amazon founder jeff bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures the...
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8/19/13 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures - The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-known-for-patience-focus-on-detail-in-his-business-ventures/2013/08/05/477a8806… 1/4
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Correction: Some versions of this story incorrectly stated that Jeffrey Bezos’ mother and stepfather weremarried just before Bezos was born. They married when Bezos was 4 years old.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known forpatience, focus on detail in his businessventures
Emmaneul Dunand/AFP/Getty Images Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post newspaperfrom longtime owners the Graham family for $250 million.
By Peter Whoriskey, Jia Lynn Yang and Cecilia Kang, Published: August 5 Email the writers
Jeffrey P. Bezos, the Internet retail mogul and relentless business innovator who has agreedto buy The Washington Post, has a lesser-known trait that may serve him well amid thetumult of today’s crumbling newspaper business: lots of patience.
The willingness to pursue a long-term vision was critical to the rise and persistence of -Amazon.com, the global company he built from a suburban Seattle garage and through thetravails of the dot-com bust and the recession.
Some of his private investments, such as hisdeal for The Post, are marked even more bya fascination with pursuing lofty goalsrequiring extremes of perseverance.
Bezos has invested millions in a space flightcompany, a reflection of his passion for“moonshot” innovations, and, perhaps mostsymbolic of his endurance, he is also helpingto lead an effort to build a clock that willtick for 10,000 years.
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8/19/13 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures - The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-known-for-patience-focus-on-detail-in-his-business-ventures/2013/08/05/477a8806… 2/4
“It’s a special Clock, designed to be asymbol, an icon for long-term thinking,” hehas written of the machine, which is to bebuilt inside a mountain in West Texas. “As Isee it, humans are now technologicallyadvanced enough that we can create notonly extraordinary wonders but alsocivilization-scale problems. We’re likely toneed more long-term thinking.”
In a letter to Post employees, Bezos said that“journalism plays a critical role in a freesociety.” In other remarks he has made clearhis belief that journalism will endure despitethe challenges wreaking havoc across U.S.newsrooms.
Bezos has said he reads newspapers only intheir digital form and warned that theindustry’s prosperity depends on itstransition to new media.
“Journalism is not going to disappear,”Bezos told the German newspaper BerlinerZeitung in a November interview.
“We have found out that people are willingto pay for their newspaper subscriptions ontheir tablets,” he said. “Tablets will furtherinfluence our everyday life. Soon everyhousehold will have more than one tablet.This will be normal. And these trends willstrengthen newspapers.”
When asked whether the Kindle Fire or iPadcould save newspapers, Bezos said: “I wouldnot go that far and speak of savingnewspapers. The enduring transition periodfrom printed to digital newspapers isdifficult to handle for many publishinghouses businesswise, because they have tooffer print and digital at the same time.They have to be present at both fields, andthat is a problem.”
He predicted in the interview that printednewspapers will not be commonly used in20 years.
Born in 1964 in Albuquerque to a 17-year-old mother, Bezos never met his biologicalfather. He was adopted by Mike Bezos, whomarried his mother just before he was born.Jeff took his stepfather’s last name.
The family moved around a bit, and Bezosgraduated as class valedictorian from a highschool in Miami-Dade County, alreadyharboring dreams of being a spaceentrepreneur. He attended Princeton, fromwhich he graduated summa cum laudemajoring in electrical engineering andcomputer science. While working at thehedge fund D.E. Shaw in New York andresearching the possibilities of e-commerce,Bezos realized that one of the most obvious
Jeff Bezos' other personal ventures.
For Bezos, a demanding style behindthat patient approach
Craig Timberg and Jia Lynn Yang AUG 7One thing the Amazon chief andincoming owner of The Post has littlepatience for? Hoopjumping.
The Post sale: From unthinkablechoice to the clearest option
Craig Timberg and Jia Lynn Yang AUG 6How the decision to sell theheralded newspaper quicklybecame reality after it was proposedlate last year.
After Post sale, Graham is likely tocontinue to diversify company
Thomas Heath AUG 6Company owns various businessesthat have little in common.
Amazon’s Washington presencesurges along with its business
Holly Yeager and Carol D. Leonnig AUG 6The Internet giant has sharplyboosted its lobbying efforts to shapepolicy on taxes and other issues.
With The Washington Post sold, willNew York Times be next?
Paul Farhi AUG 6Family that owns the paper insistsit’s not selling. That was unthinkablefor The Post, too. Until it happened.
An open letter to Jeff BezosGene Weingarten AUG 6Welcome to The Post. I hope youhave a clear vision of where to takethis remarkable enterprise.
An Amazonstyle model could rebootthe newspaper industry
Matea Gold and Cecilia Kang AUG 6Analysts say technology perfectedby the online retailer could give Postreaders personalized news feeds.
Why Bezos usually buys thingsLydia DePillis AUG 6Amazon has always expanded byaccretion, but its purchases havevery different fates.
Details of Bezos deal to buy PostNeil Irwin and Ylan Q. Mui AUG 5The $250 million purchase price isricher than many of those receivedby other legacy print mediaproperties in recent years.
Bezos is known for his patiencePeter Whoriskey, Jia Lynn Yang andCecilia Kang AUG 5His willingness to pursue a longterm vision was critical to the riseand persistence of Amazon.
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8/19/13 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures - The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-known-for-patience-focus-on-detail-in-his-business-ventures/2013/08/05/477a8806… 3/4
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8/6/2013 6:39 AM GMT0500
8/6/2013 6:43 AM GMT0500
8/6/2013 9:39 AM GMT0500
buck wrote:
Please, please, please turn this liberal rag into something American. Give us one day without wiping obama'sbutt and one week without a negative Redskin name story.
Mr. French responds:
Because liberals and anyone who disagrees with a conservative viewpoint are antiAmerican. Iknow Bezos isn't going to bend to any particular viewpoint, and that's why there will be animprovement. Wapo is too liberal but swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction won't be animprovement either.
rj2835a responds:
WaPo is liberal on some issues gay rights, the poor, definitely guns (my biggest problem with thenewspaper). But they're decidedly moderate on economic issues, pushing for more entitlementreform than most liberals would like.
And I agree with Mr. French it's ridiculous to equate liberal with "not American." Face it, buck,Americans come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and opinions.
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8/19/13 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures - The Washington Post
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