Ben Gilbert: evaluation

Transcript context

…And it was losing a lot of money. Many people were predicting even then that was going to die. But yeah, it’s fascinating to go back over those numbers. Oh yeah, I bet. One of the things we talk about a lot on this show is we try to assess whether an acquisition or an IPO was a good move and how successful was it. One of the measures that we use for that with IPOs is what going public enabled that company to do that they would not otherwise have been able to do. So, what in the kind of near-term those next few years after the IPO did they plough that new influx of capital into? I think Amazon has been rightly known for not making any money and being willing to invest and to the extent that the financial markets allow you to. So, I think if it had been in the hands of let’s say an acquiring party, you would not have seen this kind of growth and innovation and expansion. So, Jeff has had a unique ability to think long-term and make it clear that he’s thinking long term so that the investors understand that this is a long-term investment. He likes to say that “you get the investors you ask for.” Meaning that if you focus on two cents more profit per quarter, then you get investors who’d focus on that. It takes you a while I think to get the right kind of investors, but if you say long-term cash flow is how we measure the business, pretty soon you get investors who are willing to invest on that basis. I mean, it’s possible if you don’t grow, they aren’t going to like your message itself but you end up with fewer short-term investors and more long-term. I think that’s helped Amazon a lot.…

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