Special: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)
Acquired27 Mai 2021

Special: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)

Brad Stone joins us to discuss the making of the modern Amazon, and how it's morphed from the "flywheel company" of The Everything Store into a set of interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses that extended both wider and deeper into the global economy than anyone ever imagined. (except perhaps Jeff Bezos) Is Amazon the Standard Oil of our time, or maybe something much, much bigger? Tune in as we dive in!


Sponsors:


More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


Topics covered:

  • When and why Brad decided The Everything Store needed a sequel
  • The process of writing the book and access he got at Amazon, including S-Team executives like Dave Clark
  • The evolution of Amazon's core strategy from the flywheel into a set of "interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses", and how Brad landed on that as the key theme for the book
  • Amazon's culture and the evolution from "Jeff-bots", and its embodiment in S-team members and company leaders beyond
  • Amazon's investments in Video and why Bezos was ahead of the pack in realizing its strategic importance (including the rumored as-of-recording MGM deal)
  • Amazon's secretive "Campfire" event and why Amazon does it despite its very un-Amazon price tag
  • Brad's take on the future of three major Amazon business lines: Video, International and Marketplace / 3rd Party Sellers
  • Amazon and Bezos's intense focus on competitors, despite the "theater" of their mantra to only focus on customers
  • The Bezos "lapses of judgment" in 2018-19 and what it was like reporting on all the craziness around it
  • Tracking down the "voice of Alexa" Nina Rolle, and Bezos's relationship with Elon!

Links:

Episoder(213)

Episode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)

Episode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)

On this extra-long episode of Acquired, Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast returns to discuss perhaps the most (in)famous merger of all time: AOL - Time Warner. Who doesn’t remember th...

18 Sep 20171h 48min

Episode 43: The Square IPO

Episode 43: The Square IPO

Unicorns and ratchets and lawsuits, oh my! Our heroes dive into the history of Jack Dorsey’s famous “other” company, Square. Was the Square IPO a canary in the coal mine signaling doom & gloom for the...

16 Aug 20171h 22min

Episode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)

Episode 42: Opsware (with special guest Michel Feaster)

Acquired dives into the legendary acquisition of Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen’s “second act” software company Opsware, from a perspective never before heard—HP’s side of the story! Our heroes are jo...

5 Aug 20171h 20min

Episode 41: Booking.com with Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson

Episode 41: Booking.com with Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO Drew Patterson

Acquired trains its lens on the “second or third best acquisition of all-time”, Priceline’s 2005 purchase of Booking.com. Our heroes are joined by friend-of-the-show and former Jetsetter & Room 77 CEO...

26 Jul 20171h 21min

Episode 40: Activision Blizzard

Episode 40: Activision Blizzard

Ben & David cover the creation of the gaming world’s equivalent of the 70’s rock supergroup: the 2008 merger of Blizzard and Activision. We tell the story from the Blizzard perspective, tracing the hi...

13 Jul 20171h 18min

Acquired Episode 39: Whole Foods Market

Acquired Episode 39: Whole Foods Market

Ben and David are once again live on the scene, this time covering the biggest disruption in grocery since… well, sliced bread: Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods Market. We place this deal in co...

21 Jun 20171h 19min

Acquired Episode 38: SoundJam (iTunes)

Acquired Episode 38: SoundJam (iTunes)

Ben & David revisit the birth of the digital music revolution and Steve Jobs' "digital hub" strategy, with Apple's 2000 acquisition of the Mac music player SoundJam MP, which would go on to become iTu...

31 Mai 20171h 22min

Episode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”

Episode 37: BAMTech, Disney and "the Biggest Media Company You've Never Heard Of”

Ben and David continue Acquired’s “tech and sports” mini-series with Disney’s 2016 acquisition of a minority stake (with the right to purchase a majority stake at a later date) in BAMTech, the interne...

10 Mai 20171h 22min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
e24-podden
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
pengepodden-2
rss-sunn-okonomi
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
okonomiamatorene
lederpodden
liberal-halvtime
rss-markedspuls-2
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse