Amazon.com was founded in 1994 and has enjoyed a solid history of growth both in terms of its revenue position as well as in the size of its product offering (Chakrabarati & Scholnick, 4-5). Recognized as being one of the very first of the successful entrants into the world of eBusiness, Amazon became one of the most visible as well as successful of the "dot-com" companies. In addition, as a result of this success, by the end of the last decade of the twentieth century, it had become the world's largest on-line bookseller with in excess of three (3) million titles, fifteen (15) times larger than any of the conventional bookstores. At this time, Amazon also had revenues that were in excess of that of its closest competitor, Barnes & Noble.com (Chakrabarati & Scholnick, 5). It had also amassed such a debt level that it was estimated its net loss in 1999 would be in the range of $350 million (Quittner, 2).
While the company has become generally regarded as a retailer of books and associated products, in reality, it markets much more. CEO, Jeff Bezos, is working to assemble nothing less than the largest selection of goods on the planet for people to buy via his Web site (Quittner, 2). As such, Amazon has transcended from a niche-oriented marketer to more of an "e-mall." By doing so, it has encountered the competitive pressure of companies like eBay and others. Amazon has now begun to add categories as fast as possible with such newer entries as video games, DVD movies, toys, electronics, software, and minority positions in companies such as Drugstore.com, Pets.com, HomeGrocer.com, Gear.com and more (Quittner, 2). Many have asked for how much longer the Amazon bubble can grow.
Jeff Bezos was a naturally gifted youngster that excelled in academics and virtually everything else that he tried. A graduate of Princeton, he majored in electrical engineering and computer science. What made him particularly unique in the early ...