Comments on: Amazon: Money trail helps reveal its digital strategy

By: Ted Treanor

Ted Treanor — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:54:53 +0000

Bill, even though the chart looks impressive, the font and image quality was so hard on my eyes that I didn’t even try to read it in detail. It was easier (on my eyes) to Google Amazon’s acquisitions and investments and even found memory to come to the aid of the article, since you are right that there is a missing piece or two.

By: Bill Davidson

Bill Davidson — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:19:04 +0000

I didn’t notice abebooks.com on that incredible chart. (Perhaps my eye-brain team failed me, again.) It has also been gobbled up by Amazon.

Amazon wants. I can’t think why, but there’s no doubt about it. Amazon wants and then wants more.

cheers,
bill

By: Ted Treanor

Ted Treanor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:27:55 +0000

Steve, fair question and points well taken. There are 16 plus book-related investments, so far. Their rational is bound to be complex and varied. We’ve all noticed that they are fairly private about their strategy. They certainly have the resources to acquire and stifle a competitor. In observation, an acquisition may lose their separate identity and become Borg, or they may continue to operate as a separate company, wholly owned by Amazon.

I see two major historic strategies for acquisitions; technology and customers. Most investments, unless they are at a very early stage in the life of the company, have both technology and customers. Amazon buys technology that enables business transactions and customer relationships. They also buy customer platforms that accelerate their market penetration. Good examples of platforms are Audible and Mobipocket. Both companies also have customer enabling technologies that facilitate ecommerce transactions, not to mention major strategic contracts with key channel partners.

Amazon is a large player that thinks big and moves toward scalable businesses that supports its long-term strategies. They are thinking years into the future, a future that will continue to impact the industry.

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:57:02 +0000

Ted, how do we know this investment strategy actually represents Amazon’s commitment to these areas, as opposed to its desire to submerge and subsume them in favor of its existing (or planned future) markets? I wouldn’t say that all of these acquisitions have exactly been doing gangbusters under Amazon’s wing.