July 22, 2021
Marc Levinson
THE WASHINGTON POST – In the autumn of 2014, talk show host Charlie Rose interviewed Steve Ballmer, former head of the Seattle-based software giant Microsoft. When Rose asked his view of another prominent Seattle company, Ballmer minced no words. “In my world,” he said, “you’re not a real business until you make some money.”
The target of Ballmer’s jibe, Amazon.com, was indeed an enigma. Although it had long since become a household name, Amazon was notorious for its chronic inability to turn revenue into profit. As Ballmer spoke, it was in the midst of a money-losing year and its stock price was sagging. But over the next six years, the company’s stock market value would mushroom from USD141 billion to USD1.6 trillion, turning Amazon into the fourth-largest corporation on the planet.
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