Articles
Why Amazon is buying MGM for $8.5 billion
In early 2017, Jeff Bezos gathered executives from his Hollywood division, Amazon Studios, and told them, “I want my Game of Thrones.” The chief executive officer was frustrated. The team was developing niche programming like the gender identity drama Transparent and the retro-feminist comedy the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. They lacked the kind of mainstream appeal that might introduce wider audiences…
Read MoreThe Secret History of Alexa
Wired Magazine has the second excerpts from Amazon Unbound, on the inception of Alexa, its early challenges, and the secret identity of the actress and singer who lent her voice to Amazon’s disembodied artificial intelligence. Here’s Jeff Bezos’s first ever whiteboard sketch of an Alexa device, circa early 2011.
Read MoreThe Strange Tale of Jeff Bezos and the Single Cow Burger
As Amazon continued to experiment and trial different ways to deliver fresh food and groceries, it faced a mounting problem: fledgling grocery services like Amazon Fresh and Prime Now didn’t offer anything unique, often charged higher prices and weren’t retaining their customers. If Amazon wanted to arouse excitement and loyalty for these programs, it needed something else entirely—like a unique product that customers were passionate about. Well, Bezos had an idea for that as well and it was just as bizarre.
Read MoreA True Story: I won $10,000 in Whole Foods Gift Cards
Out of the blue in 2019, I got a call from Amazon. The person on the line informed me I had won $10,000 in Whole Foods gift cards, part of a sweepstakes I was entered into by using my Amazon credit card at the organic grocer. Obviously, I figured it was a scam. I called…
Read MoreJeff Bezos to Step Aside as Amazon CEO
When Bezos announced in February 2021 that he would cede the CEO chair to deputy Andy Jassy, I wrote this opening essay for Bloomberg Businessweek.
Read MoreExcerpts from The Upstarts, Volume 2: The Real Origins of Uber
The ride-hailing company Uber Technologies was invented by a Canadian and originally coded in Mexico. An excerpt from the book on Uber’s origins in The Guardian, published just as the world is taking a new look at Uber’s character amid charges of complicity with the Trump administration.
Read MoreExcerpts of The Upstarts, Volume 1: The Secret Weapons of Uber and Airbnb
Excerpts of The Upstarts are out today in Bloomberg Businessweek. This includes material from the introduction and chapters four and eight. And more is coming soon!
Read MoreSilicon Valley Reckons with its Political Power
Technology’s transformation of society seems to be speeding up. And now we know where it all leads: to the 25th floor of Trump Tower, and a central spot in the national dialogue over an evolving economy, with all its accompanying winners and losers. My opening essay in the 2016 year end issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.
Read MoreThe Uber Slayer: the True Story of China’s Didi
Didi was one of dozens of ridesharing startups that sprouted in China in early 2012. Here’s a Businessweek cover story on how it out maneuvered them all and then went head to head with Uber.
Read MoreWelcome to Larry Page’s Flying Car Factories
A summer 2016 cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek on Larry Page’s secret flying car skunkworks with my pal Ashlee Vance.
Read MoreHere’s the Guy Behind Apple’s Enormous Chip Business
A February, 2016 profile of Cupertino’s chief chipmaker, Johny Srouji, for Bloomberg Businessweek.
Read MoreUber and the Invasion of the Taxi Snatchers
Uber has managed to become one of the most loved and controversial startups of the smartphone age. A Bloomberg Businessweek cover story.
Read MoreFacebook Turns 10: the Mark Zuckerberg Interview
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and CEO, has many reasons to be grateful as his company turns 10 – and a few reasons to remain scared. A Bloomberg Businessweek cover story.
Read MoreThe Bitcoin Mining Arms Race Heats Up
Bitcoin is the digital currency that thrills nerds, inspires libertarians, and incites the passions of economists who debate the value of money made from nothing but ones and zeroes. A Bloomberg Businessweek cover story.
Read MoreQuestions for Book Clubs About The Everything Store
I recently heard from a reader who was organizing a book club discussion of The Everything Store. “I couldn’t find any great resources, so I thought I’d take a chance and email you and see if you, as the author, have any suggestions,” she asked. After thinking about it a bit, I offered these 10…
Read MoreBlogging The Everything Store: Amazon is Santa Claus
On the Web, the grind and chaos of retail’s biggest day will be invisible—hidden hundreds of miles away, inside the massive warehouses of juggernauts like Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.
Read MoreThe Everything Store Wins ‘Business Book of the Year’
I’m delighted to report that The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon has won Business Book of the Year, awarded annually by the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs. Here’s the FT’s story about the evening, and some embarrassing photos of the ceremony which was hosted by Lionel Barner, FT editor, Lloyd Blankfein,…
Read MoreThe Everything Store, Italian Edition
The Everything Store is being translated into over a dozen languages. Today I received copies from the Italian publisher, Hoepli. According to Google, “Vendere tutto” translates into “Sell Out.” I hope that is not quite right…
Read MoreResponding to MacKenzie Bezos’s One-Star Slapdown of The Everything Store
One of the gratifying and terrifying things about writing a book in 2013 is that anyone can immediately publish their review of it.
Read MoreThe New York Times Review(s)
There’s no better – or tougher – reviewer than Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times. Today she casts her critical eye on The Everything Store. You can read the review here. Update: and here’s author Duff McDonald’s review of the book in the New York Times Book Review.
Read MoreMore Great Coverage
The Financial Times reviews “The Everything Store.” Sample: “Brad Stone, a technology journalist who first covered Amazon in 2000, has done a remarkable job in The Everything Store, in a way that (Jeff) Bezos would appreciate – by working very hard.” Here’s a fun conversation with Len Edgerly of the Kindle Chronicles podcast. I always enjoy…
Read MoreTalking to NBC’s David Gregory about The Everything Store
On Sunday, I spoke to NBC’s David Gregory for a “Meet the Press” extra. Check out the video here.
Read MoreBlogging the Everything Store 2: Jeff Bezos’s League of Shadows
Bezos’s shadow, or Technical Advisor, allows him to magnify his impact and insight throughout Amazon.
Read MoreBlogging the Everything Store 1: Climbing Amazon’s Ladder
Most Amazon employees know OLRs as the meeting where careers and livelihoods can be won and lost in an instant.
Read MoreHow I Found Jeff Bezos’s Biological Father
Children with fractured or nonexistent relationships with one or both of their birth parents are more likely to end up with psychological or behavioral problems—not leading powerful nations, companies, or cultural movements. But in the case of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs — and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — the unusual circumstances of their birth seemingly helped to create an overpowering drive to succeed and to challenge the status quo.
Read MoreSecrets of the Amazon: “The Everything Store” Book Excerpts are Now Out!
Question mark emails. The Lubricant Crisis. Amazon’s battle with Diapers.com. And the incredible story of Jeff Bezos’s biological father, a unicycle performer and bike shop owner who never knew what became of his son.
Read MoreGrading the Kindle Fire as Amazon’s Tablet Turns Two
Two years ago, Bezos introduced the original Kindle Fire at one of those stereotypical press confabs in New York City. That first device was in many respects a dud. Now Amazon is taking on Google and Apple in the tablet market.
Read MoreAmazon Unveils New Kindle Readers
For the last six years, Amazon has constructed a nearly unbreakable hold on the digital-reading market, thanks in part to the company’s Kindle e-readers—and its ability to weave together attractive new features that broaden the reading experience.
Read MoreTalking About Jeff Bezos’s Buy of the Washington Post
These are a few of my media appearances talking about Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post – and previewing The Everything Store
Read MoreShocker: Jeff Bezos Buys the Washington Post!
The deal is surprising for a number of reasons. Bezos believes that the Internet is changing the entire business landscape, but so far he has seemed devoted to blazing new paths, not rescuing ailing old media franchises.
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