Amazon unbound, p.49
Amazon Unbound, page 49
they gamboled in the western Mediterranean Sea: Ben Feuerherd, “Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Get Cozy on Mega Yacht in Italy,” Page Six, August 31, 2019, https://pagesix.com/2019/08/31/jeff-bezos-and-lauren-sanchez-get-cozy-on-mega-yacht-in-italy/ (January 26, 2021).
wearing a pair of stylish multicolor swim trunks: Priya Elan, “Dress Like a Tech Bro in Kaftan, Sliders, Gilet… and Jeff Bezos’s Shorts,” The Guardian, November 2, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/nov/02/jeff-bezos-shorts-tech-bro-fashion (January 26, 2021).
one-year anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Bill Bostock, “Jeff Bezos Attended a Vigil at the Saudi Consulate Where Washington Post Writer Jamal Khashoggi Was Murdered One Year Ago,” Business Insider, October 2, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-visit-saudi-consulate-istanbul-khashoggi-murder-anniversary-2019-10 (January 26, 2021).
“Right here where you are… are here”: “Washington Post Owner Jeff Bezos Attends Khashoggi Memorial in Istanbul,” Daily Sabah, October 2, 2019, https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/10/02/washington-post-owner-jeff-bezos-attends-khashoggi-memorial-in-istanbul (January 26, 2021).
arrow aimed directly at Bezos’s enemy: Ibid.
buying historic works of art: Eileen Kinsella, “Jeff Bezos Reportedly Spent More Than $70 Million on a Kerry James Marshall and a Record-Shattering Ed Ruscha at Auction Last Fall,” Artnet, February 6, 2020, https://news.artnet.com/market/jeff-bezos-art-collector-1771410 (January 26, 2021).
David Geffen’s nine-acre Beverly Hills estate: Katy McLaughlin and Katherine Clarke, “Jeff Bezos Buys David Geffen’s Los Angeles Mansion for a Record $165 Million,” Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeff-bezos-buys-david-geffens-los-angeles-mansion-for-a-record-165-million-11581542020 (January 26, 2021).
CHAPTER 14: RECKONING
from two days to one: Spencer Soper, “Amazon Will Spend $800 Million to Move to One-Day Delivery,” Bloomberg, April 25, 2019,” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/amazon-will-spend-800-million-to-move-to-one-day-delivery?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 25, 2021).
recovered all of that surrendered ground within twelve months: Jack Witzig, Berber Jin, and Bloomberg, “Jeff Bezos’s Net Worth Hits a New High After Recovering Losses from Divorce,” Fortune, July 2, 2020, https://fortune.com/2020/07/02/jeff-bezos-net-worth-new-high-amazon-shares-divorce/ (January 25, 2021).
“All big institutions of any kind… that will not stop us from serving customers”: Transcript of Economic Club of Washington, D.C., interview, September 13, 2018, https://www.economicclub.org/sites/default/files/transcripts/Jeff_Bezos_Edited_Transcript.pdf (January 25, 2021).
The book traces the rise and fall of the first American grocery chain: Marc Levinson, The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America (New York: Hill and Wang, 2011).
aggressively titled article: Elizabeth Warren, “Here’s How We Can Break Up Big Tech,” Medium, March 8, 2019, https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c (January 25, 2021).
“You can be the umpire in the baseball game… have a team in the game”: “This Is Why Warren Wants to Break Up Big Tech Companies,” CNN, April 23, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/23/elizabeth-warren-amazon-google-big-tech-break-up-town-hall-vpx.cnn (January 25, 2021).
the benefactor of tax benefits… vast R&D budget: Richard Rubin, “Does Amazon Really Pay No Taxes? Here’s the Complicated Answer,” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-amazon-really-pay-no-taxes-heres-the-complicated-answer-11560504602 (January 25, 2021).
“What I teach and preach… Don’t resist”: Döpfner, “Jeff Bezos Reveals.”
Earnings in Amazon fulfillment centers varied by state: Abha Battarai, “Amazon Is Doling Out Raises of As Little as 25 Cents an Hour in What Employees Call ‘Damage Control,’ ” Washington Post, September 24, 2018, https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-raises-starting-wage-for-its-workers-to-15-an-hour (January 25, 2021).
“We decided it was time to lead—to offer wages that went beyond competitive”: Jeff Bezos, “2018 Letter to Shareowners,” April 11, 2019, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2018-letter-to-shareholders. (January 25, 2021).
reports that some tenured workers: Krystal Hu, “Some Amazon Employees Say They Will Make Less After the Raise,” Yahoo! Finance, October 3, 2018, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-employees-say-will-make-less-raise-174028353.html (January 25, 2021).
returning to Twitter to harangue the company: Bernie Sanders, Tweet, December 27, 2019, https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1210602974587822080 (January 25, 2021).
“Amazon is getting away with murder tax-wise”: “Amazon ‘Getting Away with Murder on tax’, says Donald Trump,” Reuters, May 13, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/13/amazon-getting-away-with-on-tax-says-donald-trump (January 25, 2021).
“Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt—many jobs being lost!”: Donald Trump, Tweet, August 16, 2017, https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22many+jobs+being+lost%21%22 (January 26, 2021).
the agency had lost money for years: “Be Careful What You Assume,” United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, February 16, 2015, https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-assume (January 25, 2021).
the post office’s contract with Amazon: Eugene Kiely and D’Angelo Gore, “Trump’s Amazon Attack,” FactCheck.org, April 5, 2018, https://www.factcheck.org/2018/04/trumps-amazon-attack/ (January 25, 2021).
he harangued postmaster general Megan Brennan: Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey, “Trump Personally Pushed Postmaster General to Double Rates on Amazon, Other Firms,” Washington Post, May 18, 2018, (January 25, 2021).
tweeted a photo of himself and the defense secretary: Jeff Bezos, Tweet, August 10, 2017, https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/895714205822730241 (January 25, 2021).
banded together to protest that the process was biased: Naomi Nix, “Amazon Has Plenty of Foes in Pentagon Cloud Deal,” Bloomberg, June 26, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-26/amazon-foes-in-pentagon-cloud-deal-are-said-to-include-sap-csra?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 25, 2021).
most observers saw the unmistakable fingerprints of Oracle: Naomi Nix, “Inside the Nasty Battle to Stop Amazon from Winning the Pentagon’s Cloud Contract,” Bloomberg, December 20, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-12-20/tech-giants-fight-over-10-billion-pentagon-cloud-contract (January 25, 2021).
was a major donor to his reelection campaign: Brian Schwarz, “Top CEOs Ramp Up GOP Donations as Biden Threatens to Scale Back Corporate Tax Cuts,” CNBC, July 27, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/27/top-ceos-give-big-to-gop-as-biden-threatens-to-scale-back-corp-tax-cuts.html (January 25, 2021).
Trump listened and said he wanted the competition to be fair: Jennifer Jacobs, “Oracle’s Safra Catz Raises Amazon Contract Fight with Trump,” Bloomberg, April 4, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-04/oracle-s-catz-is-said-to-raise-amazon-contract-fight-with-trump?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 25, 2021).
Alphabet dropped out of the competition: Naomi Nix, “Google Drops Out of Pentagon’s $10 Billion Cloud Competition,” Bloomberg, October 8, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-08/google-drops-out-of-pentagon-s-10-billion-cloud-competition?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 25, 2021).
“If big tech companies are going to turn their back”: Mike Stone, “Jeff Bezos Says Amazon Wants to Work More with the Pentagon,” Reuters, December 7, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pentagon-amazon/amazon-ceo-says-wants-to-work-more-with-pentagon-idUSKBN1YB0JL (January 25, 2021).
“Which one is that, the Amazon?”: “President Trump Meeting with Prime Minister of the Netherlands,” C-SpAN, July 18, 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?462777-1/president-trump-meets-dutch-prime-minister-mark-rutte (January 25, 2021).
“Looks like the shady and potentially corrupt practices”: Donald Trump Jr., Tweet, July 18, 2019, https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1151905489472630785 (January 25, 2021).
suspended the process: Billy Mitchell, “JEDI Complaints Under Review by New Defense Secretary,” FedScoop, August 1, 2019, https://www.fedscoop.com/jedi-mark-esper-review-congress-complaints/ (January 25, 2021).
Esper recused himself: Frank Konkel and Heather Kuldell, “Esper Recuses Himself from JEDI Cloud Contract Review,” NextGov.com, October 22, 2019, https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/10/esper-recuses-himself-jedi-cloud-contract-review/160782/ (January 25, 2021).
“To me, it goes back to, if anything, Microsoft staying out of politics”: Monica Nickelsburg and Todd Bishop, “Satya Nadella: Staying Out of Politics, Focusing on Tech, Helped Microsoft Win Pentagon Cloud Contract,” GeekWire, November 1, 2019, https://www.geekwire.com/2019/satya-nadella-staying-politics-focusing-tech-helped-microsoft-win-pentagon-cloud-contract/ (January 26, 2021).
competing retailers Walmart and Target avoided AWS: Jay Greene and Laura Stevens, “Wal-Mart to Vendors: Get Off Amazon’s Cloud,” Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-vendors-get-off-amazons-cloud-1498037402?mod=e2tw (January 26, 2021).
a ninety-three-page article in the Yale Law Journal: Lina Khan, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” Yale Law Journal 126, no. 3 (2017): 710–805.
Khan was an unlikely figure: Davis Streitfeld, “Amazon’s Antitrust Antagonist Has a Breakthrough Idea,” New York Times, September 7, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/technology/monopoly-antitrust-lina-khan-amazon.html (January 26, 2021).
Politicians started referencing it in interviews: Alexis C. Madrigal, “A Silicon Valley Congressman Takes On Amazon,” Atlantic, June 19, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/06/ro-khanna-amazon-whole-foods/530805/ (January 26, 2021).
“hipster antitrust”: Kostya Medvedovsky, Tweet, June 19, 2017, https://twitter.com/kmedved/status/876869328934711296 (January 26, 2021).
In a sign that regulators were yet to be swayed: Brent Kendall and Heather Haddon, “FTC Approves Whole Foods-Amazon,” Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whole-foods-shareholders-approve-merger-with-amazon-1503498623 (January 26, 2021).
Margrethe Vestager… opened an investigation: Adam Satariano, “Amazon Dominates as a Merchant and Platform. Europe Sees Reason to Worry,” New York Times, September 19, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/technology/amazon-europe-margrethe-vestager.html (January 26, 2021).
DOJ would examine Google and Apple… Facebook and Amazon: David McLaughlin, Naomi Nix, and Daniel Stoller, “Trump’s Trustbusters Bring Microsoft Lessons to Big Tech Fight,” Bloomberg, June 11, 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-11/trump-s-trustbusters-bring-microsoft-lessons-to-big-tech-fight?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 26, 2021).
“hold big tech companies accountable”: “Cicilline to Chair Antitrust Subcommittee,” January 23, 2019, https://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-chair-antitrust-subcommittee (January 26, 2021).
“We remain prepared… important issues”: Kim Lyons, “Nadler Calls Amazon Letter to Judiciary Committee ‘Unacceptable,’ ” The Verge, May 16, 2020, https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/16/21260981/nadler-amazon-bezos-seller-judiciary (January 26, 2021).
previously vowed under oath: Lauren Feiner, “Amazon Exec Tells Lawmakers the Company Doesn’t Favor Own Brands over Products Sold by Third-Party Merchants,” CNBC, July 16, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/16/amazon-tells-house-it-doesnt-favor-own-brands-in-antitrust-hearing.html (January 26, 2021).
technical glitch with Congress’s video conferencing software: Laura Hautala, “Tech Titans Face Video Glitches in Congressional Testimony, CNET, July 29, 2020, https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-titans-face-video-glitches-in-congressional-testimony/ (January 26, 2021).
revelations from The Everything Store: Brad Stone, The Everything Store (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2013), 294–300; 241–246.
Pramila Jayapal… avowed Amazon critic: David McCabe, “One of Amazon’s Most Powerful Critics Lives in Its Backyard,” New York Times, May 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/technology/amazon-pramila-jayapal.html (January 26, 2021).
All quotes from the July 29, 2020, big tech antitrust hearing verified against the official transcript at https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/big-tech-antitrust-hearing-full-transcript-july-29 (February 27, 2021).
The solution was “no surprises”: Karen Weise, “Prime Power: How Amazon Squeezes the Businesses Behind Its Store,” New York Times, December 20, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/technology/amazon-sellers.html (January 26, 2021).
A TV commercial that flooded U.S. airwaves: “Supporting Small Businesses,” YouTube video, 0:30, “amazon,” October 5, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qwk2T8-SRA&ab_channel=amazon (January 26, 2021).
The final report from the antitrust subcommittee: House Committee on the Judiciary, “Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Investigation Reveals Digital Economy Highly Concentrated, Impacted by Monopoly Power,” October 6, 2020, https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3429 (January 26, 2021).
“Our investigation leaves no doubt”: Ibid.
eMarketer, put Amazon’s share of U.S. ecommerce sales at 40 percent: “Amazon Remains the Undisputed No. 1,” eMarket, March 11, 2020, https://www.emarketer.com/content/amazon-remains-the-undisputed-no-1 (January 26, 2021).
utter dominance in the U.S. in books and e-books: Matt Day and Jackie Gu, “The Enormous Numbers Behind Amazon’s Market Reach,” Bloomberg, March 27, 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-amazon-reach-across-markets/?sref=dJuchiL5 (January 26, 2021).
“failed to produce the financial data”: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee of the Judiciary, “Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets,” October 2020, p. 318.
waived a separate $15 a month charge: “Ultrafast Grocery Delivery Is Now FREE with Prime,” AboutAmazon.com, October 29, 2019, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/ultrafast-grocery-delivery-is-now-free-with-prime (January 26, 2021).
competition chief Margrethe Vestager charged Amazon: Foo Yun Chee, “Europe Charges Amazon with Using Dominance and Data to Squeeze Rivals,” Reuters, November 10, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-amazon-com-antitrust/europe-charges-amazon-with-using-its-dominance-and-data-to-squeeze-rivals-idUSKBN27Q21T (January 26, 2021).
“One of the unintended consequences”: Döpfner, “Jeff Bezos Reveals.”
CHAPTER 15: PANDEMIC
150 million Prime members worldwide: Spencer Soper, “Amazon Results Show New Spending Splurge Paying Off; Shares Jump,” Bloomberg, January 30, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-30/amazon-holiday-results-crush-wall-street-estimates-shares-surge (January 26, 2021).
Amazon stopped all nonessential employee travel: Jeffrey Dastin, “Amazon Defers ‘Non-essential’ Moves Even in U.S. as Corporate Travel Bans Spread,” Reuters, February 28, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-amazon-com/amazon-defers-non-essential-moves-even-in-u-s-as-corporate-travel-bans-spread-idUSKCN20M2TZ (January 26, 2021).
work from home for two weeks: Taylor Soper, “Amazon Changes Coronavirus Plan, Tells Seattle Area Employees to Work from Home until March 31,” GeekWire, March 4, 2020, https://www.geekwire.com/2020/amazon-changes-coronavirus-plan-tells-seattle-area-employees-work-home-march-31/ (January 26, 2021).
for the rest of the year: Monica Nickelsburg, “Amazon Extends Work from Home Policy to January 2021, Opens Offices with New Safety Measures,” GeekWire, July 15, 2020, https://www.geekwire.com/2020/amazon-extends-work-home-policy-january-2021-opens-offices-new-safety-measures/ (January 26, 2021).
canceled all in-person interviews: Roy Maurer, “Job Interviews Go Virtual in Response to COVID-19,” SHRM, March 17, 2020, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/job-interviews-go-virtual-response-covid-19-coronavirus.aspx (January 26, 2021).
“This isn’t business as usual… best play its role”: Jeff Bezos, “A Message from Our CEO and Founder,” Amazon, March 21, 2020, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/a-message-from-our-ceo-and-founder (January 26, 2021).
video chatting with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Jeff Bezos, Instagram post, March 26, 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/B-NbzviHy5B/ (January 26, 2021).
talking with Washington governor Jay Inslee: Jeff Bezos, Instagram post, March 27, 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/B-QSpVsHQcq/?hl=en (January 26, 2021).
walking through a fulfillment center and Whole Foods: Amazon News, Twitter video, April 8, 2020, https://twitter.com/amazonnews/status/1248092828070301697?s=20 (January 26, 2021).
30 percent of Amazon workers: Karen Weise and Kate Conger, “Gaps in Amazon’s Response as Virus Spreads to More Than 50 Warehouses,” New York Times, April 5, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/technology/coronavirus-amazon-workers.html (January 26, 2021).
fearing that they might be next: Benjamin Romano, “Amazon Confirms COVID-Positive Employee in One of Its Seattle-Area Warehouses,” Seattle Times, March 28, 2020, https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-confirms-covid-positive-employee-in-one-of-its-seattle-area-warehouses/ (January 26, 2021).
half of all Amazon deliveries globally: Matt Day, “Amazon Is Its Own Biggest Mailman, Shipping 3.5 Billion Parcels,” Bloomberg, December 19, 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-19/amazon-is-its-own-biggest-mailman-delivering-3-5-billion-orders (January 26, 2021).
two-thirds in the U.S.: “Amazon Posts Self-Delivery Record in July, Consultancy Says,” Benzinga, August 14, 2020, https://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/20/08/17085321/amazon-posts-self-delivery-record-in-july-consultancy-says (January 26, 2021).
make plastic face shields: Eugene Kim, “Leaked Emails Show Amazon’s Drone Delivery Team Is Manufacturing Face Shields for COVID-19 and Crowdsourcing Employee Ideas to Improve Warehouse Safety,” Business Insider, May 6, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-drone-delivery-team-is-manufacturing-covid-19-face-shields-2020-5 (January 26, 2021).
