Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire

by Brad Stone

Still, none of the perennial challenges in India or elsewhere seemed to impede Amazon’s overall business performance. On January 30, after Bezos returned to the U.S., the company announced a gangbuster holiday financial report. The move to deliver packages to Prime members the day after they ordered, instead of two days, had turbocharged sales, and the continued strength of AWS and durable bounty of advertising, the gold mine in the backyard, had minted $3.3 billion in profit, well above Wall Street’s expectations. Amazon also announced that there were 150 million Prime members worldwide, up from 100 million two years before, and that it employed around eight hundred thousand people, solidifying its position as the second largest private employer in the U.S., behind only Walmart. In the wake of the quarterly earnings announcement, investors bid up Amazon’s stock; its market capitalization leapt over the magical threshold of a trillion dollars and a few weeks later, finally remained there for good. It almost felt like the whole story could have ended right here, with Jeff Bezos worth an astounding $124 billion and Amazon’s aura of invincibility looking more impervious than ever. But it was at this exact moment executives got their first glimpse of the mythological black swan—the rare and unforeseen calamity—spreading its wings over the charred landscape that would soon describe the year 2020.