Ten years ago this week, Amazon.com made its Internet premiere when Mr. Bezos opened a Web site he audaciously called «Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.» Amazon sold only a half-million dollars’ worth of books in the first six months, but was soon posting the kind of gaudy growth rates that impress Wall Street: sales hit $15.7 million in 1996 and $147.8 million in 1997. Yet the more familiar story of Amazon in the second half of the 1990’s was the rate at which it burned through cash. In 1999, for example, its revenue hit $1.6 billion, but it still lost $719 million.
The founders of Yahoo, David Filo and Jerry Yang, ran that company for only a few months before its financial backers hired a professional manager to take over as chief executive. The investors behind eBay and Google did the same, though both waited several years before making a move. There have been notable exceptions – including Microsoft and Dell, whose founders (both college dropouts) ran them for at least a decade after the companies went public. But in general, the practice in the technology world is to bring in an experienced manager who can earn Wall Street’s respect, either shortly after the founding of a company or just before it goes public.
Mr. Bezos laughed when asked whether the board had ever expressed dissatisfaction with his performance. He laughed again when asked about a 2003 helicopter crash that he survived with only minor injuries but that raised the succession question in a more dramatic way, and he laughed one more time when reminded of how some people jokingly replaced «com» with «con» and called his company Amazon.con. Mr. Bezos, 41, is a slight man with thinning brown hair and large hazel eyes that seem to swell even larger when he’s excited, which is often.
Y bueno, como dije el artículo es largo, son 5 páginas, pero eso sí, muy interesantes de leer para aquellos que frecuenten los temas empresariales o de tecnología, o simplemente si Amazon.com es una de sus compañias favoritas. Por cierto, estos días en Amazon se encuentran celebrando su décimo aniversario. En Slashdot postean sobre eso, en CNN también.
Technorati tags: Amazon.com