Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Aug 16, 2023

Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

An inside look at how Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos built one of the largest and most influential economic forces in the world — and the cost of Amazon’s convenience.

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Jeff Bezos is not only the richest man in the world, he has built a business that is without precedent in the history of American capitalism. His power to shape everything from the future of work to the future of commerce to the future of technology is unrivaled. As politicians and regulators around the world start to consider the global impact of Amazon — and how to rein in Bezos’ power — FRONTLINE investigates how he executed a plan to build one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world.

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Content

4.259 -> >> I’m Jeff Bezos.

5.259 -> >> What is your claim to fame?

6.669 -> >> I’m the founder of

7.669 -> Amazon.com.

8.669 -> >> NARRATOR: From the

9.669 -> award-winning producers of “The Facebook Dilemma”.

11.379 -> >> Richest guy in the world.

13.879 -> >> NARRATOR: FRONTLINE

15.08 -> investigates Amazon.

16.369 -> >> Is Amazon taking over the

19.82 -> world a good thing?

21.2 -> >> NARRATOR: Questioning those

22.2 -> who run the company...

23.2 -> >> What would you say to someone

24.2 -> who feels as though humans are increasingly being treated like

26.86 -> robots?

27.86 -> >> That’s not the experience

28.86 -> that I had in setting it up.

30.07 -> >> NARRATOR: And those no longer

31.64 -> there.

32.64 -> >> Most people would assume

33.64 -> there’s a pretty high safety standard on Amazon.

35.78 -> >> And that assumption would be incorrect.

36.78 -> >> The tools are not what I call battle tested.

39.809 -> >> Some people asking if Amazon is a monopoly.

41.92 -> >> The question for the democracy is, are we okay with

46.609 -> one company essentially winning capitalism?

49.019 -> >> How do you and Jeff think about the call to

52.42 -> break you guys up?

53.77 -> >> Simply because the

54.77 -> company’s been successful doesn’t mean it’s

56.67 -> somehow too big.

57.849 -> >> NARRATOR: Now on

59.03 -> FRONTLINE...

60.03 -> >> Domination was very much the

61.03 -> idea.

62.03 -> >> NARRATOR: “Amazon Empire”.

64.319 -> >> Jeff Bezos has already conquered the retail frontier.

69.26 -> Now he's got a plan to colonize the planets.

71.08 -> >> Bezos is laying out his plans for colonizing space.

73.36 -> >> Bezos is known for going big, and now he's literally shooting

76.87 -> for the moon.

78.11 -> >> NARRATOR: In May of 2019,

79.57 -> Jeff Bezos, the richest person on the planet, unveiled his

82.55 -> latest invention.

85.64 -> >> This is Blue Moon.

88.03 -> It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay.

91.74 -> >> Jeff has said over and over again that the most important

94.27 -> work he's doing is work in space.

97.23 -> What he's built in Amazon is really important and really

100.67 -> interesting, and it's, it's revolutionized commerce.

104.64 -> But it's only revolutionized commerce.

107.07 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos's plan is to chart a new course for the

110.78 -> future of humanity.

112.42 -> >> Manufactured worlds rotated

115.14 -> to create artificial gravity with centrifugal force.

118.71 -> These are very large structures, miles on end.

122.031 -> And they hold a million people or more each.

124.94 -> >> NARRATOR: It's an idea he's had since he was a teenager.

128.259 -> >> This is me in high school.

131.42 -> And I want to highlight this

132.42 -> quote: "The earth is finite, and if the world economy and

136.59 -> population is to keep expanding, space is the only way to go."

141.599 -> I still believe that.

143.299 -> >> The way Jeff Bezos sees is it

144.83 -> is that consumerism is an example of how today's society

150.129 -> lives better than our parents did and our grandparents.

153.28 -> And he wants, you know, future generations to continue to have

157.099 -> an increasingly better lifestyle.

159.029 -> >> These are beautiful.

161.749 -> People are going to want to live

163.01 -> here.

164.01 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos unveiled his

165.329 -> extra-terrestrial plans at a time of growing concern about

168.72 -> the empire he's built here on earth.

172.459 -> >> Amazon is the great disrupter, from books to retail

174.88 -> to grocery stores.

175.88 -> >> NARRATOR: For more than 25

177.159 -> years, Jeff Bezos has been disrupting and transforming

180.92 -> almost every aspect of our modern lives.

184.099 -> >> Once you start connecting the dots, you see that Amazon is

187.379 -> building all of the invisible infrastructure for our futures.

190.93 -> >> Amazon announced a healthcare partnership...

193.03 -> >> Amazon is helping the C.I.A. build a secure cloud...

195.129 -> >> How much of the internet do you run?

196.959 -> >> That's a good question, um, it's a lot, though.

200.479 -> >> NARRATOR: But in recent years, Amazon-- and Bezos-- have

203.7 -> come under scrutiny for their aggressive tactics and expanding

208.15 -> power.

209.519 -> (Bezos laughing)

212.249 -> >> Everything that is admirable about Amazon is also something

217.04 -> that we should fear about it.

219.629 -> >> NARRATOR: For the past year,

222.93 -> we've been investigating how Jeff Bezos built his empire--

225.871 -> and at what cost.

228.459 -> >> And so think about this.

232.079 -> Big things start small.

237.029 -> ♪ ♪

238.029 -> >> NARRATOR: Jeff Bezos's empire has its roots not in Silicon

250.62 -> Valley, but on Wall Street.

253.43 -> That's where the young Princeton

254.43 -> graduate went to work in the early 1990s, at a secretive

258.01 -> hedge fund called D.E.

260.38 -> Shaw.

261.65 -> >> David Shaw was the one who revolutionized Wall Street by

265.88 -> introducing data.

268.07 -> And I think Jeff really embraced

270.47 -> that, that idea that, "Hey, if you have data, ultimately, you

274.921 -> win."

278.65 -> >> One of the things that David

279.65 -> Shaw asked Jeff Bezos to do was to go and investigate new

282.98 -> businesses, and in particular this new thing in the early

285.88 -> '90s called the World Wide Web.

287.75 -> (dial-up modem connecting)

289.22 -> >> We all know that a communications revolution is

291.31 -> underway in this country.

292.5 -> >> What is the internet?

293.56 -> >> It's sort of the mother of all networks.

295.72 -> >> It's information highways.

297.5 -> >> It's kind of like your remote

299.06 -> control to the world.

300.66 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos was quick to

302.56 -> see the untapped potential of the new digital landscape and

306.51 -> was determined to get in on it.

308.759 -> >> I came across this startling

310.78 -> statistic that web usage was growing at 2,300% a year.

314.08 -> So, I decided I would try and find a business plan that made

318.03 -> sense in the context of that growth, and I picked books as

321.25 -> the first best product to sell online.

328.15 -> ♪ ♪ Because books are incredibly

329.15 -> unusual in one respect, and that is that there are more

332.01 -> items in the book category than there are items in any other

335.53 -> category by far.

336.62 -> So, when you have that many

338.42 -> items, you can literally build a store online that couldn't exist

342.84 -> any other way.

344.07 -> >> NARRATOR: The store he was

345.721 -> imagining didn't exist, so he decided to build it himself.

355 -> ♪ ♪ >> The reaction to Jeff's idea

356.65 -> to start selling books on the internet was pretty incredulous,

360.67 -> you know, from a lot of the people close to him.

362.34 -> His mom tried to convince him to just do it at night or over the

365.65 -> weekends.

366.65 -> She didn't want to see him give

367.65 -> up his job.

372.31 -> >> Jeff called, and he told me

373.61 -> that he and MacKenzie were quitting their jobs, and they

376.04 -> were moving to Seattle and starting a company.

377.66 -> I said, "Great, well, what are you going to do?"

378.66 -> He said, "We're going to sell books."

380.98 -> I said, "Nice."

383.33 -> He said, "On the internet."

385.78 -> I said, "Oh.

386.78 -> Jeff, why will anybody buy

387.78 -> anything from you?"

388.78 -> And he said, "Well, we're going

389.78 -> to have more books than anybody else."

391.96 -> >> NARRATOR: One of the first names Bezos considered for his

396.62 -> new website was Relentless.com.

399.75 -> >> Why "Relentless?"

402.021 -> >> Relentless meant, "We move on no matter what."

405.45 -> He ultimately, obviously, decided that "Relentless" wasn't

409.43 -> quite the right fit.

410.96 -> Amazon, earth's largest river,

413.93 -> was.

414.93 -> Amazon means gigantic.

417.28 -> >> In terms of relentlessness, stopping at

420.18 -> nothing, that's, is that an apt description of Jeff?

425.2 -> >> No.

427.08 -> It's not that Jeff stops at

428.44 -> nothing, it's that when Jeff sets his mind on a goal that he

432.54 -> thinks he can achieve, he won't stop until he's proven wrong

438.06 -> or until he achieves it.

442.889 -> ♪ ♪

443.889 -> >> Jeff and MacKenzie had rented a house in Bellevue.

446.18 -> And then we moved to a small, second-floor office in the

449.67 -> south part of Seattle.

451.229 -> >> NARRATOR: Shel Kaphan was

452.83 -> Amazon employee number one, one of nine former Amazon insiders

458.89 -> who agreed to talk on camera.

461.31 -> >> What the company is now was

462.8 -> nowhere in my wildest imagination.

465.74 -> Nowhere, so, the fact that it could have the-the kind of

471 -> position in the world that it has now, I had no clue.

475.03 -> >> NARRATOR: In July 1995, Amazon.com went live.

482.9 -> >> It was an incredible novelty, it was tiny and obscure, and

487.31 -> it's very hard to imagine, but the entire universe that Amazon

490.86 -> now dominates did not exist.

493.86 -> >> Amazon.com, this virtual

495.31 -> shop claims to be the world's largest bookstore.

498.06 -> >> NARRATOR: It didn't take long for Bezos's vision to prove

501.7 -> prescient.

502.7 -> >> What makes us different is

503.94 -> vast selection, convenience-- we deliver right to the desktop.

507.389 -> If our catalog were printed on paper, it would be the size of

510.44 -> seven New York City phonebooks.

514 -> ♪ ♪

515 -> >> NARRATOR: The company quickly outgrew the garage and soon had

519.32 -> more than 50 employees.

521.36 -> In 1996, James Marcus applied to

524.58 -> be number 55.

528.24 -> >> There was a very palpable

529.24 -> excitement in the air at this place, and of course at this

533.52 -> point Jeff Bezos was the first person to interview every

536.43 -> prospective employee.

537.99 -> So I was ushered into his

539.64 -> office.

540.64 -> He wanted to see how fast you

542.57 -> were on your feet.

543.76 -> He also always wanted to know

544.81 -> your S.A.T. scores.

546.339 -> >> He wanted to know

547.43 -> your S.A.T. scores?

548.43 -> >> Every time, yes.

549.43 -> >> How old were you at the time?

550.769 -> >> I was 36 or 37.

553.44 -> >> This is the original sign

555.39 -> that I made for Amazon.com.

556.96 -> Blue spray paint on white poster

560.48 -> board.

561.48 -> >> Jeff wasn't a figure out of

562.64 -> folklore at that point, he was not the-the wealthiest man in

565.52 -> the world.

566.52 -> >> Here's my computer,

567.86 -> Amazon.com up on the screen.

570.04 -> "Hello, Jeff Bezos."

572.779 -> >> He was a small, nondescript, sandy-haired man sitting at a

575.87 -> desk with quite a large and eruptive laugh.

580.88 -> (laughing in multiple scenes) >> But he wasn't threatening, he

587.02 -> was a normal guy to a sort of amazing extent.

590.329 -> >> HAL 9000 hat, very important.

594.15 -> Hal and I share a birthday,

596.09 -> we're both born on January 12.

597.4 -> >> It belied, you know, an

600.22 -> enormous, Napoleonic ambition.

602.14 -> >> One of the people I really

603.64 -> like, Thomas Edison, here's a model of his original light

607.14 -> bulb.

608.14 -> He's famous for saying, "One

610.12 -> percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration."

613.11 -> (laughs) It turns out ideas are the easy

616.87 -> part, execution is everything.

618.92 -> >> Domination was on Jeff's mind

619.92 -> from the beginning.

620.92 -> One of his sort of

621.92 -> second-in-command people said to me, "You have to understand

624.55 -> that Jeff wants to sell many more things than books.

628.04 -> And Jeff's idea is that in the near-distant future, you could

631.2 -> buy a kayak from Amazon.

633.18 -> And if, and after you brought

634.3 -> the kayak, you could figure out good places to kayak and buy

637.61 -> travel services from Amazon."

639.88 -> So, those ambitions were very

641.8 -> clear, and this was very early on.

644.83 -> But he was clearly thinking in those terms from the get-go.

647 -> >> How did that ring to you at the time?

649.65 -> >> A little bit exciting and a little bit nutty.

653.209 -> >> Amazon.com, very good website.

654.85 -> You should really try it.

657.11 -> (Bezos laughs)

659.569 -> >> If you signed on to work at a-a kind of futuristic

662.839 -> bookstore, and the guy who owned it was suddenly talking

666.14 -> about selling, you know, every object in the universe, you just

670.05 -> weren't sure how seriously to take it.

672.5 -> (Bezos laughing) (Bezos screaming playfully)

677.74 -> >> NARRATOR: Though his public image was often unserious...

683 -> >> That was awesome!

684.45 -> >> NARRATOR: Inside the company,

686.44 -> Bezos was a hard-charging manager relentlessly focused on

690.089 -> the principle that would make Amazon one of the most trusted

692.82 -> brands in the world: the customer always comes first.

698.04 -> >> This culture of customer obsession...

700.029 -> Obsessive focus on customer...

701.95 -> Obsesses over our customers...

703.62 -> Totally obsessing over the customer experience.

707.829 -> >> We used to call it customer ecstasy.

709.7 -> It means building, delivering, focusing on your customer.

714.5 -> And we did it, you know, in the very, very early days at every

717.839 -> stage.

718.839 -> >> NARRATOR: Jennifer Cast was

720.7 -> there in the early days and is one of six top Amazon executives

725.089 -> the company put forward to speak to us.

728.51 -> >> Customer obsession was our North Star.

732.1 -> And so, you know, it was a place where we knew we were a part of

735.16 -> something that was new, the internet.

739.089 -> There was an excitement that we were doing something that hadn't

741.529 -> been done before.

742.529 -> It was exhilarating.

744.58 -> We were all aligned around building for customers.

748.42 -> >> Hey, you guys.

750.25 -> >> Hey.

751.25 -> (Bezos laughs) >> I've heard there was

753.05 -> an empty chair that would often be put at meetings.

756.41 -> >> Yeah.

757.41 -> >> Who was in the empty

758.41 -> chair?

759.41 -> >> Yeah, so that empty chair was

760.41 -> there to remind us all to understand the customer, have

763.5 -> empathy for the customer, understand the details of the

766.35 -> customer experience.

767.38 -> The customer isn't there, we

769.589 -> have to bring forward the voice of the customer.

771.86 -> (phone ringing) >> Thank you for calling

774.9 -> Amazon.com.

775.9 -> >> NARRATOR: And Bezos quickly

776.9 -> learned that in this new online world, he could understand

781.83 -> exactly how customers were behaving.

784.55 -> >> All orders do need to be placed online.

786.98 -> >> It was made clear from the beginning that data collection

789.55 -> was also one of Amazon's businesses.

792.29 -> All customer behavior that flowed through the site was

794.399 -> recorded and tracked.

796.3 -> And that itself was a valuable

797.62 -> commodity.

798.62 -> >> Have you visited our website?

800.29 -> >> We could track how a customer navigated through the site.

804.73 -> So we could see what you looked at, we could also see what you

807.37 -> paused at, we could see what you put in your basket but didn't

810.61 -> order, we could see what you put in your basket and did order.

813.43 -> So that's when we started realizing, "Man, this is rich.

815.61 -> This is rich, rich, rich."

817.13 -> And so we've used it for

818.39 -> everything.

819.39 -> >> What do you do with that

820.39 -> information?

821.39 -> >> That's the data that allows

822.79 -> us to predict, or try to predict, what books that you

826.79 -> would like that you haven't discovered yet.

829.23 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos treated the site as a laboratory, where he

833.09 -> studied customer behavior along with his chief scientist Andreas

837.3 -> Weigend.

839.08 -> >> I was shocked to see how

841.149 -> predictable people are.

842.94 -> If you take the time of the day

846.34 -> into account, if you take maybe when they were last on the site,

850.75 -> how long they were on the site last time, how long they're on

853.49 -> the site today, you know what they're falling for.

857.85 -> >> Whoever owns, collects, the data, if you have access to it

864 -> and rights to data, then you are king.

867.19 -> It's all about the data.

870.76 -> Everything.

873.15 -> >> One of the most fascinating kind of tools we have at our

875.83 -> disposal is the ability to do active experiments.

879.56 -> It's, you know, it's kind of this huge laboratory.

883.899 -> >> We did not think about it as exploiting, we thought about

887 -> helping people make better decisions.

890.329 -> >> I was starting to feel that that was less respectful toward

893.149 -> the consumer, who was, after all, supposed to be our god, the

896.48 -> person whose ecstasy was our very reason for being.

900.72 -> And it was closer to getting a cow into a milking stall and

904.35 -> extracting as many pails as possible during each visit.

907.61 -> And that felt a little more unsavory.

909.49 -> But that was the business of Amazon.

913.04 -> >> Amazon has added 880,000 new customers...

915.64 -> >> NARRATOR: While Bezos was using these insights to bring

918.86 -> more and more customers into Amazon...

921.42 -> >> The number of customers who use the website has increased

923.37 -> fourfold...

924.37 -> >> NARRATOR: There was one thing

925.37 -> he hadn't done yet.

927.97 -> >> The company's never made a

928.99 -> profit.

929.99 -> >> That's right.

930.99 -> >> Now, why... how does that... why... how does that...?

933.76 -> >> It seems like a new math, doesn't it?

935.4 -> >> It does.

936.4 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos would spend

937.4 -> years losing money trying to beat his competition, and he

942.679 -> convinced investors to go along with it.

947.089 -> >> One of Jeff Bezos' greatest accomplishments has been his

951 -> ability to get Wall Street to accept the fact the first

954.81 -> 20-some years, Amazon wasn't going to be very profitable.

957.56 -> And that's okay because they're building infrastructure that

959.76 -> will create huge opportunities for them to gain scale and gain

963.811 -> customers and gain business.

965.49 -> >> NARRATOR: He spelled it out

967.17 -> in a letter to shareholders after the company first went

970.709 -> public: "It's all about the long term," he wrote, rather

976.14 -> than short-term profits or Wall Street reactions.

978.77 -> >> He essentially says, "We are going to forego profits

985.18 -> in order to take market share.

986.76 -> That our strategy is to lose

988.86 -> money, which enables us then to put other companies out of

992.67 -> business who can't afford to lose money."

994.74 -> >> NARRATOR: That strategy wouldn't sit well with critics

997.42 -> like Stacy Mitchell, who advocates for small businesses.

1001.54 -> >> In essence, at the very beginning, he's signaling to

1003.91 -> shareholders, "I have a strategy to monopolize the market, and

1007.97 -> that's going to reward you, but it's going to be far down the

1011.25 -> road, and will you come along with me?"

1012.74 -> And they said yes.

1015.4 -> >> NARRATOR: Investors also

1016.73 -> recognized Bezos' essential advantage over physical stores,

1022.75 -> which had to charge their customers sales tax, unlike

1025.579 -> online businesses.

1027.16 -> >> So, not collecting sales tax

1029.42 -> gave Amazon a big leg up over bricks and mortar retailers.

1033.309 -> And that was central to their early strategy of gaining

1036.43 -> market share as quickly as they can.

1038.68 -> >> What booksellers were saying to me is that, "This is driving

1041.12 -> my customers to Amazon.

1042.309 -> They'll come into the store,

1043.709 -> they'll browse, they find what they want, but then they'll go

1045.85 -> buy it on Amazon, because they can save that sales tax."

1050.149 -> >> So it was a very irksome, early, big issue for the book

1053.61 -> vendors, first of all, they were kind of the canaries in the

1055.62 -> mine, so to speak, and then lots of other retailers.

1059.259 -> ♪ ♪ >> Amazon has added thousands of

1062.22 -> warehouse workers and three million square feet of space.

1065.12 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon's sales-tax advantage would be central to

1068.26 -> its success as it expanded beyond books, into other

1072.39 -> products.

1073.39 -> >> And we have a fantastic

1074.39 -> selection of things you can look at.

1075.83 -> Electronics and then of course toys.

1077.71 -> Yeah, thank you, here is, we've got have the friendly Pokémon.

1081.37 -> This is more than ten times the selection that you will find in

1085.05 -> a typical, physical world software store.

1087.12 -> >> NARRATOR: But Bezos was still a long way from his goal of

1090.02 -> Amazon being the place where you could buy everything online.

1093.89 -> (drills whirring) And he saw a way to achieve it.

1101.71 -> >> Amazon could soon become the Walmart of the internet.

1104.2 -> >> NARRATOR: There were thousands of businesses eager to

1106.5 -> sell online.

1107.5 -> Bezos offered them a way to do

1109.63 -> it.

1110.63 -> >> Amazon is transforming itself

1111.809 -> from an online bookstore to an online mall.

1114.509 -> >> NARRATOR: He transformed Amazon into a retail platform

1117.88 -> where anyone could sell their goods to his customers and

1121.64 -> invited thousands of other businesses to be a part of it.

1124.61 -> >> It's the easiest place for anybody, small or large, who

1128.99 -> wants to set up shop online to sell online, because they can

1132.299 -> access our 12 million-plus customers.

1135.54 -> Anybody, all comers.

1139.309 -> >> We're talking about hundreds

1140.38 -> of thousands of companies with literally tens of millions of

1143.07 -> products.

1144.96 -> >> NARRATOR: Name-brand stores

1147.35 -> started selling on Bezos's platform, and so did tens of

1151.17 -> thousands of small entrepreneurs.

1155.37 -> >> Everyone knew Amazon.com.

1157.62 -> The only people that knew

1158.62 -> SuperDuperHoops.com were the ones that were searching to buy

1161.38 -> a basketball hoop and saw our name on an advertisement.

1164.89 -> To us it was really a no-brainer.

1166.9 -> We knew that we would, you know, increase our sales.

1170.21 -> First year we did 100,000, next year we did a million, we did

1172.96 -> two million, four million, we were doubling every year in the

1175.46 -> early days.

1176.46 -> >> NARRATOR: It was great for

1177.63 -> the companies-- and even greater for Jeff Bezos.

1181.58 -> >> Amazon has become the most recognizable name in e-commerce.

1184.44 -> >> NARRATOR: Not only would he take a cut of everything other

1186.96 -> businesses sold, he'd also keep his own store on the platform,

1191.59 -> competing against everyone else in the marketplace he owned and

1195.5 -> controlled.

1197.02 -> >> He owns the Main Street.

1199.09 -> He has the Main Street real estate.

1202.09 -> Not just one building on the corner, the entire Main Street.

1206.72 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: How Amazon would

1211.201 -> wield its power over the online marketplace would eventually

1214.89 -> become a question for government regulators, but early on, there

1219.58 -> were indications.

1220.91 -> The first to see them were book

1223.02 -> publishers.

1226.52 -> >> Amazon took over a large

1228.49 -> market share of the publishing industry very, very fast.

1231.51 -> They were very quickly in a position to demand concessions.

1235.67 -> You know, I think that was a moment where publishers started

1237.75 -> to realize, "Oh, wait a minute, like, we... they're our partner,

1240.97 -> but they now have the beginnings of a boot on our

1244.38 -> windpipe."

1245.38 -> >> NARRATOR: Inside the company,

1248.58 -> they had launched a strategy that some called "the Gazelle

1251.16 -> Project," because they'd heard Bezos wanted them to pursue

1254.88 -> publishers the way a cheetah pursues a sickly gazelle.

1259.029 -> >> Well, you don't go after the strongest.

1260.85 -> It's like the cheetah.

1261.85 -> The cheetah looks for the weak,

1263.021 -> looks for the sick, looks for the small, that's what you go

1266.9 -> for.

1267.9 -> So don't start with, you know,

1269.08 -> number one publisher.

1270.36 -> Start with number seven

1271.52 -> publisher and then number six publisher, and by the time you

1274.4 -> get to number three, two, and one, the noise has gone, gotten

1278.75 -> back to them.

1279.75 -> They're going to know this is

1280.75 -> coming, and chances are you may be able to settle that without a

1283.89 -> full-on war.

1287.93 -> >> We were just this little

1288.93 -> mom and pop publishing company, publishing poetry books and

1294.429 -> translated fiction.

1296.33 -> >> NARRATOR: In the early 2000s,

1298.559 -> the number of books Dennis Johnson was selling on Amazon

1301.78 -> had been rising steadily.

1303.5 -> Then one day, he got a phone

1305.62 -> call.

1306.65 -> >> Our distributor called us up

1308.89 -> to talk about our Amazon contract.

1311.71 -> And he said, "I went out to dinner last night with Amazon,

1315.85 -> it was like going out to dinner with the Godfather.

1319.64 -> They want a kickback."

1322.15 -> That's the word he used,

1323.929 -> kickback.

1324.929 -> And he said they wanted four

1326.58 -> percent more of our sales.

1330.21 -> >> Was that unusual?

1331.21 -> >> It was... in our experience, it was totally unprecedented,

1336.47 -> yes.

1337.86 -> >> NARRATOR: Randy Miller ran

1339.89 -> the European book team and says he saw nothing wrong with

1343.21 -> Amazon's tough tactics to challenge publishers on prices

1346.81 -> and profit margins.

1348.26 -> >> In order to bring them into

1349.6 -> line, we would actually take them out of automated

1352.45 -> merchandising, take their prices up to list price; we would put

1355.89 -> references on the product page, their product page, saying, "You

1359.14 -> want it cheaper, you want this book for, on this topic for a

1362.01 -> way cheaper price?

1363.01 -> Click here."

1364.01 -> And we'd send them to whoever we thought their worst competitor

1366.049 -> was.

1367.049 -> That was how Amazon forced their

1369.01 -> vendors to-to comply.

1371.049 -> (stammering): But that's an

1372.559 -> old Walmart trick, I mean, it wasn't like Amazon created that.

1375.79 -> And it made, it made a difference.

1377.49 -> And, you know, Jeff kind of got excited about it.

1381.32 -> >> NARRATOR: When Dennis Johnson still refused to give in to

1384.809 -> Amazon's terms, he says the buy button on all Melville House

1388.29 -> books suddenly disappeared, making it impossible for

1391.76 -> customers to purchase them on Amazon.

1394.03 -> >> I mean, this is the company that referred to little

1396.61 -> publishers like me as wounded gazelles, I believe?

1402.42 -> That's how they think, that's how he thought from the

1404.22 -> beginning.

1405.63 -> And we eventually had to pay

1408.12 -> what at the time I called a bribe.

1410.99 -> And our attitude toward Amazon was, you know, "Render unto

1416.96 -> Caesar that which is Caesar's."

1418.32 -> And then carry on as best as you

1422.21 -> can.

1423.21 -> >> Jeff Bezos may say

1424.21 -> that Amazon comes along and has given publishers like yourself

1428.83 -> access to a huge distribution channel for your books.

1433.88 -> Has Amazon been good for your business?

1436.059 -> >> Well, absolutely they have.

1438.62 -> Any bookseller that sells our

1440.049 -> books is good for our business.

1441.95 -> So, I'm not complaining that

1443.72 -> Amazon is selling our books.

1445.35 -> I'm just complaining of the way

1447.26 -> that their tactics are hurting the industry I love.

1451.149 -> >> NARRATOR: In addition to granting interviews, Amazon

1454.48 -> responded to written questions.

1457.07 -> Regarding Dennis Johnson's

1458.41 -> characterizations, it told us, "Amazon disagrees with this

1462.15 -> account."

1463.15 -> >> Were you

1464.26 -> uncomfortable with that sort of ruthlessness ever?

1467.409 -> >> Well, no, 'cause I was in retail-- I mean, people think

1469.51 -> that's ruthless.

1470.51 -> You know, I looked, and some

1471.51 -> people at Amazon, "Wow, that's kind of mean," and I'm like,

1474.45 -> "Oh, a retailer and a supplier having a disagreement?

1476.99 -> Stop the presses!"

1478.36 -> It happens all the time.

1479.41 -> I mean, you know, look, you've got a finite margin, and

1482.33 -> somebody's going to have to give.

1484.91 -> And-and a lot of times Amazon wasn't the one giving.

1487.12 -> >> Kindle is a purpose-built reading device.

1490.73 -> >> NARRATOR: The tension between Amazon and book publishers would

1493.63 -> ramp up even further with the unveiling of the Kindle, which

1497.05 -> helped the industry transition to the digital age, but gave

1500.809 -> Amazon more power to set prices lower.

1503.9 -> >> And new releases are only $9.99.

1509.47 -> >> NARRATOR: Around that time, Barry Lynn, an advocate for

1513.26 -> broad antitrust enforcement, was growing increasingly concerned

1517.62 -> by what he was hearing from publishers.

1519.26 -> >> If the door was open, the publisher would say, "Hey, you

1523.49 -> know, Amazon, they're just a terrific customer, they're our

1526.309 -> biggest customer.

1527.45 -> They buy the most books, they

1529.56 -> sell the most books.

1530.6 -> We love them."

1531.679 -> Then you close the door, and they say, "Amazon is destroying

1535.53 -> our business model, they're destroying our business, they

1538.96 -> have way too much power, we must do something about them."

1542.95 -> >> NARRATOR: Lynn wanted publishers to speak up

1545.309 -> publicly and thought federal antitrust regulators might

1548.72 -> investigate whether Amazon was a monopoly, illegally abusing its

1553.13 -> market dominance in anticompetitive ways.

1556.179 -> >> And they'd say, "No way, I'm not going to talk about Amazon

1560.549 -> in public.

1561.549 -> I'm not talking about them on

1562.549 -> Capitol Hill.

1563.97 -> They will take retribution

1565.47 -> against me."

1566.47 -> >> To which you

1567.47 -> responded?

1568.47 -> >> "Well, that's why we have to

1569.74 -> do something about it."

1570.83 -> >> NARRATOR: Jennifer Cast ran

1572.78 -> Amazon's books division in its formative years.

1576.61 -> >> We've had a difficult time in some ways getting

1578.7 -> publishers to talk to us on camera about Amazon.

1582.02 -> In part, it seems the reason is that they're afraid.

1585.79 -> How do you react to that, that publishers find it

1590.49 -> uncomfortable to talk about Amazon publicly?

1593.21 -> >> I don't know, I mean, I-I haven't seen that.

1597.46 -> >> Yeah.

1598.46 -> >> I haven't been in your shoes.

1600.2 -> I'm sure they have...

1601.299 -> I mean, if you're saying that they-they

1603.61 -> don't talk negatively about us, I mean, I know they have a lot

1607.02 -> of good things to say about us.

1608.74 -> Um, you know, I-I don't know why

1610.69 -> they wouldn't speak their minds.

1612.64 -> We certainly value speaking our

1615.1 -> minds.

1616.1 -> >> There is this

1617.1 -> well-known anecdote about cheetahs and gazelles, this

1619.34 -> Gazelle Program.

1620.38 -> Do you know about that?

1621.549 -> >> I don't.

1623.01 -> >> We've talked to

1624.01 -> former Amazonians about it, where Jeff had said, "We should

1626.97 -> basically try to negotiate with book publishers and try to get

1631.66 -> better terms and treat the smaller publishers as a cheetah

1635.13 -> would go after a wounded gazelle."

1637 -> >> I didn't hear the cheetah and gazelle example, but what we

1641.169 -> were looking for was people that were willing to move away from

1644.98 -> the old model of bricks and mortar to a new model, which

1648.61 -> was, you know, a-a virtual store that had many different types of

1655.12 -> opportunities to present their books to customers.

1658.46 -> >> I want to talk a little bit about how we think about

1661.98 -> innovation at Amazon.com.

1663.679 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon would begin

1665.11 -> to accumulate even more power in 2005, when Bezos quietly rolled

1670.17 -> out a revolutionary new program: Amazon Prime.

1673.73 -> >> Now they have something called the Prime shipping

1675.309 -> program.

1677.24 -> >> Amazon Prime-- we only

1678.38 -> launched this a week ago-- you pay $79 a year, and you get

1683.44 -> two-day shipping for free.

1685.009 -> >> NARRATOR: It was a risky bet,

1687.18 -> and it paid off.

1688.37 -> >> The lynchpin, or the glue, if

1689.71 -> you will, and probably the seminal moment in Amazon's

1693.29 -> business history, was the introduction of what has become

1697.69 -> the most successful membership program in history, and that's

1701.809 -> Prime.

1702.809 -> >> Many of you in this audience

1703.809 -> will already be Amazon Prime members, bless you.

1707.049 -> This is very much appreciated.

1708.4 -> >> It changes the way you shop.

1710.79 -> >> NARRATOR: Eventually more than 150 million people would

1713.799 -> sign up for the free shipping-- a tremendous expense for Amazon.

1718.11 -> But to Bezos, it was worth it.

1721.61 -> >> The Prime program at Amazon

1723.2 -> is one of the most important drivers of Amazon's growth.

1727.44 -> When you go on and look to buy a product, and it's available in

1730.309 -> two days, delivered to your door anywhere in the country, that

1734.35 -> Amazon Prime program becomes a mechanism that keeps bringing

1738.09 -> you back as a customer to keep buying and keep searching for

1740.91 -> new products on Amazon.

1743.299 -> >> NARRATOR: Two-day delivery

1745.51 -> anywhere in the country was a big promise for a company that,

1748.75 -> at the time, had less than ten warehouses.

1752.03 -> So Bezos went on a building spree.

1758.21 -> ♪ ♪ Across the country Amazon

1759.679 -> warehouses began to spring up, filled with millions of

1764.22 -> products being sold on Bezos's platform.

1767.36 -> He'd call them fulfillment centers, and they'd create

1771.85 -> hundreds of thousands of jobs in places hard hit by the Great

1775.309 -> Recession.

1776.96 -> >> Ten percent of Pennsylvania

1780.37 -> residents unemployed...

1781.37 -> >> Job market is in complete

1782.37 -> disarray.

1783.37 -> >> NARRATOR: Like Allentown,

1784.37 -> Pennsylvania.

1785.37 -> >> At that time, it was

1786.37 -> tremendous news that an employer was coming and actually opening

1788.6 -> a facility and hiring people, versus, you know, gutting half

1793.9 -> the staff.

1794.9 -> >> NARRATOR: Spencer Soper was a

1795.9 -> business reporter for the "Allentown Morning Call" when

1797.85 -> Amazon opened in the area in 2010.

1800.5 -> He began hearing stories about working in the warehouse.

1807.21 -> >> People are basically in this big, sprawling warehouse that's

1810.87 -> stocked with goods in very random fashion.

1813.88 -> And they have scanners that tell them which things to get.

1817.6 -> And people are walking maybe ten, 15 miles a day.

1819.82 -> So people just kind of crisscrossing this big warehouse

1822.19 -> all day long.

1823.57 -> >> NARRATOR: As workers told him

1825.12 -> about the punishing pace to meet the daily quota of packages, and

1827.919 -> the intense heat, Soper and his colleagues started to

1832.64 -> investigate further.

1834.609 -> >> People really felt like

1835.609 -> Amazon was playing fast and loose with their, with their

1838.41 -> health.

1839.41 -> >> NARRATOR: Soper discovered

1840.679 -> there had been numerous complaints to authorities at the

1843.07 -> Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA.

1846.51 -> >> They actually had a complaint from an emergency-room doctor

1850.23 -> who called their hotline one day saying, "Listen, you might want

1855.159 -> to check out this Amazon place.

1856.72 -> I've had, like, people parading

1857.97 -> through my emergency room to be treated for heat stress."

1861.48 -> There was a security guard who worked in the facility who sent

1864.57 -> a complaint to OSHA saying that he saw pregnant women suffering

1868.179 -> heat stress in-in the facility.

1871.179 -> And so there's just, like, these

1872.179 -> red flags right and left.

1874.85 -> >> NARRATOR: After an

1876.61 -> investigation, OSHA said Amazon needed to keep the temperatures

1879.6 -> in the warehouses lower.

1881.22 -> In a statement at the time, the

1883.33 -> company said it installed new industrial air conditioning and

1886.66 -> pledged that worker safety was its number-one priority.

1891.07 -> >> Amazon is shrewd businesspeople, shrewd

1892.34 -> businesspeople know when they have leverage.

1894.66 -> And when you're the only shop hiring people in town, you can

1898.17 -> push them a lot harder than you can when-when they've got

1902.429 -> alternatives.

1903.429 -> >> NARRATOR: Over the following

1905.02 -> years, Amazon would hire hundreds of thousands of

1907.49 -> workers and become one of the largest jobs

1909.71 -> creators in the country.

1912.44 -> At the fulfillment centers,

1914.24 -> Bezos experimented with new techniques and technologies to

1917.779 -> boost productivity.

1919.82 -> >> Willingness to experiment is

1921.11 -> the key to be able to do new things.

1923.23 -> So we do, you know, hundreds of experiments every day in our

1927.02 -> fulfillment centers to get a little bit better.

1929.42 -> Kind of like incremental invention.

1931.669 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: When a company

1935.32 -> called Kiva perfected a warehouse robot, Amazon bought

1939.08 -> the whole company.

1940.08 -> >> Amazon has acquired Kiva

1941.76 -> Systems.

1942.76 -> They make shipping robots.

1944.11 -> >> NARRATOR: It helped transform the work environment in Amazon's

1947.74 -> warehouses.

1952.25 -> >> When I first showed up at

1953.281 -> Amazon in 1999, I led our Global Operations team.

1956.37 -> >> NARRATOR: Jeff Wilke created the Amazon fulfillment center

1959.61 -> system and is one of two C.E.O.s under Jeff Bezos.

1964.53 -> >> As we've added 200,000 robots, in that same time frame

1967.799 -> since 2012 we've added 300,000 people in our fulfillment

1971.5 -> centers.

1972.5 -> So what happens is the robots

1973.5 -> change the work, so they allow us... people don't have to walk

1975.669 -> as far, which is a complaint that we've heard in the past.

1978.289 -> They make the job safer, they make them higher quality,

1981.19 -> because we present a smaller set of options to-to employees.

1985.89 -> And that's all good for customers, and it's good for

1987.7 -> employees too.

1988.7 -> >> NARRATOR: But at the same

1990.051 -> time, complaints have persisted.

1993.4 -> >> People who've worked in

1994.4 -> warehouses for decades say, "This is different.

1996.54 -> This is not the same."

1999.029 -> We're here today because we

2000.039 -> want to make sure that these workers know about their rights

2002.37 -> in the workplace, especially around heat.

2004.559 -> >> NARRATOR: Sheheryar Kaoosji is an advocate for warehouse

2007.22 -> workers in the San Bernardino, California, area-- an Amazon

2011.23 -> hub, with ten fulfillment centers and over 15,000

2015.63 -> employees.

2017.09 -> >> Because of the way that

2018.11 -> Amazon operates, because of the way that they set their rates

2021.36 -> for productivity, it's a lot harder work physically but also

2026.15 -> psychologically.

2027.15 -> >> NARRATOR: We sat down with a

2028.94 -> group in San Bernardino who'd recently worked at Amazon.

2033.45 -> >> When they first got here, I thought it was exciting.

2035.16 -> Like, for me, I was thinking maybe I could find a-a place

2038.89 -> where, you know, I'm going to set roots of a good job, you

2041.52 -> know, move up in-in the place.

2043.11 -> But after being there for a

2044.659 -> while, I was like, "There's no way."

2047.019 -> >> It's like, "Okay, this is where I can probably make a

2049.179 -> career."

2050.179 -> But once you worked there for a

2052.01 -> certain amount of time, it's just like, it's just not

2054.98 -> realistic, how they expect you to work.

2057.29 -> >> NARRATOR: Like dozens of workers we've spoken to around

2060.04 -> the country, they say they've struggled to keep up with the

2063.32 -> rate Amazon expected them to pick and pack items.

2067.619 -> >> How realistic are the rates that they're giving you?

2070.44 -> I mean, what's...

2072.44 -> >> Not realistic at all.

2073.44 -> >> Not-not realistic?

2074.44 -> >> No.

2075.44 -> There's absolutely no way to make rate, you know, you got to

2076.609 -> find little ways to-to cheat it, because once you hit rate,

2079.8 -> by the end of the week, they raised it, they bump it up

2082.57 -> again.

2083.72 -> Because they start seeing, "Hey,

2085 -> people can hit those rates, can hit those numbers, hey,

2087.32 -> let's push them a little harder."

2090.43 -> Every week it seemed like it was going up.

2098.89 -> ♪ ♪ >> You have security cameras

2100.44 -> right behind you at all times, that are looking at you

2103.17 -> 24-seven.

2104.17 -> And if you don't meet standards

2107.02 -> or the rates, you're out the door, you're just disposable.

2111.97 -> >> Every worker has a scanner at all times that basically track

2115.1 -> exactly where you're at.

2117.37 -> >> And they have a little blue

2119.161 -> line at the bottom of the screen, and it has, like, how

2123.801 -> many seconds that you have to have it done by the time it hits

2129.3 -> zero, and it puts you into panic mode.

2131.81 -> >> And pretty much you can't talk to people, you can't be in

2135.17 -> the same aisle as them, you just constantly have to sit

2137.802 -> there scanning like a robot all day long.

2140.53 -> If they catch you not scanning, you get a write-up.

2143.04 -> >> And what they're doing is they're producing this mass of

2145.8 -> data that they are using to be able to analyze the entire

2149.81 -> workforce.

2153.19 -> >> We're not treated as human

2154.48 -> beings, we're not even treated as robots.

2157.02 -> We're treated as part of the data stream.

2160.4 -> >> It's the incentive at any warehouse, on any assembly

2163.57 -> line, to get the most out of any worker.

2165.63 -> >> Yes.

2166.63 -> >> To make rates, to-to

2167.71 -> be as efficient as possible, to be as productive as possible.

2170.349 -> So, I don't see exactly what's different about Amazon as

2173.92 -> opposed to any other warehouse.

2176.71 -> >> Amazon is the cutting edge.

2180.02 -> Other warehouses are starting to adopt these technologies, other

2182.839 -> companies are definitely interested in doing what Amazon

2185.599 -> is doing.

2186.85 -> Data collection could become

2187.9 -> basically the standard for all workers, and that there's...

2191.2 -> you're never good enough, you're never able to keep up.

2196.87 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Amazon told us work

2199.41 -> rates are not based on individual employee's

2202.33 -> performance, and that the scanning devices workers use are

2205.56 -> not for tracking people but inventory-- a common practice in

2209.619 -> the warehouse industry.

2212.66 -> >> We've talked to

2213.66 -> workers around the country, both current and former workers.

2216.96 -> They've described the pace of work as being really grueling.

2221.15 -> In the early thinking about rates and how far you could

2224.31 -> push human beings in terms of their productivity, what was the

2227.91 -> thinking about that?

2229.33 -> >> Well, obviously if the rates

2231.13 -> are too high, you're not going to have people showing up for

2233.47 -> work.

2234.47 -> So, we have 600,000 people at

2236.881 -> the company, most of them are in the fulfillment centers, and

2239.89 -> they-they come to work every day, they stay for years.

2244.58 -> These are considered great jobs in the hundreds of communities

2247.46 -> where we have fulfillment centers all over the world,

2249.32 -> and in the U.S. we have, almost every state has an operation in

2253.14 -> it, and people come to work because these are great jobs.

2255.83 -> They're safe, we pay double the minimum wage, the national

2258.48 -> minimum wage, we have terrific benefits.

2260.81 -> The benefits for the folks that work on the floor are the same

2263.021 -> benefits that my family has access to-- our family leave is

2265.95 -> like 20 weeks.

2267.71 -> So, the rates are set so that we

2270.71 -> can accomplish what we need to, which is get orders to customers

2273.43 -> in a-a reasonable time and in a high-quality way, and that

2277.42 -> creates a workplace that people want to come back to, and they

2281.8 -> do.

2282.8 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon wouldn't

2283.82 -> tell us how long fulfillment-center workers stay

2286.28 -> on the job or how often they're injured.

2289.78 -> But workers we spoke to say the rates are higher than other

2292.42 -> warehouses-- and that the company rebuffs attempts to

2296.18 -> unionize.

2298.71 -> >> We do not believe unions are

2299.93 -> in the best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or

2302.89 -> most importantly, our associates.

2304.84 -> >> NARRATOR: This is a clip from a video the company says it

2307.54 -> used in the past to teach managers about employees'

2310.68 -> rights and labor laws.

2312.66 -> >> The most obvious signs would

2314.05 -> include use of words associated with unions or union-led

2317.89 -> movements like "living wage" or "steward."

2321.16 -> >> Early on, Amazon took a position to basically be

2324.35 -> anti-union.

2325.92 -> Why was that decision made?

2327.14 -> >> I don't think we made the decision to be anti-union.

2329.609 -> We just feel that all of the things that-that unions

2332.99 -> would-would want to-to get us to do, we've already done.

2337.779 -> >> What-what about setting rate, though?

2339.609 -> Do you not see that there's a little bit more leverage in the

2342.17 -> hands of management in this scenario than there would be in

2345.09 -> a unionized environment?

2346.09 -> >> I don't know, it's hard to

2347.51 -> speculate on that, but-but I do think that we have the

2350.42 -> obligation to set rates that are, again, going to encourage

2354.4 -> people to seek these jobs and deliver for customers, you know,

2360.28 -> what we've promised.

2361.28 -> >> What would you say to

2362.28 -> someone, though, who's, who's worked in-in your fulfillment

2364.79 -> centers that feels as though there's been... that-that humans

2368.67 -> are increasingly being treated like robots?

2371.66 -> 'Cause it's something that we've actually heard, and I don't

2373.56 -> sense it's hyperbole.

2375.54 -> >> Well, that's not the

2377.31 -> experience that-that I had in setting it up or that I've

2380.8 -> seen.

2381.8 -> It's, it's certainly true

2383.21 -> that-that these jobs are not for everybody, and there-there may

2386.921 -> be people that don't want to do this kind of work.

2390.01 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon executives also stress the company has

2392.82 -> become an industry leader in training its workforce for

2395.96 -> career advancement.

2398.29 -> >> We just announced a pledge

2399.53 -> recently to spend $700 million to upskill, which is basically

2404.089 -> creating career opportunities for people, 100,000 of our

2407.191 -> employees.

2408.191 -> We pay 95% of tuition to go

2409.65 -> to-to college to get a skill that isn't about Amazon, that's

2413.599 -> about creating options for the employees, and I would expect

2416.44 -> those people to take advantage of that, work for us for a

2419.54 -> couple of years and then go do something that they would much

2422 -> rather do, and that's okay.

2425.099 -> >> There will be people

2427.08 -> that will hear what y'all are saying, and they'll say, "Well,

2430.9 -> you signed up for physical labor, a job is a job, there

2434.51 -> were benefits, and they are now investing $700 million to

2439.609 -> do retraining for other types of jobs.

2442.69 -> What's the real grievance?

2443.74 -> What is there to complain

2444.76 -> about?"

2445.76 -> >> I actually used to think that

2446.76 -> way for a while whenever I, when I first started, whoever I heard

2449.76 -> complaints from, I was like, "Well, it was in the job

2451.609 -> description, and you signed up for it."

2453.82 -> The part they don't talk about is the safety rules that you

2460 -> have to ignore to make rate.

2462.13 -> It's not just you go in, okay,

2463.13 -> and you-you do your job, and that's it.

2465.55 -> >> So, you're in, you're in a weird bind.

2467.98 -> >> It's incredibly hard to meet rate while following all the

2472.849 -> safety procedures.

2475.77 -> >> A complaint that

2476.77 -> we've heard from workers in terms of the sort of automation

2479.71 -> of their work as humans, some of them telling us that, yes, there

2483.241 -> are high safety standards in these fulfillment centers, but

2486.43 -> that in order to make rate, they're having to cheat the

2489.14 -> standard a little bit.

2490.14 -> >> Well, I would say that's not

2491.14 -> okay.

2492.14 -> So I, from the moment that I

2494.079 -> arrived 20 years ago, I made it very clear to our operations

2497.619 -> teams that we will not compromise the safety of our

2500.24 -> employees to do anything else.

2502.78 -> So, we have, we have a culture

2504.44 -> that if-if we are asking people to do something that is, that

2508.78 -> they have to do too fast to be safe, they can raise their hand

2512 -> and say, "This isn't right," and-and we'll fix it.

2514.6 -> (phone vibrates) >> NARRATOR: For years, Amazon

2518.04 -> has put a happy face on its business and its workforce.

2520.98 -> ("Give a Little Bit" by Supertramp playing)

2524.83 -> >> ♪ Give a little bit Give a little bit of your

2530.32 -> love...

2531.32 -> ♪ >> Even in Amazon's commercials,

2532.67 -> the people are almost like shadows and silhouettes.

2536.32 -> It's all about boxes, and there's just like happy boxes

2538.49 -> singing and bumbling their way to your door, like, oh, no, no.

2541.92 -> >> ♪ There's so much that we need.

2544.319 -> ♪

2545.319 -> >> Hello.

2546.319 -> >> Hey.

2547.319 -> >> They don't want you to even think about how they do this.

2548.319 -> They just want you to be wowed and, "Oh, how'd this, how'd this

2551.15 -> get here?"

2552.15 -> >> ♪ I'll give a little bit of

2554.96 -> my love to you.

2556.9 -> ♪ >> They wanted people to just

2557.9 -> think, "Whoa, magic!"

2561.96 -> ♪ ♪

2562.96 -> >> NARRATOR: And magic was a big part of Bezos' marketing

2567.28 -> strategy, with an emphasis on the company's miraculous level

2571.07 -> of innovation and growth.

2574.64 -> >> We started Amazon Prime in

2576.98 -> 2005, but then something very extraordinary happened.

2583.06 -> This.

2584.64 -> In 2011, the slope of that graph

2589.26 -> changed-- a lot.

2591.03 -> >> NARRATOR: As Amazon grew, he

2593.82 -> wanted his top executives to think about the kind of company

2596.609 -> it was becoming.

2598.23 -> He wrote a memo titled,

2602.93 -> "Amazon.love."

2603.93 -> A copy of it was obtained by

2606.03 -> Brad Stone.

2608.13 -> >> The memo is another example

2609.78 -> of Jeff being very prescient about the future.

2612.88 -> It's Jeff grappling with the idea that not all big companies

2615.73 -> are loved.

2616.77 -> That there is something that we

2618.329 -> get uncomfortable with when we talk about very big companies.

2622.53 -> "Rudeness is not cool.

2625.84 -> Defeating tiny guys is not cool.

2628.54 -> Risk taking is cool.

2630.2 -> Winning is cool.

2631.2 -> Polite is cool.

2632.71 -> Defeating bigger, unsympathetic

2634.349 -> guys is cool.

2636.53 -> Inventing is cool.

2637.869 -> Explorers are cool.

2639.91 -> Conquerors are not cool."

2643.32 -> >> Some businesses, you can tell when you go in and have

2645.17 -> meetings with them, they have a conqueror mentality.

2649.349 -> And there's a big difference between being a conqueror and

2651.54 -> being an explorer.

2653.31 -> And I think in, you know, this

2654.55 -> very inventive space that we're in, it pays to explore.

2661.38 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: But to some

2664.481 -> watching Amazon's growth, the company was falling short of

2667.93 -> that ideal, and taking steps to make sure nothing got in its

2672.05 -> way.

2676.02 -> ♪ ♪

2677.02 -> In 2013, Amazon was moving to create its own delivery system

2680.71 -> and made a key decision: rather than hire its own drivers, it

2685.51 -> built a network of independent businesses to deliver packages.

2690.87 -> >> They weren't just going to dabble here and dabble there.

2693.72 -> They were going to go and create a system that would rival

2697.849 -> FedEx or UPS.

2700.24 -> >> NARRATOR: ProPublica reporter

2702.52 -> Patricia Callahan, in conjunction with Buzzfeed, has

2706.5 -> investigated the system Amazon set up.

2709.63 -> >> They figured out a way to get around regulation.

2713.08 -> The cargo vans they choose are big enough to stuff with

2716.4 -> hundreds of Amazon packages, but they're small enough that

2720.33 -> they're not regulated by the federal government.

2722.35 -> >> An 84-year-old woman struck and killed by an Amazon

2725.23 -> delivery truck.

2726.3 -> >> A woman hit and killed in a

2728.109 -> parking lot.

2729.109 -> >> NARRATOR: ProPublica and

2730.109 -> Buzzfeed found that drivers are under intense pressure to

2733 -> deliver packages.

2734.52 -> >> After striking him, the

2735.52 -> van maneuvered around Salinas and his dog.

2737.74 -> >> NARRATOR: And they documented more than 60 crashes, including

2740.86 -> 13 deaths, since 2015.

2743.47 -> >> An infant critically injured

2745.27 -> in a car crash has died.

2747.339 -> >> When it came time to figure

2749.01 -> out who's responsible, Amazon would always say, "It's a

2753.16 -> contractor, it's not our responsibility."

2754.77 -> >> Now you've been able to find 13 deaths.

2758.75 -> And that's over the course of several years.

2761.1 -> Is that statistically significant given all of the

2764.38 -> packages that they deliver in any day or any given year?

2767.829 -> >> I don't pretend to claim that there's only 13 deaths and

2771.63 -> that I found every single one.

2773.859 -> I just found enough to show that

2776.98 -> this is happening around the country.

2779.98 -> With UPS, there's a record.

2782.69 -> There's a federal record you can

2784.01 -> look at how many serious injury and fatal accidents they have.

2787.42 -> With Amazon, that doesn't exist.

2790.25 -> No one knows the safety records

2792.14 -> of all of Amazon’s contractors.

2796.15 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon disputed the

2798.33 -> ProPublica report.

2800.609 -> It would not release any data on

2802.21 -> crashes involving its driver network but told us it had a

2805.99 -> "better than average" safety record and that nothing is more

2809.58 -> important to them than safety.

2813.84 -> >> Any accident is one accident

2815.82 -> too many, so just as we were focused on safety in the

2818.73 -> fulfillment centers and product safety, we are... we set very

2822.33 -> high standards with all of those partners for safe performance.

2825.619 -> We have training videos for the third parties that work with us

2830.359 -> to help them understand what we expect in terms of the drive, we

2834.43 -> have mapping software that we use to help them find the right

2837.57 -> routes.

2838.57 -> Every one of our drivers is

2840.589 -> required, including the third parties, are required to have

2843.02 -> comprehensive insurance, including liability insurance,

2846.88 -> so that if there is an accident that the person who's injured is

2853.24 -> covered.

2854.67 -> >> Amazon wants to get Prime

2855.67 -> members their packages even faster...

2857.369 -> >> NARRATOR: In the last year, Amazon announced a change to the

2860.68 -> way it handles Prime deliveries.

2863.15 -> Instead of delivering packages

2864.93 -> in two days, they promised to do it in one.

2868.5 -> >> Free next-day delivery all across the U.S....

2871.71 -> >> It's impossible for me to imagine a world 20 years from

2874.82 -> now where a customer comes up to me and says, "Jeff, I love

2877.41 -> Amazon.

2878.41 -> I just wish your prices were a

2879.41 -> little higher."

2880.41 -> Or, "I love Amazon.

2881.41 -> I just wish you delivered a little more slowly."

2883.1 -> >> NARRATOR: At the same time the delivery network was being

2887.47 -> set up, Amazon was also rapidly expanding its product offerings,

2892.01 -> inviting more sellers onto the site.

2894.7 -> (computer plays tune) Including those from China.

2898.38 -> >> It basically makes it to where it's super-easy for these

2903.2 -> companies, who are maybe not as careful with adhering to

2905.98 -> the law, where they're able to just start a business up on

2910.25 -> Amazon, import some stuff, sell it, cause some problems, and

2915.52 -> then disappear.

2917.18 -> >> NARRATOR: Rachel Greer worked

2919.119 -> in product safety at Amazon, and worried that the site was being

2922.74 -> flooded with untested and potentially unsafe products.

2928.01 -> >> Are there proper warnings?

2929.76 -> Has it been safety-tested for

2930.76 -> durability?

2931.87 -> If a child chews on it, will

2933.171 -> the paint come off?

2934.171 -> Is that paint leaded?

2936.5 -> >> Most people would assume that there's a pretty

2939.829 -> high safety standard on Amazon.

2942.98 -> >> And that assumption would be

2945.15 -> incorrect.

2946.15 -> >> NARRATOR: She says that's

2947.609 -> because Amazon, like other tech companies, takes the position

2951.2 -> that it's not legally responsible if its customers are

2954.07 -> harmed by products sold by third parties on the site.

2958.22 -> >> If someone buys something that causes harm at Walmart or

2962.02 -> at Target, a consumer can sue Walmart or Target.

2965.77 -> >> Right, 'cause no one's forcing you, when you come

2967.319 -> into Walmart, to enter the doors of Walmart.

2970.099 -> They aren't making you sign away your rights.

2972.82 -> >> But when do you sign that when you go on Amazon.com?

2975.65 -> >> When you make your account.

2976.65 -> When you accept the terms and

2978.09 -> conditions.

2979.819 -> >> NARRATOR: People have been

2981.96 -> challenging Amazon's terms and conditions in court.

2985.39 -> Some have even been successful.

2988.599 -> >> Ultimately, who's on the hook

2991.48 -> when a customer buys a dangerous product on Amazon?

2994.96 -> Who takes ultimate responsibility for that?

2997.32 -> >> Well, in the rare case where that, where something like that

2999.819 -> happens, if it's a third-party seller, the sale is by a

3003.13 -> third-party seller, and it is the seller's responsibility to,

3006.92 -> to sell a legitimate product to a customer, and then, when

3009.98 -> Amazon is the retailer, and we sell a product to the, to a

3013.619 -> customer, then it's our obligation to make sure that we

3016.691 -> understand the manufacturer and the supply chain for that

3020.35 -> product and its, and its safety.

3023.079 -> >> But when the other

3024.109 -> sellers are selling in your store, you're not responsible

3028.85 -> for it ultimately, if they're selling your customer a

3032.72 -> defective or dangerous product?

3034.48 -> >> I think the way things work

3036.09 -> in the U.S. is that the seller of record is the person who is

3041.44 -> setting the price and who is purchasing the product, and for

3045.97 -> things not sold by Amazon-- and it says on the detail page,

3049.34 -> it'll tell you who the seller is-- it's the seller's

3052.01 -> responsibility for those things, and for us, it's very clear.

3056.73 -> It says Amazon.com whenever we sell it.

3059.589 -> >> Do you audit your sellers in terms of whether

3061.82 -> they're actually providing safe products to your customers?

3066.51 -> >> We do...

3067.51 -> You know, some of our sales...

3068.66 -> So about, almost 60% of our sales are by third parties,

3073.25 -> and those sales, some of them come directly from the third

3077.05 -> party, so we're not involved at all.

3078.84 -> >> But you take a cut.

3079.84 -> I mean, it's on your

3081.1 -> infrastructure, it goes through Amazon.com, so, I mean...

3084.17 -> >> Well, it's on our infrastructure in terms of the

3086.15 -> website and payments, but we're not...

3088.36 -> >> And fees that, you know, you're taking a cut of the

3091.349 -> sale, right?

3092.49 -> >> Sure, sure, and we're

3094.589 -> providing, you know, traffic that, that...

3096.49 -> You know, it's kind of the way they think about marketing is

3098.73 -> why they would pay that fee, but...

3101.95 -> It's harder to, before an experience, inspect that, that

3108.55 -> product.

3110.04 -> >> A South Carolina woman who

3111.04 -> bought a hair dryer on Amazon said this happened.

3113.809 -> >> Fire is coming out of the hair dryer.

3116.2 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon's approach has had consequences.

3118.52 -> >> A hoverboard caused a fire that destroyed their home.

3121.45 -> >> NARRATOR: Dangerous products were flagged by authorities in

3124.04 -> Washington State.

3125.18 -> >> ...found dozens of school

3126.18 -> supplies that had high levels of toxic metals.

3128.839 -> >> NARRATOR: And a recent report found thousands of banned,

3132.21 -> unsafe, or mislabeled products.

3134.41 -> >> I'm having a hard time

3136.67 -> understanding something, which is that, that...

3140.35 -> You know, Amazon's entire brand is about the customer, right?

3144.95 -> >> Yes.

3145.95 -> >> That it's...

3146.95 -> >> Oh, I reminded them of this over and over again.

3149.24 -> >> You reminded them of what?

3151.119 -> >> I said that no customer wants to buy an unsafe product.

3154.34 -> No customer wants selection that harms their child.

3156.93 -> No customer wants to buy something that burns down their

3158.67 -> house because it looks cool and it's the latest, coolest thing.

3163.449 -> >> Sitting here today, are you able to basically say

3166.339 -> that the products that you sell on Amazon.com are safe?

3170.529 -> >> What I can say is, we work really hard to make sure that

3174.03 -> they're safe.

3175.03 -> We have...

3176.03 -> We've spent $400 million in the last year on systems that seek

3181.14 -> out things that are not safe, and, you know, there are

3184.45 -> millions of sellers and hundreds of millions of products, and

3188.02 -> our job is to, as fast as we can, weed out the ones that

3191.359 -> don't belong on our site.

3192.359 -> We're going to have to be

3193.359 -> vigilant as a retailer and as a technology company, and we are

3196.98 -> definitely dedicated to, to protecting the safety of our

3200.59 -> customers.

3201.59 -> >> NARRATOR: We heard that

3202.59 -> concern for the customer over and over in our interviews with

3205.54 -> Amazon executives.

3207.33 -> >> Customer trust in a company

3209.26 -> like Amazon, it's sort of foundational.

3211.829 -> >> Customer obsession is the first leadership principle, and

3214.33 -> it, it's not a corporate slogan.

3216.599 -> >> We try to stay really focused

3218.349 -> on customers.

3219.37 -> >> Very focused on, on

3220.99 -> delivering results for our customers.

3222.67 -> >> Providing a great customer experience that customers want.

3225.589 -> >> Delivering that, that customer delight.

3228.089 -> >> NARRATOR: This commitment to the customer, and to keeping

3231.07 -> prices low, had another benefit: it helped them avoid running

3235.05 -> afoul of regulators who enforce the nation's antitrust laws.

3240.039 -> >> It's important to understand sort of that there's two

3242.589 -> fundamental philosophies of antitrust, of anti-monopoly law.

3246.65 -> You know, there's the traditional philosophy, in which

3249.04 -> you, you want to break up all potential concentrations of

3253.57 -> power that you can.

3255.25 -> But for the last 30 years,

3258.65 -> there's been this change in how we do antitrust.

3261.29 -> And this is the idea that the only purpose of antitrust should

3265.63 -> be to drive prices lower, to serve the interest of the

3271.23 -> consumer.

3273.359 -> >> NARRATOR: Lynn had been

3275.98 -> urging regulators to take a more traditional approach and

3279.42 -> examine whether the company was gaining market power in

3282.28 -> exploitative ways: stifling fair competition, but keeping prices

3287.21 -> low for consumers.

3290.01 -> >> We live in a society

3291.89 -> of consumers, though, and seemingly there is some net

3295.2 -> benefit to all of us when prices are low.

3298.77 -> So, what's wrong with that view of things?

3301.299 -> >> It's obviously good for people to... for all people if

3303.98 -> we can drive down prices, if we have lower-priced drugs, if we

3307.05 -> have books that anybody could buy.

3310.079 -> That's a good thing.

3311.079 -> It's a good thing for society,

3312.079 -> and it's a good thing for us as consumers.

3315.309 -> But we're not only consumers, we're also citizens.

3319.31 -> We're also producers.

3320.72 -> We're also people who think and

3322.72 -> who make things and who grow things, and we want to have

3327.2 -> access to open markets.

3329.15 -> >> NARRATOR: Once again, the

3331.369 -> tension was most pronounced with book publishers.

3335.49 -> Amazon was selling around 40% of all new books in America

3339.079 -> and two-thirds of all electronic books, thanks to the success of

3342.74 -> the Kindle.

3344.01 -> Then, one of the world's largest

3346.77 -> publishers, Hachette, decided to push back.

3350.02 -> Franklin Foer was one of its authors.

3353.24 -> >> Hachette and Amazon set out to renegotiate their e-book

3358.12 -> contract.

3359.12 -> And Hachette said, "No, we don't

3360.68 -> accept the terms of your contract."

3363.13 -> And Amazon basically said, "To hell with you, Hachette.

3366.46 -> We're going to stop delivering your books.

3368.839 -> If somebody searches for a Hachette title, we're going to

3371.54 -> redirect them to another publisher."

3373.609 -> >> Amazon's battle with Hachette and the authors that Hachette

3377.76 -> publishes is heating up.

3379.23 -> >> NARRATOR: As Bezos's virtual

3381.12 -> blockade dragged on for months.

3383.42 -> >> A bitter, seven-month

3384.71 -> standoff...

3386.03 -> >> NARRATOR: Thousands of

3387.349 -> authors, including bestsellers like Douglas Preston, were

3390.23 -> caught in the middle.

3391.94 -> >> Some authors were losing 50%

3393.809 -> to 90% of their sales from Amazon.

3397.559 -> It was absolutely devastating to first-time authors.

3401.78 -> It actually destroyed their careers.

3405.95 -> >> Did you see your sales plummet?

3407.39 -> >> I did, yes.

3408.39 -> I saw my sales plummet

3409.74 -> tremendously.

3410.74 -> >> NARRATOR: In frustration,

3413.51 -> Preston penned an open letter on behalf of all authors.

3417.13 -> It was published in "The New York Times" with more than 900

3421.02 -> signatures.

3422.38 -> >> We authors have loved Amazon.

3424.49 -> We have enthusiastically supported it, and this is how

3427.7 -> they treat us?

3429.07 -> This is not right.

3431.48 -> >> Amazon has been accused of doing everything from raising

3433.99 -> prices to deliberately delaying shipments.

3435.94 -> >> Is this what happens when Jeff Bezos decides to flex his

3438.72 -> muscles?

3439.72 -> >> NARRATOR: While Hachette and

3440.72 -> Amazon were at an impasse, Douglas Preston, Franklin Foer,

3444.45 -> and other authors went to Washington, and asked the Obama

3448.1 -> administration to open an investigation.

3450.91 -> >> I went to the Justice Department and I went to the

3453.69 -> Federal Trade Commission with the Authors Guild, and we tried

3457.03 -> to explain to them why this power was so dangerous.

3461.42 -> We pointed it out of all the ways in which Amazon was

3464.28 -> bullying the publishing industry.

3466.92 -> >> The Department of Justice listened to us.

3470.48 -> And their answer was essentially this: "Amazon is one of the most

3475.69 -> popular companies in the country.

3478.589 -> (camera clicks) They have brought tremendous

3481.569 -> services to consumers, and they've brought lower prices."

3486.23 -> And that we hadn't given them any kind of reason to open an

3488.83 -> antitrust investigation.

3490.15 -> >> NARRATOR: Eventually,

3491.7 -> Hachette and Amazon would settle their dispute, with

3495.64 -> Amazon allowing Hachette to set its own prices for e-books, but

3499.119 -> offering it incentives to keep them low.

3501.68 -> >> It's great to be here at Amazon.

3506.25 -> (crowd cheering) >> NARRATOR: Amazon would thrive

3509 -> during the Obama years, and eventually account for nearly

3512.569 -> 40% of all online commerce in the country.

3515.96 -> >> Last year, during the busiest day of the Christmas rush,

3520.41 -> customers around the world ordered more than 300 items from

3524.74 -> Amazon every second.

3526.39 -> >> NARRATOR: But the complaints

3527.859 -> about its tactics would continue, with retailers of all

3531.25 -> kinds concerned that Amazon had become the online-shopping

3534.69 -> gatekeeper.

3535.69 -> >> You've got to be on Amazon.

3538.41 -> You have to be there, because that's where everyone is.

3541.77 -> That...

3542.77 -> 100 million Prime subscribers.

3545.53 -> They are the de facto e-commerce channel in the United States,

3549 -> period, end of list.

3551.98 -> >> Amazon executives

3552.98 -> have told us that there are many other options out there.

3556.99 -> There is Walmart, there is Alibaba.

3559.43 -> As a seller, you've got options.

3561.44 -> >> I've heard that response from

3564.13 -> Amazon executives before, and we did that, we were listed, we

3568.559 -> listed all of our products on every other online marketplace.

3572.619 -> But it's a testament to just how good Amazon is.

3577.25 -> All of the others that were non-Amazon combined did about

3581.15 -> ten percent of what we were doing on Amazon.

3585.02 -> >> NARRATOR: Businesses big and small have been accumulating

3588.27 -> complaints about Amazon's hold on them.

3591.109 -> >> On Amazon, the customer belongs to Amazon-- it doesn't

3594.72 -> belong to the third-party seller.

3596.48 -> You're basically renting the Amazon customer.

3598.969 -> >> NARRATOR: James Thomson used to recruit brands to come onto

3601.839 -> Amazon and now advises them on how to do business with the

3605.77 -> company.

3606.77 -> >> I represent brands today that

3608.78 -> face a number of challenges with Amazon.

3611.349 -> >> NARRATOR: Among those challenges, businesses say that

3614.27 -> Amazon has access to their valuable data, which gives it an

3617.86 -> unfair advantage.

3619.089 -> They also complain about

3620.48 -> increasingly higher fees to stay on the platform, and pressure to

3624.349 -> use Amazon's warehouses and shipping services.

3630.78 -> We spoke to numerous name-brand companies, but none would share

3634.069 -> its grievances on camera.

3636.16 -> >> My account was suspended.

3638.17 -> >> NARRATOR: Some small businesspeople have been

3639.809 -> talking about their experiences-- good and bad--

3642.3 -> online.

3643.3 -> >> When you're selling on

3644.3 -> Amazon, you're playing in someone else's playground.

3647.18 -> >> Who gets placed where, whether or not your product

3651.569 -> shows up in the search results...

3652.99 -> >> They suspended my account without warning.

3654.92 -> >> These are all things that are governed by Amazon's rules.

3659.25 -> And if there's a dispute within that arena, if you feel you are

3662.49 -> mistreated, you know, the judge and jury is Amazon.

3665.69 -> >> They don't care, they'll just kill your account like that or

3669.01 -> suspend it...

3670.01 -> >> There are all sorts of crazy

3671.069 -> stories about why people get their accounts shut down on

3674.98 -> Amazon.

3675.98 -> And it could take a week, it

3676.98 -> could take months, it could be never before you're back online

3678.33 -> again.

3679.71 -> Amazon has the upper hand and

3681.43 -> the ability to basically take your business away from you at

3686.88 -> any given moment.

3688.44 -> >> Selling on Amazon, take one.

3691.14 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon said third-party sellers account for

3693.52 -> more than half of everything sold on the site.

3696.109 -> >> I sell mini-longboard skateboards.

3698.4 -> >> I sell mineral water.

3699.42 -> This is what I do.

3700.42 -> >> NARRATOR: And it's committed to its sellers'

3701.72 -> success-- proactively contacting them when their accounts are at

3705.849 -> risk of suspension and offering an appeals process to resolve

3709.93 -> disputes.

3710.93 -> >> You already have great

3712.27 -> products.

3713.27 -> Scale up...

3714.27 -> >> NARRATOR: But in the eyes of some businesses, Amazon has

3716.72 -> essentially become like the railroads at the turn of the

3719.24 -> last century that controlled the flow of commerce across the

3723.079 -> country.

3724.079 -> >> Start selling today.

3726.18 -> >> Do you see yourself as being kind of like the rails

3728.98 -> for e-commerce, that sellers bring their goods to market

3732.89 -> on your rails, through your marketplace?

3734.82 -> >> I don't think of it that way, and here's why: the, the vast

3739.6 -> majority of stuff that's...

3741.08 -> Well, all of the stuff that's

3742.08 -> sold is manufactured, right?

3743.34 -> So it's manufactured, meaning

3744.97 -> there are brands and factories that produce stuff and then sell

3748.64 -> it.

3750.24 -> We're one percent of the retail

3752.46 -> sales in the world, about.

3754.06 -> >> Well, you are the

3755.16 -> biggest marketplace online, right?

3756.94 -> >> No, so, again, I, I don't...

3759.51 -> The idea that there's an online,

3763.39 -> distinct for brands to sell their stuff and distinct from

3765.79 -> physical, just doesn't make sense to me, and we're far from

3769.71 -> the largest retailer.

3771.099 -> So, I, I describe this as

3773.44 -> retail, and we're competing against Walmart and Target and

3776.18 -> Costco and Carrefour and Alibaba and Tmall and all kinds of folks

3780.349 -> who are, are now selling both physical stores and online.

3785.83 -> >> NARRATOR: In addition to pointing to other large

3789.21 -> retailers, inside the company employees have been

3792.4 -> schooled in how to talk about its size and power.

3797.189 -> >> When I worked at Amazon, we had training specifically on the

3799.799 -> use of terms like "monopoly."

3802.77 -> We were not allowed to use a

3803.83 -> term like "market share."

3806.44 -> Amazon has what's known as

3807.64 -> "market segment share."

3809.72 -> What is market segment?

3811.299 -> What is market segment share?

3812.63 -> I don't know, but I know that

3814.23 -> the lawyers at Amazon feel those terms are, are much safer than

3818.09 -> using terms like market share.

3820.04 -> >> So market share was

3821.04 -> something they were really concerned about.

3822.94 -> >> Clearly somebody with the necessary legal training or PR

3828.02 -> training recognized that Amazon was growing very quickly, and

3831.96 -> when we were asked to use the term "market segment" and

3836.4 -> "market segment share," in essence it's a polite way of

3840.3 -> saying, "I'm not going to talk to you about how big we are."

3843.349 -> >> NARRATOR: Since leaving Amazon 20 years ago, Shel

3847.88 -> Kaphan has been watching the company with increasing

3850.89 -> concern, and he's speaking about it for the first time.

3854.72 -> >> I think that the characterization of Amazon as

3857.63 -> being a ruthless competitor is true, and under the flag of

3865 -> customer obsession, they can do a lot of things which might not

3868.829 -> be good for people who aren't their customers.

3871.98 -> >> I know you're not a legal scholar, but are you

3874.49 -> basically concerned that Amazon is a monopoly?

3877.579 -> >> I'm, I'm concerned that it has that type of power.

3881.29 -> I think it, you know, whether you technically can call it a

3883.91 -> monopoly or not, I don't know.

3889.74 -> ♪ ♪

3890.74 -> >> NARRATOR: That question has continued to loom over Amazon.

3895.26 -> >> I think that Amazon is looking out, and the existential

3898.819 -> threat that they may face is going to be from government.

3903.9 -> It's whether or not policymakers are going to step

3906.38 -> in and intervene and say, "You have too much power."

3910.349 -> >> NARRATOR: For years, Bezos has been ramping up Amazon's

3914.22 -> profile in Washington.

3917.24 -> >> Amazon has been lobbying the

3918.349 -> F.A.A. to lift...

3919.349 -> >> Trying to cozy up to

3920.349 -> politicians, so that they will give him the biggest tax breaks

3924 -> around...

3925 -> >> NARRATOR: Spending millions a

3926 -> year on lobbying.

3927 -> >> Amazon lobbied more

3928 -> government entities than any other tech company.

3930.96 -> >> NARRATOR: And hiring as its spokesman the former White House

3932.89 -> press secretary Jay Carney.

3935.01 -> >> You've got an army of

3937.46 -> lobbyists, many of whom have revolved in and out of

3939.69 -> government, including yourself.

3941.78 -> What are you hoping to get for

3943.11 -> all that lobbying spend and all that influence?

3946.809 -> >> One of the things we discovered is, because of the

3948.52 -> visibility of our company, but also the range of businesses

3951.44 -> that we're in, we need subject-matter experts on food

3954.9 -> safety, on transportation, on drones, on privacy.

3959.93 -> And also, we can be a resource, an information provider to

3963.319 -> policymakers and regulators.

3964.86 -> It's not lobbying in the

3966.16 -> traditional sense, in terms of trying to persuade somebody to

3968.4 -> do something, it's just answering questions and, and

3971.059 -> providing data and information.

3974.15 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos himself would

3976.78 -> also become a presence in the capital, and eventually buy the

3981.03 -> largest private residence in town.

3984.17 -> >> Jeff Bezos never really showed much interest in

3987.29 -> politics, but as he's cemented himself in the city, he's

3991.15 -> started to acquire this physical presence.

3993.95 -> He bought a mansion, then developed it into a place that

3997.65 -> is explicitly designed to be social.

4000.47 -> >> It has a big ballroom, I mean, it is designed to create a

4004.059 -> real presence for him in the nation's capital, where he can

4008.109 -> hobnob with the people who make decisions.

4010.86 -> >> NARRATOR: He'd even bought the hometown newspaper...

4014.579 -> >> Jeff Bezos sent a thunderbolt through the media world this

4017.44 -> week...

4018.44 -> >> NARRATOR: Spending a quarter

4019.44 -> of a billion dollars to rescue the struggling "Washington

4022.109 -> Post."

4023.109 -> >> I do believe that democracy

4024.41 -> dies in darkness.

4025.549 -> I think that the capital city

4027.28 -> of the United States of America needs a paper like "The

4031.349 -> Washington Post."

4032.349 -> >> I got to say, you know, full

4034.359 -> credit to him, he hasn't intervened in any of the

4038.4 -> coverage of the paper.

4040.63 -> And he's invested in the paper.

4042.47 -> Every dollar of profit that the paper makes is plowed back into

4047.47 -> making it a better paper.

4049.579 -> >> Bezos allowed the "Post" to

4053 -> hire, to restock its newsroom, he reversed what had been an

4056.32 -> atmosphere of sort of decline.

4058.67 -> I'd say "The Washington Post"

4059.67 -> has really flourished under, under Bezos's ownership.

4062.44 -> >> Let's cut this digital ribbon.

4065.29 -> >> NARRATOR: At the time, critics saw a more cynical

4068.819 -> motive.

4069.819 -> >> Perhaps he's buying "The

4070.819 -> Washington Post" to buy some sort of protection.

4073.11 -> >> Precisely.

4074.11 -> >> This deal could give him more

4075.28 -> influence over politics.

4077.07 -> >> Nobody hangs out in

4078.849 -> Washington, DC, just to go to the free museums.

4084.01 -> You buy a home in Washington, you buy a newspaper in

4087.18 -> Washington, because it is the most influential city in the

4090.92 -> world, and you want to lay your hands on that power.

4095.999 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Bezos saw a

4098.359 -> business opportunity there, as well.

4101.819 -> The Obama administration planned to modernize the federal

4105.159 -> government by embracing cloud computing.

4108.929 -> Bezos had been quietly building a revolutionary cloud computing

4112.589 -> business.

4113.589 -> He called it Amazon Web

4115.669 -> Services.

4117.949 -> >> It's basically computing

4119.089 -> power in the cloud, but really it's Amazon's server farms

4122.519 -> around the world that give people access to the kind of

4126.19 -> technology services they need.

4128.63 -> >> NARRATOR: To keep Amazon

4130.409 -> running, Bezos had developed an unprecedented digital

4133.889 -> infrastructure.

4134.889 -> He realized he could rent parts

4136.929 -> of it out, not just to businesses, but also to the

4141.019 -> government.

4143.449 -> >> Our infrastructure is built

4144.54 -> to satisfy the security standards of the most

4147.289 -> risk-sensitive organizations.

4149.109 -> >> He's already got a huge edge

4150.88 -> over the other big competitors in it.

4153.589 -> So he wants to take that lead and capture the U.S. government.

4158.479 -> >> NARRATOR: In 2013, he got a major boost when it was

4163.349 -> revealed that Amazon Web Services had designed a

4166.019 -> computing cloud for the C.I.A.

4170.469 -> >> Amazon Web Services was

4171.469 -> awarded a ten-year contract for $600 million.

4174.949 -> >> Amazon is helping the C.I.A. build a secure cloud computer

4177.429 -> network...

4178.429 -> >> The C.I.A. contract was

4179.449 -> probably one of the best things that happened to Amazon's cloud

4182.309 -> business.

4183.309 -> It lifted all doubts about the

4185.409 -> security of the cloud and on whether you could trust Amazon

4189.08 -> with your most precious data.

4191.139 -> >> The message to the world is,

4193.269 -> "If the C.I.A. trusts Amazon with its data, then maybe other

4196.369 -> companies and government institutions can, as well."

4199.86 -> >> NARRATOR: And they did.

4201.82 -> >> Experience it with Expedia.

4203.1 -> >> NARRATOR: A.W.S. became by far the world's leading

4205.829 -> cloud-computing platform.

4207.26 -> >> On CBS.

4208.369 -> >> NARRATOR: Today, more than a million businesses, as well as

4212.34 -> PBS, pay Amazon to store and manage their data.

4216.469 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos had again anticipated the next frontier in

4220.429 -> technology, and had made himself indispensable to it.

4224.579 -> >> What Jeff Bezos is after is really creating a company that

4228.079 -> is the infrastructure, that owns the infrastructure for how

4231.479 -> commerce is done.

4233.889 -> And that's an incredibly

4235.01 -> powerful place to be.

4237.539 -> ♪ ♪

4238.539 -> >> Please welcome chief executive officer of Amazon Web

4242.619 -> Services Andy Jassy.

4244.179 -> >> NARRATOR: Andy Jassy created

4246.05 -> and runs A.W.S.

4247.77 -> He credits the service with

4249.48 -> making it easier to do business and sparking innovation

4252.9 -> throughout the economy.

4254.199 -> >> Look at what A.W.S. has

4257.19 -> enabled with regard to change in our society.

4259.76 -> Look at, Netflix changed the way that we consume digital content,

4264.33 -> and Airbnb changed the way that we get accommodations, and Hola

4269.219 -> and Grab and Lyft and Uber changed the way that we get

4272.169 -> transportation.

4273.169 -> A.W.S. has enabled, has been a

4275.499 -> part of enabling all these huge innovations and changes in

4280.76 -> consumer experiences that have, have made life better for

4283.659 -> people.

4284.659 -> >> And we're the cloud with the

4286.19 -> most capabilities, the most innovation, the most customers.

4289.389 -> >> NARRATOR: The division generated $35 billion in sales

4292.739 -> last year.

4294.369 -> >> Amazon Web Services.

4295.94 -> >> Yes!

4296.94 -> >> Build On.

4297.959 -> >> NARRATOR: The success of A.W.S. gave Bezos billions to

4301.77 -> expand Amazon from a company that sells everything to a

4305.699 -> company that does everything.

4307.719 -> A top priority...

4309.679 -> >> To boldly go where no man has gone before.

4314.779 -> >> NARRATOR: ...was to create the sci-fi future he'd fallen in

4318.369 -> love with as a child.

4321.109 -> >> Gentlemen, this computer has

4323.86 -> an auditory sensor.

4325.219 -> It can, in effect, hear sounds.

4327.119 -> >> NARRATOR: A world of artificial intelligence, in

4330.28 -> which computers can think and make decisions for humans and

4334.849 -> about humans.

4336.409 -> >> Jeff Bezos is a big fan

4337.749 -> of "Star Trek."

4339.34 -> He, he admits that that was on

4342.07 -> his brain when he came up with the idea that Amazon should be

4346.959 -> pursuing a little disk that you can bark commands into.

4351.86 -> >> Stop.

4353.23 -> >> This is his "Beam me up,

4355.11 -> Scotty" fantasy realized.

4357.589 -> >> We started working on this

4359.26 -> device.

4360.26 -> And our, our vision was, in the

4364.36 -> long term, it would become the Star Trek computer.

4366.019 -> >> When it first arrived from Amazon, I didn't know what it

4369.369 -> was.

4370.369 -> >> NARRATOR: In 2014, Bezos's

4372.239 -> talking computer, the Amazon Echo, hit the market.

4375.419 -> >> Is it for me?

4376.829 -> >> It's for everyone.

4377.889 -> >> NARRATOR: The voice known as Alexa would embed Amazon deeper

4381.579 -> into the lives of millions of people.

4384.139 -> >> Alexa, what do you do?

4385.639 -> >> I can play music, answer

4388.06 -> questions, get the news and weather.

4390.369 -> >> They call it a personal assistant, and just that term

4394.849 -> implies this intimate connection that we then begin to develop

4399.36 -> with Amazon.

4400.36 -> >> Alexa, sing the ABC song.

4402.909 -> >> ♪ A, B, C, D, E, F...

4406.349 -> ♪ >> I believe that when we think

4408.769 -> about the future and the future with artificial intelligence,

4412.949 -> given where we currently are today, Alexa in some ways

4417.419 -> represents the moment that it becomes seamlessly interwoven

4420.419 -> with our lives.

4422.1 -> >> Alexa, how many teaspoons are

4424.08 -> in a tablespoon?

4425.08 -> >> One tablespoon equals three

4426.349 -> teaspoons.

4427.349 -> >> Oh, okay.

4428.349 -> >> And the problem is that we forget that it's there.

4432.679 -> >> Alexa, lights on.

4434.399 -> >> Okay.

4435.399 -> >> NARRATOR: But Alexa is also listening-- and she's learning.

4439.349 -> >> I'm answering questions and learning more.

4441.94 -> >> NARRATOR: And that helps Amazon in the race to dominate

4445.3 -> artificial intelligence.

4446.83 -> >> Alexa...

4447.83 -> >> Every time you ask Alexa something, you're making the

4450.719 -> Alexa algorithm better.

4451.919 -> It's one of the reasons why

4453.429 -> Amazon, having had a head start, is able to kind of preserve that

4456.329 -> head start, because they've got the most data of anyone.

4459.8 -> >> Alexa is one more way for Amazon to gather extremely

4464.28 -> valuable data.

4465.309 -> And this data collection is

4466.729 -> extremely important to this business model.

4469.13 -> It's extremely hard to do, and, you know, convincing people to

4472.439 -> just deploy something like this in their home is a brilliant

4475.25 -> trick.

4476.439 -> >> NARRATOR: Dave Limp is

4478.21 -> Amazon's head of devices.

4480.879 -> >> How is it that you

4482.119 -> convinced tens of millions of people to put what is

4485.84 -> essentially a, a listening device in their homes?

4488.459 -> >> Well, I, I would first disagree with the premise.

4491.999 -> It doesn't, it's not a listening device.

4493.86 -> The, the device in its core is...

4497.419 -> It has a detector on it.

4498.53 -> We call it internally a

4499.65 -> "wake-word engine."

4501.15 -> And that detector is

4502.469 -> listening-- not really listening-- it's detecting one

4505.369 -> thing and one thing only, which is the word you've said that you

4509.949 -> want to get the attention of that Echo.

4511.96 -> >> NARRATOR: Once the device is awake and the blue light is on,

4516.61 -> it's recording.

4517.61 -> And last year, it was revealed

4519.469 -> that Amazon employs thousands of people around the world to

4523.28 -> listen and transcribe some of those recordings to help train

4526.769 -> the system.

4527.959 -> >> Do you think that you

4528.959 -> did a good enough job of disclosing that to consumers?

4531.729 -> That, that there are humans involved in listening to these

4535.349 -> recordings?

4536.51 -> >> We, we try to articulate what

4539.409 -> we're doing with our products as clearly as we can.

4541.979 -> But if I could go back in time, and I could be more clear, and

4546.329 -> the team could be more clear, on how we were using human beings

4551.229 -> to annotate a small percentage of the data, I would, for sure.

4555.38 -> What I would say, though, is that once we realized that

4557.61 -> customers didn't clearly understand this, and within a

4560.219 -> couple of days, we added an opt-out feature, so that

4562.729 -> customers could turn off annotation if they, if they so

4566.55 -> chose.

4567.55 -> And then within a month or two

4569.159 -> later, we allowed people to auto-delete data, which they

4571.72 -> also asked for within that, within that time frame.

4574.059 -> You know, we're not going to always be perfect, but when we

4576.44 -> make mistakes, I think the key is that we correct them very

4579.29 -> quickly on behalf of customers.

4581.429 -> >> NARRATOR: But even one of the

4583.15 -> founders of Amazon Web Services approaches his Alexa devices

4587.139 -> with caution.

4588.629 -> >> When do you turn off

4589.629 -> your Alexa?

4590.629 -> >> I turn off my Alexa when I

4592.84 -> know for a fact that the conversation that I am going to

4596.63 -> have, or, or whenever I just want to have a private moment.

4601.17 -> I don't want certain conversations to be heard by

4604.679 -> humans, conversations that I know for a fact are not things

4609.44 -> that should not be shared, then I actually turn off those

4613.909 -> particular listening devices.

4617.82 -> >> We have had an incredible

4619.469 -> year.

4620.469 -> The team has invented a lot on

4621.469 -> behalf of customers, and I cannot wait to show you what we

4624.69 -> have.

4625.69 -> >> NARRATOR: So far, Limp and

4626.69 -> his team have made Alexa compatible with more than

4629.26 -> 100,000 products.

4631.57 -> >> Echo Frames allow you to get

4633.739 -> done more around you and be more present in the everyday.

4637.659 -> >> Now they're going to know more about you than anyone

4641.15 -> knows.

4642.15 -> They're trying to move as

4644.729 -> intimately as possible and as quietly as possible into

4649.499 -> everyday life.

4651.3 -> >> Echo Loop is a smart ring,

4653.869 -> packed with ways to stay on top of your day.

4657.829 -> >> Amazon wants to have the entire environment essentially

4662.419 -> miked.

4663.419 -> >> Alexa, start my running

4664.82 -> playlist.

4665.82 -> >> They want your walk in the

4667.809 -> park, they want your run down the city street.

4671.059 -> >> Nationwide's teamed up with Amazon to bring you the all-new

4674.409 -> Echo Auto.

4675.409 -> >> They want what you do in your

4676.579 -> car, they want what you do in your home.

4679.619 -> >> Amazon Smart Oven.

4680.619 -> >> Alexa, bake for 30 minutes at

4682.619 -> 350 degrees.

4683.619 -> (oven beeps)

4684.619 -> >> All these intimacies, all this insight is being

4687.489 -> integrated, analyzed and integrated.

4691.369 -> >> Alexa, alarm off.

4694.04 -> >> That is an extraordinary kind

4696.059 -> of power that has never before existed.

4699.76 -> >> NARRATOR: After Alexa, Amazon would go on to spend nearly a

4703.739 -> billion dollars to buy Ring...

4705.15 -> >> Hey, bud, the police are on

4706.409 -> the way.

4707.409 -> >> NARRATOR: A doorbell camera

4708.829 -> and app that Amazon describes as "the new neighborhood watch."

4712.92 -> >> Hey, get away!

4713.92 -> >> Get out of there!

4714.92 -> >> NARRATOR: To promote it, Amazon has enlisted the help of

4718.719 -> hundreds of local police departments.

4720.579 -> >> It's a phenomenal tool to assist detectives.

4724.4 -> >> NARRATOR: They give them access to a portal to request

4727.289 -> footage and have given free cameras to hand out-- and

4732.369 -> talking points.

4733.65 -> >> This system is so simple to

4735.65 -> use...

4736.65 -> >> You have Amazon in

4737.829 -> partnership with police departments, who have basically

4740.29 -> turned policemen into, like, Avon salespeople for Amazon

4744.999 -> Ring.

4746.459 -> They have given police

4748.039 -> departments talking points and marketing materials to encourage

4752.929 -> the installation of Ring by community residents.

4756.979 -> None of this was public knowledge.

4758.929 -> >> And this is Ring's first indoor cam.

4765.21 -> It is... cute, is what I would say.

4766.76 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon has continued to expand the scope

4768.809 -> of Ring.

4770.34 -> Last fall, Dave Limp unveiled a

4772.17 -> version designed to monitor the inside of people's homes.

4776.71 -> Within weeks, hackers discovered a way to terrorize Ring

4779.919 -> customers.

4796.459 -> >> Did you see that

4797.459 -> video?

4798.459 -> >> I did see that video.

4799.459 -> >> What did you think of it?

4800.459 -> >> I think that that is a industry problem.

4802.969 -> It's not just about the, a Ring camera-- it could be about

4807.469 -> anybody's cameras.

4808.469 -> It's about any device in that...

4811.26 -> And we've already investigated that one to make sure what, what

4814.579 -> the root cause was.

4816.169 -> What we want to be able to do

4817.55 -> in those cases is, we want to minimize them.

4819.55 -> We'd like to detect them.

4820.75 -> And we also want to build tools

4822.079 -> that give them the ability so that doesn't... that, that makes

4825.36 -> it harder for those kinds of attacks to happen.

4827.82 -> There's a lot of bad people in this world.

4829.829 -> >> Here's a device that you had described as cute and

4832.909 -> seems harmless, and I'm just wondering whether you're being

4837.219 -> straight with people about the attendant risks to your

4841.13 -> customers that you are obsessed with, supposedly.

4844.539 -> >> Well, it's not supposedly, we are obsessed with customers.

4847.469 -> I, I would say that we are trying to build security

4851.32 -> features at every level of the stack: operating systems,

4856.57 -> authentication, fraud detection.

4859.63 -> We offer things that customers

4861.559 -> can turn on that make it even, make it even harder for those

4864.909 -> attacks to happen.

4865.909 -> >> Yo, what's up, how's your

4866.909 -> day?

4867.909 -> >> Who is that?

4868.909 -> >> What's going on, buddy?

4869.909 -> What are you watching?

4871.769 -> >> NARRATOR: There were a series of similar attacks across the

4875.61 -> country.

4876.61 -> >> What's up, homie?

4877.61 -> I still see you.

4878.61 -> >> You hungry?

4879.61 -> >> What's going on, my main man Shaq?

4881.079 -> >> NARRATOR: And it's not just hackers.

4883.31 -> Ring has fired some of its own employees for spying on

4886.729 -> customers.

4887.849 -> >> In George Orwell's

4888.989 -> "1984," he describes a dystopia in which, "You had to live, you

4893.59 -> did live from habit that became instinct in the assumption that

4897.499 -> every sound you made was overheard."

4900.929 -> And I wonder if you ever think about how easily this could

4905.829 -> become dystopian to some degree?

4908.179 -> >> Well, I don't want to live in

4909.3 -> that world.

4910.3 -> So, I do not want to invent the

4912.159 -> technology that, or have my teams invent the technology that

4915.659 -> would create that world.

4917.409 -> And so... but I am an optimist.

4919.59 -> I, I think if you take the, the absolute view of that, we

4924.489 -> wouldn't invent anything.

4925.659 -> >> We're increasingly

4926.659 -> living in a world in which your products and your designs are

4931.849 -> there.

4932.849 -> Do, can you see how it could be

4933.849 -> concerning in some ways that we all can't opt out of that world

4937.019 -> at this point?

4938.019 -> >> Oh, sure, I can see why it

4940.05 -> could be concerning to some customers.

4941.969 -> Our job in building that technology is to build it in

4946.159 -> such a way that it, that it takes into account for the

4949.249 -> scenarios that you just talked about, as best as we possibly

4952.889 -> can.

4953.889 -> You know, the, the reality of it

4955.909 -> is, that world happened way before Ring or Alexa.

4962.599 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: That's something

4965.909 -> that Bezos himself wrestled with 20 years ago.

4969.929 -> >> I believe that privacy is going to be one of the prominent

4972.84 -> issues of the 21st century.

4973.849 -> The thing is, there are towns

4975.119 -> now in the United States that have installed security cameras

4977.55 -> on every corner, and their crime rates decreased by 80%,

4980.51 -> but do you really want cameras on every corner?

4983.699 -> There are very strange things that are going to happen over

4986.649 -> the next 100 years with respect to technology that are going to

4989.309 -> challenge us as a society to figure out how we want to deal

4993.159 -> with privacy.

4994.159 -> >> NARRATOR: Decades later,

4995.34 -> Bezos would be at the vanguard of expanding the use of that

4999.019 -> kind of technology.

5001.769 -> >> Introducing Amazon

5002.769 -> Rekognition Video.

5004.459 -> >> Rekognition allows you to

5006.139 -> pass an image to us.

5007.519 -> You can say, "Do these two faces

5009.84 -> match?"

5010.84 -> Which is incredibly useful for

5011.84 -> applications in the security space.

5014.449 -> You can imagine...

5015.449 -> >> NARRATOR: After Amazon rolled

5016.449 -> out a facial recognition tool, it marketed it to law

5019.989 -> enforcement.

5021.769 -> >> Recognize and track persons

5022.789 -> of interest from a collection of tens of millions of faces.

5027.129 -> >> NARRATOR: Police we've spoken to say it's a valuable tool to

5030.979 -> identify suspects quickly.

5032.56 -> >> ...appears to be a match, but

5033.8 -> I'm gonna make sure I look at them all.

5035.669 -> >> NARRATOR: And while Amazon has offered guidelines for how

5038.34 -> it should be used, there are few laws governing the use of this

5041.969 -> technology.

5042.969 -> >> It returns anybody with

5043.969 -> warrants that look like her.

5045.519 -> >> NARRATOR: Civil liberties

5046.519 -> advocates have raised concerns, as have computer scientists, who

5051.13 -> worry Amazon has released the software before it's ready, and

5055.019 -> that police are essentially field-testing it on the public

5058.439 -> on behalf of the company.

5060.969 -> >> The tools are not what I call

5063.479 -> battle-tested.

5065.159 -> And we still do not understand

5067.669 -> how well they work in the environments in which they'll be

5071.469 -> applied.

5072.469 -> That's where I see a danger.

5074.279 -> >> NARRATOR: Anima Anandkumar was the principal scientist for

5077.699 -> artificial intelligence at Amazon.

5080.429 -> In her first interview about her concerns she told us she was

5083.69 -> particularly alarmed by an M.I.T. study that found the

5087.38 -> software prone to mistakes with darker-skinned faces.

5092.51 -> Amazon has questioned the study's methodology.

5095.989 -> >> As a researcher in A.I., I feel it's my personal

5099.19 -> responsibility to educate the public of where A.I. truly is

5103.69 -> today, right?

5104.789 -> Because they hear so much of

5106.389 -> A.I. being hyped up, you know, it's supposed to be magical,

5109.889 -> it's supposed to solve all the world's problems.

5112.31 -> I see the potential in doing that, but at the same time we

5115.5 -> need a reality check.

5116.79 -> We need to ask, where is A.I.

5119.09 -> today?

5120.09 -> What can it truly do well?

5121.389 -> >> And when it comes to facial recognition, you don't

5123.78 -> think it's ready for primetime.

5125.959 -> >> I don't think face

5126.959 -> recognition is ready for primetime in challenging

5130.469 -> applications like law enforcement.

5132.8 -> >> NARRATOR: Anandkumar and other scientists have asked

5135.889 -> Amazon to stop selling Rekognition to law enforcement

5139.469 -> because they say the system's accuracy is still in question,

5142.849 -> and there are no clear regulations about how it's used.

5147.469 -> We asked Andy Jassy about it.

5149.37 -> >> I have a different view, and

5152.929 -> we've spent...

5153.929 -> We've had the facial

5154.929 -> recognition technology out for use for over two-and-a-half

5158.349 -> years now.

5159.4 -> And in those two-and-a-half

5160.659 -> years, we've never had any reported misuse of law

5163.309 -> enforcement using the facial recognition technology and, you

5166.079 -> know, I think a lot of societal good is already being done with

5168.84 -> facial recognition technology.

5170.219 -> Already, you've seen hundreds of

5172.269 -> missing kids reunited with their parents, and hundreds of human

5175.269 -> trafficking victims saved, and all kinds of security and

5179.469 -> identity and education uses, so there's a lot of good that's

5182.219 -> been done with it.

5183.659 -> But I also understand that it

5185.309 -> could be misused.

5186.309 -> And I think at the end of the

5187.472 -> day with any technology, whether you're talking about facial

5189.769 -> recognition technology or anything else, the people that

5192.959 -> use the technology have to be responsible for it, and if they

5196.03 -> use it irresponsibly, they have to be held accountable.

5198.379 -> >> There's been all sorts of problems with policing

5200.3 -> in this country.

5201.3 -> So why allow police departments

5202.32 -> to experiment?

5203.53 -> >> We believe that governments

5205.15 -> and the organizations that are charged with keeping our

5207.749 -> communities safe have to have access to the most

5211.11 -> sophisticated, modern technology that exists.

5213.719 -> We don't have a large number of police departments that are

5215.8 -> using our facial recognition technology, and as I said,

5218.619 -> we've never received any complaints of misuse.

5221.369 -> Let's see if somehow they abuse the technology.

5224.099 -> They haven't done that, and to assume that they're gonna do it

5227.979 -> and therefore you shouldn't allow them to have access to the

5229.919 -> most sophisticated technology out there, doesn't feel like the

5232.059 -> right balance to me.

5233.559 -> >> It's been difficult

5234.559 -> to even know how many police departments are using the facial

5237.459 -> recognition technology, and there's no public auditing to

5240.769 -> know whether there are complaints about abuse.

5243.849 -> How would the public ever know?

5245.51 -> >> You know, again, I don't

5248.209 -> think we know the total number of police departments that are

5251.36 -> using facial recognition technology.

5253.789 -> I mean, there's, you can use any number-- we have 165 services in

5259.09 -> our technology infrastructure platform, and you can use them

5261.649 -> in whatever conjunction, any combination that you want.

5264.769 -> We know of some, and the vast majority of those that are using

5269.399 -> it are using it according to the guidance that we've prescribed.

5272.69 -> And when they're not, we have conversations, and if we find

5275.519 -> that they're using it in some irresponsible way, we won't

5277.499 -> allow them to use the service and the platform.

5281.26 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Andy Jassy and Jeff

5283.78 -> Bezos have said they want governments to hurry up and

5286.349 -> regulate how law enforcement can use facial recognition.

5290.579 -> But in the meantime, Amazon has forged ahead, and has even

5294.57 -> discussed its services with Immigration and Customs

5297.739 -> Enforcement.

5298.739 -> >> At Amazon Web Services...

5299.739 -> >> NARRATOR: And the U.S. military.

5301.98 -> >> ...partner community to deliver for our warfighters and

5305.86 -> defense leaders for when it matters most.

5309.26 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos himself has made it clear that he sees

5311.59 -> Amazon playing a critical role in national security, as well as

5315.729 -> in commerce.

5316.729 -> >> We are going to continue to

5317.749 -> support the D.O.D., and I think we should.

5321.09 -> And if big tech companies are gonna turn their back on the

5324.53 -> U.S. Department of Defense, this country is gonna be in trouble.

5328.489 -> >> NARRATOR: As Amazon has revolutionized one industry

5331.639 -> after another, Jeff Bezos's reputation has grown to mythic

5336.07 -> proportions.

5337.11 -> >> You've called what Jeff Bezos

5339.26 -> has built a miracle.

5340.73 -> >> Absolute miracle.

5341.73 -> I wish I could give him a blood test or something so I could

5343.689 -> pick it out, but...

5344.709 -> >> You want to clone him?

5345.709 -> >> No, I want a transfusion, actually.

5349.769 -> >> Amazon is now worth $1 trillion...

5352.169 -> >> NARRATOR: His every move moves the markets.

5355.84 -> >> Amazon Advertising is just on fire.

5358.289 -> >> NARRATOR: Starting a digital advertising business to rival

5361.01 -> Facebook and Google.

5362.949 -> >> Some breaking news on Whole

5364.829 -> Foods...

5365.829 -> >> Holy cow.

5366.829 -> >> Jim, I heard you gasp just now.

5367.829 -> >> Holy cow, this is such a game-changer.

5368.829 -> >> NARRATOR: Buying the grocery chain Whole Foods.

5371.949 -> >> In a record-breaking deal, Amazon is buying Whole Foods for

5375.559 -> $13.7 billion.

5377.269 -> >> The day the acquisition was

5378.669 -> announced, the nation's largest grocery company lost billions of

5381.17 -> dollars because Amazon acquired a company one-12th the size.

5386.449 -> >> Everybody thinks Bezos is the smartest person in the world and

5388.78 -> he's gonna come and crush me.

5390.3 -> >> When Amazon announced the

5391.8 -> acquisition of Pill Pack...

5393.239 -> >> News of the deal sent

5394.239 -> shockwaves through an industry...

5395.789 -> >> The retail pharmacy sector shed billions of dollars.

5398.86 -> >> Look at this story-- three titans of industry...

5402.059 -> >> When Amazon was mentioned in a press release with Berkshire

5405.079 -> Hathaway and JP Morgan saying they were looking at healthcare

5407.639 -> costs-- no detail in what that meant...

5410 -> >> Healthcare companies are panicked about Amazon's

5411.88 -> forthcoming entry into the healthcare market.

5414.119 -> >> On the opening bell the next morning, the healthcare

5415.95 -> industry's largest players shed billions of dollars.

5418.699 -> >> And insurance stocks are down after Amazon announced a

5421.199 -> healthcare partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan

5424.179 -> Chase.

5425.179 -> >> Bezos basically wants to own

5426.46 -> the whole economy, right?

5428.379 -> >> You think he will.

5429.449 -> >> I kind of think he will.

5430.449 -> I kinda think that in, like, ten

5431.68 -> years Jeff Bezos owns every single thing there is.

5434.129 -> >> So Amazon has these Darth Vader-like abilities to just

5436.949 -> look at a sector and begin choking it of oxygen without

5440.649 -> even touching it.

5441.82 -> Amazon can begin beating

5442.82 -> competitors without even competing.

5445.729 -> >> You actually think that Amazon is having a negative

5448 -> effect on competition in the innovation economy right now?

5452.019 -> >> I think it's a mixed bag, I think that you could argue, and

5454.159 -> there's evidence that they have inspired innovation in certain

5456.969 -> sectors.

5457.969 -> But I think there's a lot of

5458.969 -> small companies that aren't being formed, because if you go

5460.729 -> in to try and raise money for an e-commerce company, it's,

5463.36 -> "Well, how are we going to compete against Amazon?"

5464.999 -> And I say, "Well, the answer can be summarized in one word:

5469.519 -> impossible."

5470.519 -> >> All right, let's move some

5472.76 -> earth.

5473.76 -> >> Every single area that he

5474.76 -> enters into, he manages to succeed in a fairly major way.

5480.09 -> (crowd cheering) >> We've had another great Prime

5483.849 -> Day.

5484.849 -> >> We've never seen anything

5485.849 -> like a company that is so integrated into the fabric of

5491.079 -> existence, so, you know, at a certain point, it becomes

5494.09 -> unavoidable.

5495.679 -> >> Amazon just yesterday said...

5497.03 -> >> Bezos would even extend his reach into the heart of popular

5500.38 -> culture.

5501.38 -> >> Can you imagine Macy's

5502.8 -> starting a media company?

5504.26 -> We couldn't even imagine that.

5506.26 -> But Amazon does it, and people take it seriously.

5508.849 -> (explosion echoes) (people screaming)

5511.249 -> >> NARRATOR: Amazon is investing billions in new shows and

5514.739 -> movies.

5515.739 -> >> Oh.

5516.739 -> Hi.

5517.739 -> >> Hey.

5518.739 -> >> NARRATOR: And on beefing up its streaming service, which

5521.95 -> streams around four times as many movies as Netflix, Major

5525.179 -> >> NARRATOR: And on beefing up its streaming service, which

5528.67 -> streams four times as many movies as Netflix, Major

5532.15 -> League Baseball, and PBS shows like this one.

5536.329 -> (audience applauding) >> And the Golden Globe goes

5540.75 -> to...

5541.75 -> "Transparent."

5542.75 -> Amazon Instant Video.

5543.979 -> >> I want to thank Amazon, Jeff

5544.979 -> Bezos.

5545.979 -> >> To Amazon, my new best...

5547.94 -> friend.

5548.94 -> (audience laughing)

5550.79 -> >> Bezos likes to joke about how, every time he wins a Golden

5555.459 -> Globe... >> ...it helps us sell more

5557.07 -> shoes.

5558.07 -> And it does that in a very

5559.07 -> direct way, because when people... if you look at Prime

5562.8 -> members, they, they buy more on Amazon than non-Prime members,

5567.09 -> and one of the reasons they do that is, once they've paid their

5569.63 -> annual fee, they're looking around to see, "How can I get

5571.731 -> more value out of the program?"

5573.679 -> >> They're trying to use this

5575.61 -> entertainment to get people into the pipeline.

5578.28 -> >> Alexa, play "Jack Ryan" on Fire TV.

5581.199 -> >> To keep them sitting within this structure that is Amazon,

5587.199 -> where it becomes this unthinking habit that's starting to pattern

5591.469 -> all these parts of our existence.

5593.579 -> >> So you're doing the media stuff to encourage people to use

5599.579 -> more of Prime.

5601.189 -> >> Correct.

5602.189 -> >> Amazon is represented at the Academy Awards.

5604.429 -> Amazon is the first streaming service nominated for Best

5608.59 -> Picture.

5609.59 -> >> He's like one of the old

5610.59 -> studio bosses right now.

5612.749 -> He really enjoys having this

5615.099 -> place in the industry and really seems to relish being at

5621.709 -> the center of attention there.

5624.669 -> >> I also want you to know,

5626.26 -> Jeff, if you win tonight, you can expect your Oscar to arrive

5629.449 -> in two to five business days... (audience laughing)

5633.27 -> >> What you see now is someone who is so supremely self-

5639.349 -> confident.

5641.019 -> A guy who has become a titan.

5649.549 -> ♪ ♪ >> Amazon is about to get

5650.63 -> bigger.

5651.63 -> It's looking for another home in

5652.709 -> North America.

5653.709 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos and Amazon's

5655.659 -> soaring stature would be on full display in September 2017, when

5660.479 -> the company announced a contest to find a location for a second

5664.179 -> headquarters.

5665.179 -> >> ...called HQ2.

5666.179 -> >> NARRATOR: They promised $5 billion in capital investments.

5670.099 -> >> $5 billion... >> ...in local investment...

5672.389 -> >> NARRATOR: And 50,000 jobs.

5674.28 -> >> 50,000...

5675.28 -> >> 50,000 people.

5676.44 -> >> 50,000 high-paying jobs.

5678.6 -> >> Cities are salivating over the opportunity.

5680.859 -> >> It was unprecedented because the number of jobs was head-and-

5683.76 -> shoulders more than had ever been offered in a deal before.

5686.849 -> This was a super-high-profile auction by the most popular

5691.69 -> consumer company in the, in the country.

5693.77 -> >> NARRATOR: The company invited cities across North America to

5697.53 -> pitch themselves.

5698.739 -> >> How about, I don't know,

5702.34 -> here?

5703.34 -> >> NARRATOR: 238 took them up on

5706.66 -> it.

5707.66 -> >> I chose, Miami-- you should,

5708.66 -> too.

5709.66 -> >> Can't wait to see you,

5710.66 -> Amazon.

5711.66 -> >> I, Ebenezer Scrooge...

5712.66 -> >> NARRATOR: Some with elaborately produced videos.

5714.209 -> >> ...I live in Atlanta.

5716.569 -> >> Amazon is demonstrating that

5717.569 -> it has the power to get thousands of elected officials

5720.789 -> to remake their workday and bow down before Amazon.

5725.159 -> >> I'm Mark Bound, mayor of the city of Danbury.

5728.279 -> >> And offer it huge tax breaks.

5730.739 -> >> Georgia offered $2 billion.

5732.499 -> >> Maryland offered $5 billion.

5734.789 -> >> $7 billion from New Jersey.

5737.439 -> >> Huge infrastructure promises, huge prime parcels of land.

5740.929 -> >> Philadelphia is offering the most land-- 28 million square

5744.409 -> feet.

5745.409 -> >> They know that these places

5746.409 -> all don't have a prayer.

5750.039 -> >> So to those who saw

5751.039 -> it as a kind of grotesque display of corporate power, to

5754.229 -> dangle 50,000 jobs and potential billions of dollars of revenue

5758.84 -> over metropolitan cities around the country, you say what?

5762.69 -> >> Look, I, I think, I used to work for the United States

5768.07 -> government, like, we want businesses to invest in the

5769.86 -> United States.

5771.439 -> States want businesses to invest

5772.499 -> in states, cities, city officials want businesses to

5774.86 -> invest in cities.

5776.099 -> The proposals we got, the cities

5777.939 -> made the proposals, they wanted us to come, and they presented

5780.829 -> to us why they were an attractive option.

5783.019 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: In November 2018,

5788.019 -> Amazon announced there were two winners: Arlington, Virginia,

5792.419 -> and New York City.

5795.309 -> ♪ ♪

5796.309 -> >> This is by far the biggest new jobs deal in the history of

5798.57 -> New York City, the history of New York State.

5800.11 -> >> NARRATOR: New York City and State had campaigned hard for

5802.849 -> it, offering up nearly $3 billion in subsidies and

5806.94 -> tax breaks.

5807.94 -> >> I'll change my name to

5809.669 -> "Amazon Cuomo" if that's what it takes.

5813.659 -> >> NARRATOR: In return, Amazon promised 25,000 jobs, billions

5818.01 -> of dollars in capital investments, and a small number

5821.379 -> of projects earmarked for local community members.

5826.849 -> >> I thought it could be a great thing for New York.

5829.169 -> We are more and more of a tech center, we wanted to consolidate

5833.84 -> that reality.

5836.039 -> Having Amazon here would have

5837.039 -> helped immensely.

5838.039 -> >> Amazon has got to go!

5840.379 -> >> NARRATOR: But not everyone was enthused about giving

5843.09 -> billions in tax breaks to a trillion-dollar corporation.

5846.341 -> >> Corporate handout!

5847.341 -> >> Get out!

5849.059 -> >> Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the tax break isn't worth it.

5853.439 -> (gavel pounding) >> Welcome to today's oversight

5856.789 -> hearing on the deal...

5857.979 -> >> NARRATOR: Though the deal had

5858.979 -> already been finalized, the New York City Council insisted on a

5862.579 -> public hearing.

5863.82 -> It quickly turned contentious.

5866.07 -> >> Mr. Husman, you mentioned that there are 5,000 employees

5869.66 -> that are currently working here in New York City for Amazon, is

5872.76 -> that correct?

5873.76 -> >> Yes.

5874.76 -> >> NARRATOR: Council members grilled Amazon executives on

5876.92 -> their position on unions, and whether the company would

5879.98 -> pledge to remain neutral if workers in New York State tried

5883.239 -> to unionize.

5884.569 -> >> How many of those employees

5885.569 -> are unionized?

5886.569 -> >> None, sir.

5887.569 -> >> None.

5888.569 -> Would you be okay with agreeing

5889.569 -> to neutrality so that workers can unionize?

5891.919 -> >> No, sir, we respect...

5893.429 -> >> You wouldn't agree to that.

5894.709 -> >> Correct, sir, we would not.

5896.219 -> >> To go to a city council

5897.36 -> hearing, as Amazon did, and antagonize the city council-- if

5900.52 -> they wanted to start a fight, they did a great job.

5902.17 -> If they wanted to actually show that they were willing to work

5904.559 -> with this community and our values, they did a horrible job.

5907.569 -> >> You are in a union city.

5909.369 -> And one of the first answers to

5910.499 -> your question today, is-- would you be neutral?-- you said no.

5914.889 -> That is not a way to come to our city.

5917.679 -> >> NARRATOR: It was not the reaction the company expected

5921.09 -> when it launched the contest.

5924.039 -> Two weeks later, Amazon pulled

5927.17 -> out.

5928.17 -> >> Amazon is pulling the plug on

5929.17 -> its New York plans.

5931.489 -> >> We decided we didn't have to

5932.489 -> be there in that political dynamic.

5934.469 -> The fact of the matter is, when it turned out the governor and

5937.34 -> the mayor supporting something turned out not to be enough to

5942.499 -> persuade other critics that it was the right kind of investment

5946.84 -> for New York to make, we decided, that's fine, we can go

5950.329 -> elsewhere.

5951.329 -> >> He said to us that it

5952.939 -> turned out that the governor and the mayor supporting something

5955.989 -> wasn't enough to persuade other critics that it was the right

5958.489 -> kind of investment for New York to make.

5960.459 -> So we decided... we decided it's fine, we'll go elsewhere.

5963.76 -> >> That's an idiotic statement on its face.

5966.42 -> That is pure idiocy from a guy who should know a hell of a lot

5970.21 -> better.

5971.21 -> The deal was done, Amazon knew

5972.729 -> it was done.

5973.999 -> There was noise, there was

5976.15 -> posturing by people in the political world, but the deal

5979.079 -> was done, so all we're talking about here is the background

5982.649 -> noise.

5983.969 -> In what world are there no

5986.039 -> critics?

5987.039 -> Well, yeah, in an autocratic

5988.039 -> totalitarian world, maybe they're not allowed, and maybe

5989.879 -> that's the world that Jeff Bezos somewhere in his mind thinks he

5993.229 -> is entitled to.

5997.05 -> ♪ ♪

5998.05 -> >> NARRATOR: At the time, Bezos was involved in some personal

6002.88 -> turmoil.

6004.629 -> >> Amazon C.E.O.

6005.629 -> Jeff Bezos

6006.629 -> and his wife of 25 years announcing they are splitting.

6008.759 -> >> The announcement coming amid tabloid reports that Bezos is

6009.759 -> now in a relationship with former news anchor Lauren

6015.53 -> Sanchez.

6016.559 -> >> NARRATOR: The "National

6018.26 -> Enquirer" had been pursuing him for months.

6020.17 -> >> The tabloid claims it tracked him across five states and over

6023.379 -> 40,000 miles.

6024.379 -> >> NARRATOR: Bezos saw the

6025.739 -> "Enquirer's" report as politically motivated.

6027.899 -> >> So what would be the motive here of getting that

6030.54 -> embarrassing material about Bezos and his alleged affair to

6033.329 -> the "National Enquirer"?

6034.469 -> Who would want to get the dirt

6035.619 -> in the press?

6036.619 -> >> NARRATOR: The magazine's

6037.619 -> owner, David Pecker, was linked to two powerful men who disliked

6041.71 -> how they were covered by Bezos's "Washington Post."

6045.07 -> The first was President Trump.

6047.54 -> >> It's put there for the

6049.699 -> benefit of "The Washington Post," of Amazon...

6052.739 -> >> NARRATOR: The second: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin

6055.82 -> Salman, who the C.I.A. had tied to the murder of one of the

6059.169 -> "Post's" journalists, Jamal Khashoggi.

6063.169 -> >> Former C.I.A. director John Brennan said, "I have no doubt

6066.53 -> that Saudi Arabia would want to embarrass Jeff Bezos and hurt

6072.059 -> him financially."

6073.36 -> >> NARRATOR: David Pecker

6076.51 -> demanded that Bezos publicly declare the "Enquirer's"

6079.78 -> coverage was not politically motivated or he'd publish

6083.169 -> intimate photos of him.

6084.919 -> >> Breaking news tonight, a

6086.309 -> stunner from the richest man in the world.

6088.249 -> >> NARRATOR: Rather than give in, Bezos fought back.

6090.969 -> >> Jeff Bezos calling out the publisher of the "National

6093.949 -> Enquirer," David Pecker.

6095.53 -> >> Bezos published a personal

6096.719 -> account accusing the "National Enquirer" of blackmail, of

6099.899 -> extortion.

6100.899 -> >> He turned the situation

6102.13 -> around and handled it so brilliantly-- he was very

6104.849 -> transparent, he was very courageous, admitted some very

6106.519 -> embarrassing things about himself, didn't try to deny it--

6108.889 -> and positioned the other individual as the bully, and

6111.44 -> kicked the bully in the nuts, and somehow turned this into a

6114.72 -> net positive.

6115.72 -> I mean, this really was the PR

6117.629 -> strategy and execution of the ages.

6119.209 -> I've never seen anything like this.

6121.59 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Publicly, Bezos has

6125.179 -> pushed ahead undaunted-- a world-famous celebrity.

6128.709 -> And even after a $38 billion divorce settlement, still the

6133.3 -> richest person on the planet.

6135.979 -> (cheers and applause)

6138.679 -> But the calls to rein in his company are growing louder.

6142.489 -> >> Amazon reported $10 billion in profits and paid zero in

6147.229 -> taxes.

6148.229 -> >> I will single out companies

6149.229 -> like Halliburton or Amazon that pay nothing in taxes in our

6151.63 -> need to change that.

6152.989 -> >> Here's Bezos achieving this

6155.179 -> American dream and success.

6157.369 -> And, and he's now the target of,

6160.379 -> of all of this criticism.

6161.909 -> And basically, it becomes a

6163.67 -> symbol of all of his problems.

6165.999 -> >> Amazon is closing 30% of

6167.999 -> America's stores and malls and paying...

6169.34 -> >> You're basically a piñata dangling in front of any

6172.899 -> politician with a populist message.

6174.94 -> Anyone who wants to talk about wealth inequality, they're

6177.8 -> pointing their finger at you.

6179.03 -> >> This is why three people own

6181.639 -> more wealth than the bottom half.

6184.07 -> >> If they want to talk about problems with capitalism in

6186.51 -> general, they're pointing their finger at you.

6188.28 -> >> We need to enforce our antitrust laws, break up these

6192.499 -> giant companies.

6194.57 -> >> NARRATOR: And it's coming

6196.639 -> from all sides.

6198.649 -> >> President Trump just sent a

6199.649 -> chill down the spine of Jeff Bezos...

6202.01 -> >> The president again teed off against Amazon on Twitter.

6206.57 -> >> NARRATOR: President Trump has made Bezos's ownership of "The

6210.539 -> Washington Post" a regular target.

6212.709 -> >> "Washington Post," Bezos uses that as his lobbyist, okay?

6216.889 -> >> He kind of assumed that "The Washington Post" was operated in

6219.709 -> the sort of way that he would operate a newspaper.

6223.429 -> And so he thought that Bezos was dictating coverage to the

6227.01 -> "Post," which we should be careful to say is not the case.

6231.139 -> >> NARRATOR: Trump has also criticized Amazon, and accused

6235.349 -> the company of evading taxes.

6237.84 -> Last year, the company was

6240.67 -> competing for a $10 billion cloud computing contract with

6244.159 -> the Department of Defense.

6245.929 -> >> This contract would have

6246.929 -> solidified Bezos's dominance in cloud computing.

6250.349 -> This is a hugely important thing.

6252.949 -> >> NARRATOR: But the company claims President Trump

6254.969 -> intervened to scuttle the deal.

6257.129 -> >> And we're looking at it very

6258.27 -> seriously.

6259.27 -> It's a very big contract.

6260.27 -> One of the biggest ever given.

6263.129 -> >> A big win for Microsoft,

6264.159 -> beating out Amazon...

6265.29 -> >> Amazon can protest the

6267.05 -> outcome, especially given the unusual, unprecedented comments

6271.169 -> by President Trump...

6272.929 -> >> It's an extraordinary times

6274.369 -> we live in that one of the world's biggest corporations,

6277.489 -> Amazon, is now saying, "The president of the United States

6280.439 -> has corrupted our ability to win this contract."

6282.729 -> >> Is there any evidence of that?

6284.309 -> >> The evidence is what the president has publicly said.

6288.269 -> >> NARRATOR: And Amazon's problems have continued to

6292.119 -> multiply.

6294.289 -> The Federal Trade Commission is

6295.619 -> now reconsidering its stance on antitrust enforcement and is

6300.079 -> looking at Amazon-- as are regulators in the E.U.

6304.909 -> >> This gatekeeper power and how the platforms are exercising it

6308.119 -> is of tremendous concern.

6309.889 -> >> NARRATOR: In Washington,

6311.599 -> Democratic Congressman David Cicilline has launched an

6314.879 -> antitrust investigation into allegations of abusive conduct

6318.969 -> by Amazon and the other tech giants.

6322.53 -> >> Given your experience, do you agree with Amazon's statements

6325.039 -> suggesting that it seeks to act in the best interest of

6328.269 -> independent sellers?

6329.489 -> >> I disagree with that.

6330.849 -> We get, I don't know, what I might call bullying with a

6333.44 -> smile.

6334.44 -> >> We were able to get several

6335.44 -> C.E.Os. to come to a public hearing.

6337.4 -> That required tremendous courage because there's a real potential

6343.38 -> for economic retaliation for their sharing that.

6347.129 -> >> We don't have the resources to fight Amazon.

6349.369 -> We could use some help.

6352.349 -> >> In the course of your

6353.349 -> investigation thus far, and you've had several public

6355.719 -> hearings, have you seen any evidence of anti-competitive

6359.619 -> behavior by Amazon?

6361.309 -> >> Um, we have seen evidence of

6363.059 -> anti-competitive behavior by all of the large platforms as a

6367.32 -> result of their market dominance.

6368.849 -> But it sort of doesn't fall on the companies to fix this

6371.829 -> problem.

6372.829 -> It falls on us.

6373.829 -> Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.

6375.469 -> >> NARRATOR: Cicilline's committee is considering

6378.199 -> everything from imposing limits on what businesses a company

6381.639 -> like Amazon can engage in, to restricting the collection and

6385.639 -> use of data.

6389.959 -> ♪ ♪

6390.959 -> The man who helped Jeff Bezos build Amazon 25 years ago says

6394.36 -> it may be necessary to go even further.

6396.959 -> >> On the one hand, I'm proud of what it became, but it also

6402.23 -> scares me.

6403.369 -> And, um, I just feel like it's

6407.579 -> important for someone in my situation to, you know, at least

6416.039 -> say what they think about what's going on.

6419.069 -> >> This is sort of in some ways a baby that you gave

6421.329 -> birth to, right?

6422.559 -> And so, I mean, you helped birth

6424.929 -> Amazon.

6425.929 -> >> Um, yeah, very much so.

6427.909 -> In fact, I used to, um, you know, get up several times

6430.86 -> during the night to, just to see if it was working and... and,

6435.219 -> you know, take care of it if it wasn't, so...

6438.939 -> >> And when you look at what Amazon has grown into

6441.69 -> today, you see what?

6444.159 -> >> (chuckles)

6445.619 -> Well, um... you know, you don't want to see your

6450.36 -> offspring, um, become, um, antisocial adults, right?

6456.789 -> So I think not all of the effects of the company on the

6460.86 -> world are for the best and, um...

6464.269 -> And, you know, I, I wish it weren't so, and I... you know,

6468.959 -> and I... but I had something to do with bringing it into

6471.329 -> existence, so, it's partly on me.

6473.849 -> >> And, I mean, isn't...

6475.709 -> Isn't this just capitalism?

6477.439 -> Isn't this just a company doing what a company does?

6480.11 -> >> Yes.

6481.11 -> Yes, it is, um, and I think

6482.76 -> they're doing what the business schools teach people to do, and

6487.84 -> they're doing it aggressively and skillfully and with great

6492.019 -> intelligence.

6493.439 -> And they will continue to do

6494.82 -> that unless they're constrained by other forces in society.

6499.289 -> >> There are proposals out there to break up Amazon.

6502.29 -> Is that something you'd promote, the idea of breaking them up?

6505.669 -> >> Um, I think that they're now at the scale where that could

6508.82 -> potentially make sense.

6511.519 -> >> How do you and Jeff

6513.26 -> and others at the senior leadership level think about the

6516.229 -> call to break you guys up?

6518.299 -> >> We don't think about it very,

6520.59 -> very deeply.

6521.59 -> You know, I've been at Amazon

6522.639 -> now for 22-and-a-half years, and I always remember one of

6525.43 -> the first things I heard Jeff Bezos say back when we could

6528.07 -> fit the whole company in just one conference room for an

6530.179 -> all-hands meeting.

6531.179 -> He said, "I would not go to bed

6532.439 -> at night fearing your competitors or fearing any

6535.17 -> external issues.

6536.219 -> I would go to bed at night

6537.3 -> fearing whether you're doing right by your customers."

6539.639 -> And that really is a credo that we live here and it's what we

6541.849 -> spend most of our time thinking about.

6543.33 -> >> Well, I, I understand that we're big, and that, that we

6548.08 -> deserve scrutiny, and I think everything that's... that's

6551.781 -> large in the economy and in society should deserve scrutiny.

6555.179 -> The problem is, when you think about us, we're in a lot of

6557.51 -> verticals, yes.

6558.709 -> There's... there's video, and

6560.969 -> there's commerce, and there's, you know, there's web services--

6564.609 -> there are all these things.

6565.949 -> But in every one of them, we

6568.27 -> have intense competition, and I do understand why, when you're

6571.86 -> in a lot of them, it can seem like we're everywhere, but the

6575.739 -> global...

6576.739 -> If we were everywhere, that

6577.739 -> means we're talking about the global economy, not just global

6579.659 -> retail-- it's so vast, we're just, you know, we're a speck.

6585.409 -> >> To the public, it may sound strange coming from

6588.979 -> Amazon, which is a company with basically a trillion-dollar

6591.669 -> market cap, your C.E.O. is the richest man in the world, but

6595.59 -> Jeff Wilke said to me that you're kind of just a speck in

6598.88 -> the scheme of things.

6600.63 -> Do you see how that could seem

6602.11 -> strange or incongruous?

6604.289 -> >> You know, Amazon as a whole

6606.82 -> has become, you know, has been successful, but simply because

6610.96 -> the company's been successful in a few different business

6613.789 -> segments doesn't mean it's somehow too big.

6617.959 -> ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: As Jeff Bezos's

6620.619 -> company is coming under ever greater scrutiny-- for

6623.619 -> everything from how it wields power to even its impact on the

6627.489 -> environment-- he's continuing to look beyond it all.

6631.849 -> >> We get to preserve this unique gem of a planet which is

6637.979 -> completely irreplaceable.

6638.999 -> There is no plan B.

6642.859 -> We have to save this planet, and we shouldn't give up a future

6646.489 -> for our grandchildren's grandchildren of dynamism and

6649.439 -> growth.

6650.439 -> We can have both.

6652.28 -> Who is gonna do this work?

6655.489 -> (rocket rumbling)

6657.169 -> >> NARRATOR: He's spending a billion dollars a year of his

6660.609 -> personal fortune on a space exploration company he created.

6665.429 -> >> And it's this generation's job to build that road to space,

6670.13 -> so that the future generations can unleash their creativity.

6674.239 -> >> NARRATOR: For Bezos, it's always been about one thing: his

6679.57 -> vision for the future.

6680.999 -> >> I want you to think about

6683.3 -> this.

6684.3 -> This vision sounds very big, and

6686.05 -> it is.

6688.489 -> None of this is easy, all of it

6690.17 -> is hard, but I want to inspire you, and so think about this.

6695.57 -> Big things start small.

6697.09 -> (audience applauding)

6698.09 -> Thank you.

6699.09 -> (audience cheers and applauds)

6700.09 -> ♪ ♪

6701.09 -> >> Go to pbs.org/frontline for extended excerpts of our

6702.09 -> interviews with top Amazon executives and insiders,

6703.09 -> including employee number one.

6704.09 -> >> On one hand I'm proud of what it became, but it also

6705.09 -> scares me.

6706.09 -> >> And more on Amazon's use of

6707.09 -> facial recognition software.

6708.09 -> >> I think a lot of societal

6710.32 -> good is already being done with facial recognition technology.

6722.499 -> >> Connect to the FRONTLINE community on Facebook and

6729.13 -> Twitter, and watch anytime on the PBS Video App, or

6736.969 -> pbs.org/frontline.

6737.969 -> Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH

6743.239 -> access.wgbh.org >> For more on this and other

6745.699 -> "Frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

6760.5 -> ♪ ♪ To order FRONTLINE's,

6761.57 -> "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos", on DVD

6765.84 -> visit Shop PBS or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

6770.539 -> This program is also available on Amazon Prime Video.

6772.719 -> ♪ ♪

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s