The Life and Times of Jeff Bezos the Founder of Amazon.com (Part 2) – Hour 1
Audio Transcription
Listen and learn from the business coach Clay Clark as he breaks down what has made Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com so successful.
1997 – Age 33 – At the age of 33, Jeff Bezos was able to take the company public although many stock market analysts thought that the company would be badly beaten by the major bookstores once they launched their own online bookstores.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos
1999 – Is named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
2001 – 7 years after its’ founding, Amazon finally turned a profit.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Make every detail perfect, and limit the number of details to perfect.” Jack Dorsey (Co-founder and CEO of Twitter, and as the founder and CEO of Square)
FUN FACT: “Amazon had announced profits before, but they were always a little fishy, leaving off the table little things like stock options and losses on investments. But there was no doubt about the fourth quarter of 2001: Driven by an extraordinary burst in the Christmas shopping season (apparently there was more fear of bombs at Borders than anthrax in Amazon boxes), Amazon finally crossed over into the Land of the Black Numbers.” – http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=87393&page=1
2002 – Jeff founded Blue Origin, LLC, an aerospace company to provide low-cost access to private space travel.
2006 – Age 42 – Amazon launched their own on demand video service which was initially known as Amazon Unbox on TiVo. Years later the company decided to call the service Amazon.com Instant Video.
FUN FACT – Amazon’s warehouses have more square footage than 700 Madison Square Gardens and could hold more water than 10,000 Olympic Pools.
2007 – Age 43 – At the age of 43 Jeff Bezos decided to release a handheld reading device known as the Kindle which would allow users to buy, download, read and to store their favorite book selections.
FUN FACT: Amazon’s current logo was designed to depict a smile that goes from A to Z. “This signifies that the company is willing to deliver everything to everyone, anywhere in the world.”
Applel’s original logo
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=fT04Wt_xL8nejwOL6KjoBw&q=apples+original+logo&oq=apples+original+logo&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i10k1.12883.13561.0.13742.6.6.0.0.0.0.126.470.0j4.4.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..2.4.468…0i7i30k1j0i8i7i30k1j0i13k1.0.8wjFbZV7FH0#imgrc=rJzDvg4rk1TzXM:
Starbucks’ original logo –
https://www.google.com/search?q=starbucks+original+logo&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiogN_YypTYAhUT6GMKHRbEAGEQ_AUICigB&biw=908&bih=978#imgrc=hAFBL2Uo82ZSYM:
2007 – Age 43 – Jeff Bezos announced that he would invest in the Seattle based aerospace company focused on offering space travel to paying customers, called Blue Origin.
2009 – Age 45 – Amazon bought Zappos.com.
FUN FACT – In 2009, Amazon.com bought popular online shoe retailer Zappos.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion.
2011 – Age 47 – Jeff decided that Amazon.com needed to get into the tablet business and to give Apple’s iPad a run for its’ money.
2012 – FUN FACT – “When Amazon’s site went down for 49 minutes the company missed sales of nearly $5.7 million.” – http://www.businessinsider.com/10-mind-blowing-facts-about-amazoncom-2013-3/#azons-warehouses-have-more-square-footage-than-700-madison-square-gardens-and-could-hold-more-water-than-10000-olympic-pools-3
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “We haven’t built the best tablet at a certain price. We have built the best tablet at any price,” – Jeff Bezos
2013 – Age 49 – He purchased the Washington Post for $250 million. The deal ended the four-generation control the Graham family had over The Post Co.
FUN FACT: Donald E. Graham bought the bankrupt Post shortly after stepping down as Chairman of the Federal Reserve in mid-1933. His mother was baptized as a Lutheran but attended an Episcopal church. His father was also a Lutheran.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you – what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind – you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn’t a strategy.” – Jeff Bezos
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – August 5, Bezos wrote: “The values of The Post do not need changing. …There will, of course, be change at The Post over the coming years. That’s essential and would have happened with or without new ownership. The internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs. There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about—government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports—and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.”
2013 – Age 49 – Bezos launched the experimental division of his company called, “Amazon Prime Air” which uses drones to delivery products to customers directly. Jeff Bezos reports that these drones can carry items that weigh up to five pounds and a capable of traveling within a 10 mile radius of Amazon’s distribution centers. He believes that “Amazon Prime Air” should be a reality in the year 2018.
FUN FACT – Amazon.com employees spend two days every two years working at the customer service desk, even the CEO. This practice is to help all workers understand the customer service process.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “People will visit Mars, they will settle mars, and we should because it’s cool.” – Jeff Bezos
2014 – Age 50 – Bezos launched the Fire Phone which bombed. It was discontinued in 2015.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting.” – Jeff Bezos
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard (American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher)
2014 – Age 50 – Amazon Studios won big when many of their new original programs were critically acclaimed including Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent and others.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.” – Jeff Bezos
2015 – March – Age 51 – Ranked number 15 on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires, with a net worth of $34 billion.
2016 – Age 52 – Jeff Bezos scored a cameo appearance in Star Trek Beyond where he played the part of an alien. As a lifelong Star Trek fan he was pumped to be listed in the movie’s credits as a Starfleet Official.
