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Comment by enraged_camel | Hacker News Reader

End of an era. I wonder what he'll do next.

From his email to staff:

As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.

Maybe he’ll take a cue from Bill Gates and get involved in philanthropy. Alternatively he might get more involved in Blue Origin?

I think he's probably bored at this point. Whats there really left to do at Amazon? AWS and the website are eating the world. He's 57. Why not at this point go play with his rockets and spend time inside that WaPo newsroom that he loves.

> spend time inside that WaPo newsroom that he loves.

Investing in journalism is actually a very good thing.

As long as it's unconditional investing…

I have no problem with conditional investing. If I owned a media company, I would like to be involved.

Definitely. So many tax loopholes to exploit.

Ah, yes. Because owning a news organization, one filled with people who can do investigations, presents numerous opportunities to avoid paying taxes.

Especially if you can change the narrative from "evil capitalist who forces his workers to piss in buckets" to "pioneer O'Reilly tube colonist"

Americans adopt that narrative voluntarily when it comes to entrepreneurs, he doesn't need to interfere with the Wapo newsroom for that. (and to my knowledge hasn't).

WaPo has publicized quite a few articles critical of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, even after WaPo was acquired. So this is something that seems to be just another baseless "jeff bad" take.

The questions shouldn't focus on what he lets get printed - we still live in an age where journalism seems to have minimal consequences no matter the quality - but what happens if e.g. the WaPo Guild takes action in solidarity with an Amazon union.

>but what happens if e.g. the WaPo Guild takes action in solidarity with an Amazon union?

Luckily, we don't need to wonder, because WaPo has actually posted that kind of an article just yesterday, and it was extremely critical of Amazon's anti-unionization efforts [0]. The article's headline is "Amazon’s anti-union blitz stalks Alabama warehouse workers everywhere, even the bathroom". Even the headline itself wasn't sugarcoated or softened in the slightest.

0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/amazon-...

This is not an especially a sympathetic article to either side, but I'm talking about things beyond the core remit of a newsroom. If Amazon workers strike, what happens if the WaPo Guild refuses to cross the picket line by accepting Amazon deliveries, using AWS, or run articles alongside Amazon ads?

> The questions shouldn't focus on what he lets get printed

Bezos has no say in what can and can't be published.

There is a difference between "does not have editorial oversight" - which I believe - and "has no say in what can be published" - which is trivially false since as owner he could do anything from hire only sports reporters to shut the whole thing down if he wanted.

He's one of the richest men in the world... and single.

We're about to witness one of the most glorious midlife crises in history.

I think having one in Musk is enough (though Musk is married now). Don’t need planet of the billionaire bachelors in the midst of their midlife crises.

As chairman and being involved in the WaPo newsroom and possibly K street would actually help Amazon. But you'd probably have to enjoy politics and does Bezos? Bezos built Amazon so is he OK with it being chopped up if it comes to that or not?

His ex gave away 4.2 billion last December FWIW.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/style/mackenzie-scott-pri...

Hopefully, the former.

https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/

> Hopefully, the former

Either one is a win for humanity.

So now ONE person dictates what is a win for humanity?

Hopefully the latter. We've got an excess of billionaires trying to mould society with their vast sums of wealth.

Blue Origin would be a great use of his time. Massive long-term benefit to humanity, few implications on global governance or the lives of most individuals.

Or his own private charter city, so people have to consent to live in his world.

Or he could blow it all on yachts, hookers and blow.

I don't understand why space rockets and lunar lander is important except if they help us clean our planet. It's a long bet on a long time horizon. But maybe it's a good way to spend government money.

Imo, it's a good way to keep people who're functionally minor deities in terms of absolute power busy and somewhat productive for a long time.

Maybe there's a little PR FOMO? The former Mrs. Bezos is making a name for herself as a very generous philanthropist [0].

[0]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/mackenzie-scott-...

Hopefully, the latter

He mentioned a few focus areas:

- Day 1 Fund

- Bezos Earth Fund

- Blue Origin

- The Washington Post

So a combination of philanthropy, crazy cutting-edge tech, and media. He'll still be pretty busy haha

Maybe really take the reins of BO? The company has been floundering without strong leadership relative to SpaceX.

I hope philanthropy, I expect space travel.

Become a supervilain/superhero. Not much else to do with that kind of money.

I suspect he will focus on his space venture (blue origin)... but maybe that is wishful thinking.

That said, I think it can use his focus more than anything else (and he is investing 1B/year in it)

It's a good time for another CEO to take center stage at a different company. Any suggestions?

I think the CEO as influencer is on the wane and with antitrust and regulatory reform coming we will be looking more for politicians who can unite and provide social leadership. Trump took a lot of oxygen out of the room and now is a good time for up and comers like Buttieg and AOC.

Turn a lot of cash into rocket fuel.

run for president, seems like a thing for Billionaires these days.

I think the odds are quite high.

He’d be better at it than the last guy, a low bar though.

Mars.

Buy all the bitcoin supply.

They could do one better and cheaper - start their own coin, make Amazon accept that (and no other coins) and it'd probable dwarf bitcoin in market cap.

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