Comments on: Jeff Bezos: Not Even a Dime

By: tao

tao — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 23:16:14 +0000

philanthropy only happens to the extent that it will increase profits, if you are a publicly-owned corporation, so yeah, it is because there wasn’t enough public pressure

if you are a publicly-owned corporation you exist to increase profits so that investors will gain a return on their investment. if philanthropy will increase profits (by way of better public-image, etc.) then it will happen, if it will not increase profits, it will not happen.

just support independently owned companies.

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:01:29 +0000

Charity begins at home, I guess. And I presume his home is quite exceptional.

By: marydell

marydell — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:21:32 +0000

CBO, no, though I do see some merit in laissez-faire capitalism, which does not necessarily preclude philanthropy.

James, I understand. I personally wouldn’t want to be shamed into acts of charity, so I’m not one to point fingers at others (whether person or corporation). Besides, Amazon will likely get around to sharing its wealth after the tax consequences of operating in the black start sinking in.

By: James

James — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:34:45 +0000

Marydell, we’re not talking about what Bezos does personally, but about a corporation. If it’s going to be granted status as a person under the law, I think expecting it to behave humanely is perfectly reasonable.

By: Sampsell

Sampsell — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:23:55 +0000

I think Simonson has a point. Plus, he uses the word “niggardly” which I’ve only seen elsewhere in a Gary Lutz story. It’s a word that, on sight, could be misunderstood, but merely means stingy or cheap.

By: CBO

CBO — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:00:23 +0000

Marydell: Your favorite author doesn’t happen to be Ayn Rand, by any chance, does it?

By: marydell

marydell — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:35:31 +0000

Seriously, is it anyone’s business what Bezos does with his money?

By: James

James — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:09:37 +0000

Interesting. When I worked at Amazon (’97 to ‘03) some of us suggested corporate giving programs that would tie into the original business of books, such as grants to aspiring writers or at least a literary prize of some kind. The excuse was always that, although money was coming in hand over fist, the company had yet to turn a profit. That was true then–only in my last couple of years there did they see the ink begin to turn from black to red. I’m not sure how consistently profitable they’ve been since I left, but they had an awfully big hole to dig out of.