Comments on: Jeff Bezos vs. Bailout CEOs

By: Danno

Danno — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:48:40 +0000

Amen, Jeff!

Keep up the good work — and keep listening to your people/customers.

By: barbara

barbara — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:50:34 +0000

I am in favor of supporting local businesses if I can, but Amazon will provide me with things that local businesses can’t and they will do it with good service and convenience.

Also, and I don’t think this has been mentioned yet, if we want to go into outer space, it will be private industry that get’s us there, most likely. I feel like it is important to support Jeff Bezos as one of the good guys. If Amazon. com can take us to the moon and beyond, gods bless ‘em. Go Jeff!

By: Why Jeff Bezos Is Obsessed With Waste

Why Jeff Bezos Is Obsessed With Waste — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:01:44 +0000

[...] shareholders, Jeff Bezos related this moment of Zen: At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you [...]

By: Rob Newby

Rob Newby — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:18:19 +0000

Adding a few more credits

11. Maintains a company culture of pride in productivity whilst starting and finishing every action with customer Focus. (no mean feat)

12. Kept Amazon lean at all times which translated into Amazon continuing to hire throughout the present economic downturn and continuing to do so. see http://www.amazon.com/careers

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:25:37 +0000

What’s interesting is this CEO situation is just like premise of Ayn Rand’s book “Atlas Shrugged” (Written in 1957)
While the book is a platform for Ayn’s philosophy (and just fiction) I do agree with one point it tries to make: It comes down to good leadership and decision making and the type of people that can lead companies. Simply funding poor leadership/unsustainable business is not a solution. Regardless of the complexity of the Auto industries vs. Amazon it comes down to whether they have a business model that can sustain their business. While the auto industry as a whole is hurting, we aren’t seeing every single auto company going out of business. (only the weaker ones) The only way that I would buy that the Auto industry was a victim though no fault of their own would be if all of them were going out of business. (and that’s not the case) It’s the same with the airline industry. While some have continually hurt, others like southwest have a business model that is sustainable. That not to say they do well in a poor economy, but they make the changes needed to stay in business and the have the leadership that know how to make them survive when situation beyond their control happen.
This is also why the markets and industries need corrections. Ultimately, If there are enough problems that a business can’t sustain then it needs to die, not be continually left on life support. Life support is not health, but just the continuance of existence. Everything will die but with death there is also new birth. Now I’m sounding like a philosopher. 
Anyway, I recommend reading the book if you haven’t it’s long and long winded( as well as you need to survive the first 200 pages to really get into it) but there are interesting parallels between something that was written in the 50’s and what is happening now. It’s worth a run to the library (or maybe you will just download it to your kindle2). Who is John Galt?

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:14:14 +0000

Let’s see how well Jeff Bezos would run Amazon if Amazon had to support a massive union with perpetually accumulating fixed cost burdens, and suffocating government policies that require them to find a way to produce products that nobody wants to buy at a price where they can be profitable for shareholders.

By: grownANDsexy

grownANDsexy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:03:52 +0000

I agree with most of what many people and Om have said, except for this: “The best companies wouldn’t need to be bailed out because they would be good at what they do.”

I don’t agree with that as a 100% truth (or even a 80% truth). Any company no matter how well it is run can get caught with its proverbial “pants down”. If the economy was to get worst, would even Amazon survive? By the statement I just quoted yes it would.

There are internal and external factors effecting any business and it is vital that a business do its best to prepare for most circumstances and be able to “dance” with the extremes. NEVERTHELESS it is the the external forces that are mostly out of the control of the company. What happens to Amazon if the “card check” bill gets passed? And Wal-Mart?

It is true that a good CEO does what Jeff Bezos does, I think so. Is it true that businesses run right and well may not need government bailout to stay alive? Probably very true, but not totally true and its not true enough to ignore that there will be more than a few who will fail to no true fault of their own making.

By: Dave McClure

Dave McClure — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:34:32 +0000

… and as an investor in 2 “Amazon Mafia” startups + advisor to a 3rd, i’d say he’s also done an excellent job of building an entrepreneurial culture in the folks around him as well.

By: kmc

kmc — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:15:06 +0000

The Bailout CEOs wished their biggest task was improving the productivity at a warehouse facility. The automakers and financial companies businesses are a million times more complicated than Bezos’ Amazon. To his credit Bezos does an excellent job at running Amazon.

By: ABC

ABC — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:37:59 +0000

Being impressed by someone is different than comparing them with non-comparable. Richard already pointed out Taj Mahal and Apple in past and this one. I remember Om suggesting Bezos as a replacement for Bill Gates. Om, there could be some other ways to insult someone or appreciate someone but your comparisions really doesn’t make sense.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:06:40 +0000

Ford does not need the money now because it had setup a $25 billion credit line in 2006. All of the auto manufacturers are reeling. From Toyota and Honda down to GM and Chrysler, sales fell off a cliff (30-40%) in October/November of 2008. All of them have suffered, with GM and Chrysler being most squeezed for cash. The American auto companies have run their business poorly and have been shrinking for some time now and will continue to do so. But they are not responsible for the credit markets drying up and an overnight loss of 30% of their revenue! Especially given that most of their costs are fixed. Rather than just letting them go under, here is an opportunity to force all parties to restructure the business and keep the economy humming. The same applies to the financial industry. Right now I see money going into the black hole of AIG, Citicorp, et al and nothing real to show for it.

By: adam Jackson

adam Jackson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 05:43:09 +0000

Will do! Thanks for the link.

By: Quickthink » Blog Archive » Invest or Bailout?

Quickthink » Blog Archive » Invest or Bailout? — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:25:47 +0000

[...] toxicity, all who are associated with it will find themselves in serious political short pants. Om Malik is ahead of the curve on this, as he refers to the “bailout CEO’s” (contrasting them unfavorably with [...]

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:24:13 +0000

In that case Thomas, how do you explain the tact taken by Ford. Just making a point — you need to be “aware” of the business and “customers” — it has nothing to do with legacy/technology/kind of companies. Of course you can totally disagree with me on this :-)

By: Thomas Welsh

Thomas Welsh — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:00:36 +0000

I tend to agree with Richard on most points. Amazon was built in the current environment with one leader and one vision. The Big Three are each over 100 years old and have had to adapt to so many different changes in leadership, vision, customer base, regulation, international expansion, etc. – (I’m sure I could go on ad nauseum). I admit that customers are customers and that knowing all contributors to a company’s success (and ultimately profit) is important for any leader but direct comparisons between Amazon and the auto companies is probably not appropriate.

By: Jeff Bezos vs. Bailout CEOs « Freedom Arizona

Jeff Bezos vs. Bailout CEOs « Freedom Arizona — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:41:26 +0000

[...] (Source: GigaOm) [...]