Page 33 - Forbes - Asia (September 2018)

$158 1
learn a skill. It might take time for the thing and dependability. And it’s another toe in TO Billion
to really ower.” In other words, if you study the healthcare pool.

the skills Amazon is learning, you’ll have a Bezos is also going to school in ad- INFINITY
fair idea of what it will soon be selling. vertising. Amazon’s most recent quarter-
And right now Bezos is learning ly performance revealed a startling num- AND
about healthcare. It’s America’s biggest ber: Amazon is on pace to exceed $8 billion BEYOND
industry—18% of GDP—and one of its in advertising revenue this year—rough-
most ineicient. Last year, Bezos, along ly double last year’s total. And why not? JEFF BEZOS’ NET

with Bufett and JPMorgan Chase CEO Google might know what you’re interest- WORTH AND RANK

Jamie Dimon, announced that their three ed in buying, Facebook might be able to de- ON THE FORBES 400

companies would pool their eforts, hiring duce what you’d be inclined to buy, but Am-

high-proile CEO Atul Gawande to lead a azon knows what you’ve actually bought or

nonproit initiative to deliver better care at even whether you showed intent to buy.

a lower cost for their own employees, with hat raises all sorts of issues. Bezos talks
the idea of creating a scalable, clonable exuberantly about his consumer obsession,

model. It’s no small thing: hose three com- but there are few customers who want to be
panies employ 1.2 million. Add in their de- targeted with more ads. Bezos says the trust
pendents, and it’s like running a pilot proj- that Amazon has built with its customers
ect for everyone in Oregon or Connecticut. will ensure the company doesn’t cross a
Bezos is adamant about Amazon’s in- line—and that customers, in turn, will give
tentions here. “his is a nonproit initiative, him the beneit of the doubt. “It’s very valu-

as you guys know. It’s very diferent,” he in- able, and so you would never do anything

terjects, before even a full question can be to jeopardize it,” he says. “It’s what allows

asked about it. Bufett, for his part, concurs, you to expand the business.” If Bezos can
having explained to me a few months ago: walk that line, it’s easy to envision the Face-

“We were deluged by people ater the an- book-Google advertising “duopoly” gaining
nouncement who said, ‘We want to join in.’ a third major entrant. $81.5
Billion
And we said, ‘You don’t have to join in. Steal
everything we get, if we get anything.’ ” he WHEN YOU WALK AMONG THE Seat-

“if we get anything” is key. “Like Columbus tle high-rises, the most interesting building
leaving, we don’t know where the hell we’re in Amazon’s neighborhood—with apolo-
going exactly,” Bufett added. “But we hope gies to a stunning new biosphere designed $67

Billion
there’s another continent out there and we to serve as something of a company com-
don’t go of a shelf at some point.” mons—is a food store that pokes out from
But even if they do sail of the Earth, the bottom of Day 1 Tower. Amazon’s $13
Bezos wins, as Amazon burnishes its skills billion Whole Foods purchase last year is
accounting for around one ith of the do- only the second-most-interesting grocery

mestic economy. While any breakthroughs initiative at Amazon; the irst is Am-

developed with Bufett and Dimon “would azon Go, an 1,800-square-foot ex- $47
Billion

still be inside that nonproit entity,” Bezos periment in frictionless brick-and-
says, “each of the companies can pursue mortar purchases that opened in
their own initiatives.” Bezos has already January.
started. In June, Amazon agreed to pay al- Go, a food store,
most $1 billion for PillPack, a startup that might be the most Am-
delivers prepackaged daily prescription en- $30.5
Billion
velopes. It’s everything that Amazon $27.2

is good at: fulillment, customization Billion
$23.2
Billion
$19.1
$12.6 Billion
Billion
$8.7 $8.8
Billion Billion

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
33 28 18 13 11 12 15 4 2 2 1

1 BASED ON 8/27/2018 STOCK PRICE.
SEPTEMBER 2018 FORBES ASIA | 31