.

Fair enough.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#59

Post by black4eternity »

pachydermic wrote: post #19
badman_ting wrote: post #12

> Occasionally, you’ll have to show those cards and win a hand to prove that you can. But the rest of the time you call and fold, as you await the monster to take the entire pot. Wait, just which game are we talking about here? I thought it was chess and checkers but now we're on to cards. I'm only sort of kidding -- Bezos certainly does seem like a genius to me, no argument there. But this is just the author going "…

No, man . You just don't get it! He's a master of the game . He's thinking 12 cards ahead and is going to uno your bishop with his Washington Post before you can even bingo your king of spades! It's so crazy it might just work! I don't like the article. Full of sensationalist filler with little real content. What's his point? That stock price reflects the perceived expected value of the company now and in the future?…

In fact if we go by this article isn't Apple doing the same thing. He says Bezos/Amazon didn't show their cards for long and will eventually surprise people and win over. How does that not apply to Apple who is hoarding cash and not giving a hint of their future plans ?

Absurd writing.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

#60

Post by foobarqux »

rhizome wrote: post #50
foobarqux wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Next time a law surfaces Amazon tax they will have much bigger mallet with which to hit the gong. WaPo has amazing team and journalists. No need to wait until next time, Amazon labor conditions have been making headlines recently and even Obama is making gestures to do something. Since Amazon is such a low margin business raising wages could be crippling so there is an immediate and critical need for Amazon to star…

Since Amazon is such a low margin business Even as a public company, I wouldn't be surprised if they're playing some accounting tricks in order to maintain this as a facade.

The argument doesn't really depend on the business being low margin only that Amazon is strongly motivate to control labor costs for whatever reason.
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