by Brad Stone
Niekerk, David, 110–13, 219, 221, 230, 312
Nielsen, 203
Nike, 180
9/11 terrorist attacks, 117
Nisqually earthquake, 7
Nordstrom, 253
Northrop Grumman, 279, 280
NSO Group, 344
Nuance, 27, 37
Obama, Barack, 132 administration of, 110, 270, 297, 311, 368
Obama, Michelle, 1, 132
Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria, 16, 307, 308, 310
Oceanco, 347–48
O’Dell, Trip, 239
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 183
Olsavsky, Brian, 246
Omidyar, Pierre, 122
O’Neill, Gerard K., 281
OnePlus, 77
Onetto, Marc, 166, 218–21, 224, 225
OneWeb, 279
Oracle, 97–99, 173, 360, 361
Oscars, 137, 322
OSHA, 224
Osowski, Lukasz, 28
Outcast Agency, 324
Overstock, 373
paddle boards, 170, 374–75
Paramount Pictures, 158
Paris climate accords, 2, 381
Parkland shooting, 301
Paull, Michael, 146
Pecker, David, 328, 331–32, 334, 337–39, 341, 342, 345
Pegasus, 344
Pelosi, Nancy, 1
Penner, Greg, 90
People’s Production Company, 142
Pérez Sagaón, Abril, 85–86
Perry, Katy, 325
Perticucci, Roy, 392
Peterson, Matt, 97
phatic speech, 34–35
philanthropy, 15, 16, 244, 288, 290, 402–4 Bezos Day 1 Fund, 49, 324, 406
Bezos Earth Fund, 402–4, 406
Blue Origin and, 269, 281–82
of MacKenzie Scott, 323–24, 346, 402–3
Piacentini, Diego, 71, 73, 77, 79, 80, 83, 100, 104
Pichai, Sundar, 359, 369
Pitt, Brad, 325
Plugable Technologies, 176, 375–76
Pluimer, Larry, 181
Poitier, Sidney, 141
Politico, 124
Poovalingam, Vinoth, 76
PopSockets, 367–68
Porter, Brad, 399
Portrait of a Nation Prize, 1–2
Prakash, Shailesh, 123, 129–30
Prasad, Rohit, 35–38, 42, 47, 52
presidential candidates in 2020 election, 351, 353–55, 364
Price, Frank, 140–41
Price, Roy, 136, 137, 140–57
Prione Business Services, 77
Prisoner (Rezaian), 131
privacy, 23, 51–52
ProPublica, 237, 240
Procter & Gamble, 202, 246, 251
Project Kuiper, 404
Puerini, Gianna, 55–57, 59, 62, 64–66, 68
Purohit, Jagdish Raj, 92
Quidsi, 9–10, 193, 209, 222
Quinn, Sally, 133
Rabbit, 195, 238–39
Raghavan, Bali, 56, 58, 62
Rakuten Intelligence, 240–41
Ramji, Shiven, 251
Rashid, Taimur, 99
Ratner, Brett, 337
Rawlings, Mike, 300, 308
Raytheon, 280
Reagan, Ronald, 124
Reddit, 52
Refn, Nicolas Winding, 152
Reid, Toni, 45, 46, 51
Reliance Industries, 93, 384
research and development (R&D) expenses, 67
Reuters, 77, 210
Reveal, 224
Rezaian, Jason, 131–32
RFID chips, 57, 225
Rhimes, Shonda, 154
Riggs, Conrad, 145
Ring, 319, 367
Rivian Automotive, 4
Robb, Walter, 185
Robertson, James, 330, 332, 333
robotics, 55, 56, 213, 222–24, 388, 389
Rodriguez, Alex, 325
Rogers, Ty, 120
Rolle, Nina, 30, 289
Rolls-Royce, 280
Romanoffs, The, 152
Ronen, Assaf, 258
Rosa, Mike, 299
Rose, Charlie, 54
Rosenstein, Barry, 186
RosettiStarr, 360
Rosseter, Megan, 207–8
Roth, Mike, 216–17, 225, 229–31, 233
Rubinstein, David, 350
Ruffin, Scott, 233
Rupp, Chris, 104–7, 112
Russell, David O., 152
Russia, 272
Ryan, Fred, 124–25, 131, 133, 343
Safeway, 186, 192, 196
St. Vincent, 325
sales taxes, 11, 213, 250
Salke, Jennifer, 157
Samuel J. Heyman Spirit of Service Award, 343
Samsung, 38, 77
Sanchez, Eleanor, 325–27, 346–47
Sanchez, Lauren, 136, 310, 325–28, 382, 383, 403, 405 Bezos’s meeting of, 326
Bezos’s relationship with, 17, 283, 318–19, 321–22, 324, 326–28, 344–47
marriage to Whitesell, 136, 325–28
National Enquirer story on Bezos’s relationship with, 17, 319, 328–42, 344
Sanchez, Michael, 325–30, 332–36, 338, 340, 342, 345–58
Sanchez, Paul, 325–26
Sanchez, Ray, 325
Sandberg, Sheryl, 251
Sanders, Bernie, 355, 356
SAP America, 360
satellites, 404
Saudi Arabia, 17, 321, 340, 342–45, 347
Saunders, Paul, 372–73, 376
Sawant, Kshama, 291–92, 303
Schmidt, Eric, 88, 193
Schoettler, John, 290, 299, 303, 304, 312
Schultz, Howard, 6
Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 328
Scott, MacKenzie (formerly Bezos), 5, 12, 15–17, 22, 41, 124, 136, 143, 144, 154, 180, 244, 245, 269, 322–25 Bystander Revolution and, 323–24, 346
divorce of, 16–17, 318–21, 334, 345, 346, 349
divorce settlement of, 346
Giving Pledge and, 346
name change of, 346
philanthropy of, 323–24, 346, 402–3
Traps, 64
remarriage of, 403
Seattle, Wash., 289–95, 303–5 Amazon headquarters in, see Amazon headquarters in Seattle
Bellevue, 304, 305
Employee Hours Tax in, 303–5
Seattle Times, 290
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), 7
September 11 terrorist attacks, 117
Sequoia, 192
Service Merchandise, 214
Seymour, Greg, 276
Shanghai Snow, 153
Shark Tank, 170, 374
Shimmer, 22–23
Shopify, 378
Shotwell, Gwynne, 265, 282
Showtime, 140
Shriver, Maria, 136
Silicon Valley, 6, 22, 48, 96, 98, 111, 129, 187, 234, 252, 253, 290, 295 see also big tech companies
Simons, Joseph, 366
Simpson, Andrea, 329–30, 332, 338
Singer, Marty, 334, 337–39
Siri, 26, 27, 30, 32, 34
Sirosh, Joseph, 54
60 Minutes, 233, 397
SKDK, 311, 314
Skyfall, 252
Slifka, Janet, 42
Smalls, Chris, 394–95, 397
Smart, Bradford, 111
Smart & Final, 192
smartphones, 38–41, 77, 92 Fire Phone, 2, 13, 15, 22, 33, 38–42, 45, 46, 58, 70, 95, 189, 382
iPhone, see iPhone
smart speakers, 50 Echo, see Amazon Echo
Google Home, 50
Smith, Bob, 265–66, 280, 281
Smith, Fred, 227, 235, 242
Smith, Ryan, 296
Smithsonian Institution, 1–3, 382
Smugmug, 96
Snapchat, 103
Soderstrom, Tom, 96
Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques, 392
Soloway, Joey, 143, 144
Son, Masayoshi (“Masa”), 90
Sony Pictures, 2
52
Souq.com, 343–44
Sowers, George, 279
So You Think You Can Dance, 326
Space Flight Award, 277
SpaceNews, 272
Space Symposium, 278, 279
SpaceX, 264–65, 268–69, 270–74, 277, 278, 280, 282–83, 404 Falcon rockets of, 264–65, 278
Spacey, Kevin, 153
Spain, 71, 80, 81
speakers, 50 Echo, see Amazon Echo
Google Home, 50
speech, computer-synthesized, 28–29
speech recognition, 28, 36, 55 in Alexa, 28, 33, 36, 37
Spheres, 150–51, 288, 289, 327, 381
Spiker, 28
Sprouts Farmers Market, 197
stack ranking, 110–12, 114, 219
Stahl, Lesley, 397
Starbucks, 6, 305
Starlink, 404
Star Trek, 23, 30–31, 35, 274
Stephenson, Dave, 246–48
Stephenson, Neal, 267
Stone, Roger, 336
Stonesifer, Patty, 403–4
“Stop BEZOS” bill, 355
Stracher, Cameron, 332, 339
Streisand, Barbra, 325
Streitfeld, David, 109–10
Stringer, Tom, 311
Sullivan, Holly, 235, 298–300, 308, 311–13, 316
SummitLA conference, 322
Sunrise Telecom, 92
Super Bowl, 48, 131, 283, 347
supermarkets, see grocery business
Susi, Steve, 252
Sutton, Nate, 202, 368–69
Szulczewski, Peter, 171, 172
Tal Yguado, Sharon, 149
Tambor, Jeffrey, 143, 144, 153
Taobao, 72
Target, 158, 192, 216, 231–32, 242, 363, 373, 378
taxes Amazon and, 117–18, 291, 301, 303, 335, 351, 354–57, 364
Employee Hours Tax, 303–5
income, 291–92, 303
sales, 11, 213, 250
Taylor, Mitchell, 310
Taylor, Tom, 51, 166, 167
Teamsters, 216–17, 242
techlash, 290, 305, 349–53, 364, 380 see also big tech companies
Telesat, 279
Tencent, 88
Tesco, 190
Tesla, 235–36, 264, 282, 283, 294 Gigafactories, 73, 236, 293, 299, 315
text to speech (TTS), 28
Thiel, Peter, 360
Thimsen, John, 26, 35
Thompson, Ben, 103–4
Thompson, Bernie, 176–77, 375–76
Thomson, James, 377
Thornton, Billy Bob, 149–50
Thunberg, Greta, 381
Time, 6, 331, 345
Time Warner Cable, 140
Tmall, 72, 379
T-Mobile, 252
Tolkien, J. R. R., 149
Too Old to Die Young, 152
Top Gear, 145
Topgrading (Smart), 111
Tower Paddle Boards, 170, 374–75
Toyota, 218, 219
Toys “R” Us, 216
Trader Joe’s, 196–97
Transparent, 13, 137, 143, 144, 148, 157
Traps (Bezos), 64
Travelodge Hotel, 290
Trend Nation, 180
True Knowledge, 34
Trump, Donald, 54, 117, 130–31, 133, 135, 279, 324, 327, 328, 335–37, 341, 342, 359, 367, 381, 386 Amazon and, 117–18, 183, 242, 335, 351, 357–58, 364
AMI and, 331, 340
Bezos and, 53, 117–21, 133–34, 351, 357–58, 361–63
Catz and, 360
JEDI and, 360
Washington Post and, 16, 117–21, 128, 133–34, 335, 336, 351, 357–58, 363
Trump, Donald, Jr., 361
Trump, Ivanka, 132–33
TRW, 269
Tunstall-Pedoe, William, 34–37
Tweedy, Jeff, 154, 325
12 Parties, 153
20th Century Fox, 139
Uber, 96, 195, 229
Unilever, 251, 260
unions, see labor unions
United Kingdom, 175, 248
United Launch Alliance (ULA), 272, 279
United Nations, 345
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 3
United Space Alliance, 265–66
United Way, 290
Universal Pictures, 141
UPS, 215, 235, 239–42 Amazon’s partnership with, 14, 216–17, 225–28, 232, 233, 242, 358
Sunday deliveries by, 242
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67
U.S. Postal Service (USPS), 227, 228, 235, 241, 242, 335, 351, 357–58
US Weekly, 335
US West, 26
Utzschneider, Lisa, 253
Valdez, Arthur, 215–18, 225, 230–32
Valentine, Brian, 55
Van Bramer, Jimmy, 308–9
Vedder, Eddie, 290
Vedmed, Erica, 162
Vedmed, Victor, 161–63
Verizon, 381
Vestager, Margrethe, 366, 380
Vice News, 395
Virgin, 6
Virginia, 16, 301, 302, 305, 307, 308, 313
virtual assistants, 26, 42 Alexa, see Amazon Alexa
Siri, 26, 27, 30, 32, 34
vision, computer, 13, 54–55, 57–58, 62–64, 68
Vogue, 136, 323
voice recognition, 28, 36, 55 in Alexa, 28, 33, 36, 37
von Furstenberg, Diane, 346
Vonn, Lindsey, 136
Vons, 186
Vulcan Inc., 288, 289, 305
Wall Street Journal, 66, 68, 130, 154, 172, 177, 203, 242, 258, 294, 295, 345, 368
Walmart, 6, 8, 9, 13, 69, 92, 109, 158, 185, 190, 209, 215, 242, 263, 354, 363, 373, 378, 384 Flipkart and, 88–91, 287, 384
in Mexico, 80–82, 85
Walton, Sam, 263
Wandell, Morgan, 144
warehouses, see Amazon fulfillment centers
Warren, Elizabeth, 14–15, 353–54, 365
Washington, D.C., Amazon offices in, 296–97
Washington Post, 17, 117–34, 135, 154, 206, 244, 264, 279, 288, 313, 323, 327, 343, 344, 358, 382, 387, 406 advertising and, 130
Amazon and, 117–21, 126, 130, 134, 357, 363
Apple and, 129–30
Arc Publishing and, 129
Bezos’s acquisition of, 16, 118, 121–25, 127, 129, 134, 363
Bezos-Sanchez scandal and, 337–38
Bezos’s management of, 121, 125–33, 150
financial difficulties of, 121–22
financial turnaround of, 130, 132
headquarters of, 132
India and, 384
Pancake Group at, 124, 125, 127, 129, 130, 133
partnership program of, 125–26
pension plans of, 127–28
Rainbow app of, 124, 129
Rezaian and, 131–32
Saudi Arabia and, 321, 340, 347
Trump and, 16, 117–21, 128, 133–34, 335, 336, 351, 357–58, 363
Zuckerberg and, 121–22
Washington Post Guild, 128
Wayfair, 373
Wazir, Maria Toorpakai, 324
Webvan, 187–88, 190, 192, 222
Weekend conference, 88
Weiner, Matthew, 152
Weinstein, Harvey, 152, 155–57, 328
Weinstein, Joshua, 124, 161, 263
Weinstein Company, 152, 153, 155
Welch, Jack, 111, 220
Weprin, Mark, 311
West Nile Virus, 385
Westheimer, Ruth, 323
WeWork, 182
Weymouth, Katharine, 123
whistleblowers, 397–99
Whitesell, Patrick, 136, 325–27
Who, 145
Whole Foods Market, 184–86, 208–10, 214, 242–43, 312, 320, 396 absence of rewards program at, 185
Albertsons Companies and, 186
Amazon Prime Now and, 197
Amazon’s acquisition of, 14, 15, 69, 186–87, 209–12, 213, 287, 353, 367
Covid-19 and, 390, 391, 397
Instacart and, 192, 197
Jana Partners and, 186
Neuberger Berman and, 185–86, 210
operating structure of, 185
regional chains acquired by, 185
365 Everyday Value brand of, 204, 211
Wilke, Jeff, 8, 48, 81–84, 106–7, 139, 180–83, 193–94, 196, 202, 208, 210, 211, 216, 218, 223, 231, 237–38, 244, 246–48, 251, 255, 260, 387, 390, 401–2
Wilkie, Jason, 164
Williams, Cynthia, 166–67
Williams, Michelle, 135
Wimbledon, 345
Winfrey, Oprah, 154
Wintour, Anna, 1, 2
Wired, 34, 50, 267
Wish.com, 171–72
Wooden, John, 24
Woodward, Bob, 133
World Health Organization, 387
World Resources Institute, 403
World Wide Web, 5, 405
Wright, Jimmy, 215
WS Retail, 77, 88
Wulff, Meghan, 105–9, 112
Wurman, Peter, 224
Xfinity, 139
Yahoo, 193, 250, 253
Yale Law Journal, 307, 351, 364–66
Yale, Matt, 208
Yang, Stephen, 176–77, 375
Yap, 27–28
Yegge, Steve, 261
YogaRat, 373–74
YouTube, 41
Zapolsky, David, 351, 363–66, 372, 395
Zappos, 9, 15, 193, 211, 220, 222, 353
Zara, 179
Zhang, Danny, 172
Zillow, 109
Zoox, 283
Zuckerberg, Mark, 121–22, 345, 368, 369
Zumwalt, Kurt, 379–80
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