Tag Archives: Jeff Bezos

America’s Second Trillion Dollar Company Emerges

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Jeff Bezos courtesy of
Steve Jurvetson

Coming just a bit more than one month after Apple became the first US publicly traded company to be valued at over $1 trillion, Amazon takes second place in the race to corporate hugeness.

Amazon entered the rarefied atmosphere of trillion-dollar companies when its stock rose 1.9 percent last Tuesday to a value of $2,050.50 per share, just 23 cents beyond what it needed to reach that magic trillion dollar point. The price of Amazon’s stock has climbed by 70 percent so far this year, continuing to explode along with other US stocks in the tech sector. The milestone was fleeting however, when the stock actually closed up only 1.3 percent, not enough to keep it beyond $1 trillion.

Amazon has been doing quite well lately, pulling past other tech major players such as Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and Microsoft. Alphabet’s valuation stands at about $840.3 billion, and Microsoft’s at $854.5 billion.

In 1994 Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as an on-line bookseller. The company grew quickly to become one of the US’ most influential companies. Based in Seattle, Amazon is a leader in e-commerce, but also is expanding to other markets such as cloud computing, home security and movie production. Only Walmart hires more people, and this year’s profit so far comes to $4.1 billion. Bezos is also the owner of the Washington Post.

Bezos is the world’s richest person. As a the major beneficiary of the skyrocketing stock price, as of Tuesday, Bezos’ worth is estimated to be $166 billion.

MBA Not Prerequisite to CEO-dom

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A Good Think to Have
A Good Thing to Have

It would be hard to argue that having and MBA from a well-respected graduate school is not helpful in a businessman’s climb up the corporate ladder, it seems such a degree is not always necessary.

One startling example is the head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. He has consistently taken his company higher in the rankings of the famed Fortune 500, without hair nor hide of an MBA. With just a BA from Princeton Bezos founded and nurtured Amazon to the rank of 35 on the Forbes list, not to mention making Amazon a household name-brand.

Also lacking an MBA is the CEO of Plains GP Holdings, Greg L. Armstrong. The company owns and operates storage facilities for natural gas and manages other businesses. Armstrong has directed his company to the 70th position on the Forbes 500.

Amazingly it turns out that less than half of the CEOs at the top 100 companies on the Forbes list actually have MBAs.

“To actually get in the C-suite, it’s a little bit like winning the lottery. Especially for a Fortune 100 company,” says David G. Rohlander, author of The CEO Code: Create a Great Company and Inspire People to Greatness with Practical Advice from an Experienced Executive.  “A pattern of successfully accomplishing your goals and an optimistic mindset are two of the most important traits for becoming a CEO,” he says.

Having an MBA might not guarantee a place at the head of a company, but it can certainly help an ambitious person to get ahead. Rohlander, who has an MBA in finance from California State University’s business school, says that earning an MBA is definitely “going to give you a better capability of thinking.”

Jeff Bezos of Amazon: Genius Businessman and Innovator

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Jeff BezosJeff Bezos is the CEO at Amazon, one of the most amazing companies to have emerged in the universe of on-line retailing. There is no question that he is a business genius, innovating and guiding his company to ever more successful approaches to customer service and sales.

Here are a few valuable quotes from Bezos showing just small bit of his acumen, giving us mere mortals some insight into how his mind works.

•    Do not rest on your laurels, as Bezos said, “A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny does not last.”

•    What is the driving force behind innovation? Bezos knows: “I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”

•    On the importance of responding to customers and their needs: “If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”

•    Afraid of criticism? That can harm your business: “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake don’t do anything new.”

Among Bezos’ other accomplishments, aside from his success at Amazon, is the purchase of the Washington Post for $250 million in early 2013; and the funding of the building of a 10,000-year clock inside a mountain in the Sierra Diablo Mountain Range in the West Texas desert.

Amazon Stock Hits Record as Business Expands

Investments,
Amazon Stocks Hit Record High

Despite posting a net loss for the second quarter of 2013, Amazon’s stock reached a new high point of $313.62, on Friday, and closed at $311.70, an increase of 2.7 percent.

The rise was fueled by fast expansion at home with profits in its domestic market also heading up.

“Their biggest market looks really healthy,” said Matt Nemer, an analyst at Wells Fargo.

Amazon is a giant on-line retailer which is in the midst of a re-make, trying to sell technology-based products such as tablets and cloud computing services to large corporations and even political entities, such as governments. It is making this change-over while simultaneously growing their overseas market in such places as China.

So far Amazon has spent billions on this new look which eats into earnings.  Never mind say investors, trusting the direction that chief Executive and Founder Jeff Bezos is taking them. They are confident that Bezos can pull it off and they will reap big future profits. Investor confidence is what is propelling Amazon’s stock to continue its upward climb.

traducción español

 

Las Acciones de Amazon Alcanzan un Récord ya que el Negocio se Expande

Español,
Las acciones de Amazon alcanzan un récord máximo
Las acciones de Amazon alcanzan un récord máximo

A pesar de registrar una pérdida neta para el segundo trimestre del 2013, las acciones de Amazon llegaron a un nuevo pico de $313.62, el viernes, y cerraron a $311.70, un aumento del 2.7 por ciento.

El aumento fue alimentado por la rápida expansión interna con la suba de las ganancias en el mercado nacional.

“Su mayor mercado parece muy saludable,” dijo Matt Nemer, un analista de Wells Fargo.

Amazon una empresa gigante de ventas al por menor en línea, está a medio camino de reinventarse, intentando vender productos tecnológico como tablets y servicios de computadoras cloud a grandes corporaciones e incluso entidades políticas, como los gobiernos. Está haciendo esta renovación mientras simultáneamente crece su mercado en el exterior en lugares como China.

Hasta ahora Amazon ha gastado billones en esta nueva apariencia que se come los ingresos.  No importa, dicen los inversores, confiando en la dirección que el director ejecutivo y Jeff Bezos los está llevando. Están seguros de que Bezos puede lograrlo y que ellos cosecharán grandes ganancias futuras. La confianza de los inversores es lo que está propulsando las acciones de Amazon en su continua subida.

English Translation