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Jeff Bezos Talks About Music Streaming, and His Political Ambitions (billboard.com)

Posted by msmash on from the mr-bezos dept.

In a wide-ranging interview with Billboard, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, Blue Origin, and owner of The Washington Post, talked about music streaming business. He also talked about whether he desires to become the president of the United States. Excerpts from the interview: On music streaming business, being one of the late ones to join the party:Well, here's what I would say: We've been in the music category since 1998. It was the second category we launched after books. Our customers listen to a lot of music and we have a couple of freight trains kind of pulling the business along. One is Prime, and the other is Echo and Alexa.

On the prospect of seeing President Bezos and other political interests: Oh, no. I don't think so. No. I love my life. I love being an inventor. I love Blue Origin, my space company. I love The Washington Post. They are very good, but the Internet transition was difficult for them -- so I've been able to help them on that. But basically... I have a very full life. And I really like it.

70 comments

  1. What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF is up with this article's title? If anything it should be "Jeff Bezos Talks About Music Streaming, and His Lack of Political Ambitions."

    Friggin clickbait.

    1. Re: What Political Ambitions? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      WashPo peomulgated the whole #fakenews Russian Hacking scandal.

      Watch the magician's hands, not his mouth.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re: What Political Ambitions? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      Political parties love candidates who can "self fund" especially in hopeless races. The political questions are probably coming from D-leaning pols who'd like to see some rich CEO run for office. (See Rahm's speech on recruiting candidates this week for an example.)

    3. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 1

      So on one hand, we have prominent computer security firms like Crowdstrike and FireEye presenting evidence that a Russia-based APT group, whose targeting pattern matches Russian government/military interests, hacked a number of US politicians and political organizations. Information from those hacks then gets released to the press via Wikileaks and others, and the US Intelligence community attests that they believe it was done to try and sway the election.

      The Washington Post reports on this. But on the other hand, Trump waves his hand dismissively and says maybe it was a 400lb hacker, so it must be "fake news", because he says so.

      Right.

    4. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the data is accurate, why does it matter the source? If Clinton lost the election to a foul mouthed asshole who's foot spent more time in his mouth than outside of it over the accurate contents of those emails, shouldn't we be happy about that? Doesn't that indicate she was a horribly weak candidate?

      There was a time in this country when reporters would have exposed that information, but I guess we've had to outsource that too.

    5. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like racism (gerrymandering for 8 years of Obama) & sexism (antiHillary) is still wide awake in america.

      Otherwise, how do you justify a trump win?

    6. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Raenex · · Score: 2

      Easy, racism by white bashing and sexism by male bashing. Play that game for long enough and people see through your bullshit and get sick of it, and they're willing to elect a guy like Trump who just doesn't give a fuck about political correctness.

    7. Re: What Political Ambitions? by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      Nobody has to "justify" a Trump win, that's the problem with all the liberals going ape-shit over his victory. You can explain it by virtue of the fact that in key districts people disliked Trump less than they disliked Clinton. It didn't require sexism, and democrats gerrymander just as badly as republicans. Very few people are happy Trump is president. Very few people would have been happy if Clinton was president. The balance had to tip in somebody's favor.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    8. Re: What Political Ambitions? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      If the data is accurate, why does it matter the source?

      You might want to ask Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan that question.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    9. Re: What Political Ambitions? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      in key districts

      "Key districts" is part of the problem. Why should votes in South Dakota be worth more than those in San Francisco? Why should votes of black people in North Carolina be worth less than those of white people in Kentucky? Why should the votes of the most productive parts of the country be worth less than those of the least productive parts?

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/a...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    10. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Obfuscant · · Score: 2

      Why should votes in South Dakota be worth more than those in San Francisco?

      They aren't. Electors are based on the number of Senators and Representatives. Representatives are allocated based on population.

      Since we are a union of STATES, the system of electing the federal executive recognizes that there are both STATE and POPULATION based concerns, and the electoral college reflects that.

      Why should votes of black people in North Carolina be worth less than those of white people in Kentucky?

      Since you want to make this a racial issue, you may continue on your own.

    11. Re: What Political Ambitions? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      They aren't. Electors are based on the number of Senators and Representatives. Representatives are allocated based on population.

      So much for "consent of the governed".

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    12. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You realize that Gerrymandering has been happening for over two centuries in the US (the term was coined in 1812) and has nothing to do with the color of Obama's skin, right?

      And opposing Hillary Clinton is anything but sexist. The worst bashing I ever heard of her has been from pretty hardcore feminists. She's pretty objectively a horrible person and a loser candidate. Her gender doesn't have anything to do with it.

    13. Re: What Political Ambitions? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      who'd like to see some rich CEO run for office. (See Rahm's speech on recruiting candidates this week for an example

      Yeah. Rahm said exactly that.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    14. Re: What Political Ambitions? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Since you want to make this a racial issue, you may continue on your own.

      The blatantly racial gerrymandering in NC isn't racist because SHUT UP I'M NOT LISTENING!

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    15. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you guys didn't push so hard to make the federal government in charge of everything, you'd have most of the government at the state level and this wouldn't be an issue. You could show a bit of good faith by not reelecting a few of your hyper-authoritarian congressmen the next time around. Until then, I'm glad you don't have more say in how my life is run.

    16. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Obfuscant · · Score: 0
      Nothing in the electoral college process has to do with white people in one state versus black people in another. The number of electors is not decided by the race of anyone involved; the winner of a state has nothing to do with who won each district in the state.

      Whether or not there is "blatantly racial gerrymandering" is irrelevant to this discussion.

    17. Re: What Political Ambitions? by The+New+Guy+2.0 · · Score: 1

      Campaign FInance Reform limits how much a federal politician can spend on their own campaign... it's the reason why Trump had to fundraise to afford TV time despite his wealth.

    18. Re: What Political Ambitions? by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

      More accurate to say, they learned, painfully, that political correctness is a privilege for everyone else but them.

      "Identity politics" is a clever euphemism for bigotry, and eventually people figure it out.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    19. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Add to that a very vocal group of people who are determined to "punch up" at every opportunity, it's no wonder the people being punched want nothing to do with the aggressors.

    20. Re: What Political Ambitions? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      It dos affect the number of congrsscritters which is important. So yeah it;s not irrelevant. It's amazing the sheer desparation with which you will deny racism. I don't even understand why: I assume you're not important enough to affect such things so it's not like you're to blame.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    21. Re: What Political Ambitions? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      If you guys didn't push so hard to make the federal government in charge of everything...

      When are"you guys" going to stop lying about that and acknowledge that the Republicans care just as much about "States Rights" as Democrats do. I've yet to see Republicans move significant power to the States when in power.

      Here's a pertinent example: recreational drugs has little reason to be Federally controlled outside of safety/quality issues (ie stuff that applies to the entire country), so why do Republicans keep insisting on banning marijuana at the Federal level? What possible justification is there for it, especially when the war on drugs is mostly a war on minority cultures, that criminalizes large swathes of the country?

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    22. Re: What Political Ambitions? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      It dos affect the number of congrsscritters which is important.

      No, I'm sorry, you are wrong. Gerrymandering is how the borders of an existing district are set, not how many districts there are. It has relevance when you discuss who gets elected in that district, but it changes nothing regarding the number of electors a state has. One per Senator and Representative. And it changes nothing in the results for a Presidential election -- the votes from all districts are summed up for the state total. You could put 100% of a state's minority population into one district and their votes would still be one each in the state total.

      It's amazing the sheer desparation with which you will deny racism.

      Where have I denied the existence of racism? I have told you that with regard to the electoral college and allocation of electors, gerrymandering within a state has no relevance.

      I don't even understand why:

      I think the key words there are "[you] don't understand", because you are arguing with me over something I didn't say. And now I will say that you can continue on your own in this mission, which I assume you will misinterpret as me telling you to shut up and that I will not listen.

  2. Headlines by ari.stipped · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bill Gates Talks About His Linux Distribution Ambitions

    "Oh, no. I don't think so. No. I love my life."

    Great stuff /., great stuff.

    1. Re:Headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next up... Richard Stallman talks about his Hollywood acting career ambitions. "Huh? I don't think so", he said.

    2. Re:Headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely Gates would have at least some interest in releasing a decent operating system, just once before he dies.

    3. Re:Headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh? All RMS does these days is public speaking, and he's the anti-role-model. People take one look at him and do the exact opposite of what he says. Free software should be free, he says. So everyone sells proprietary apps for billions instead. Stallman's complete lack of acting ability subverts his own message so well, he should go back to writing software.

  3. Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Jeff Bezos: One way to his abilities is to look at any Amazon web page. Amazon tries to distract you while you are trying to decide if you want to buy a product. There are other products listed in the middle of the page.

    1. Re:Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by avandesande · · Score: 1

      same reason they put the milk in the back of the supermarket

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Jeff Bezos: One way to his abilities is to look at any Amazon web page.

      Yes, Jeff cannot afford to be President because he's too busy writing all those Amazon pages on the fly as people look at different products. I don't think Amazon web pages reflect too much on his abilities.

      But notice that the "people who bought this also bought" and "other things you might like" are well below the part of the page where you buy with one click.

      But this raises the question: are you insulting him for distracting you while you shop, or praising him for good marketing in that he distracts you with other things you can buy?

    3. Re:Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh please. Milk needs refrigeration. Where else are you going to put the cooler?

    4. Re:Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by tsqr · · Score: 1

      Yet somehow they manage to put the frozen food section far from the back of the store. It's almost as if you can run electricity pretty much anywhere you want to put it.

    5. Re:Jeff Bezos: One way to rate his abilties by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The frozen food section also isn't restocked nearly as much.

  4. Coming up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...Amazon dash button for executive orders.

  5. That's why we get Trump by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Any competent person with things going on in their life has no particular interest in becoming president. You have to be an ego-maniac or incompetent to want the job.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:That's why we get Trump by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      Some people actually feel responsibility towards the country that made them successful, and feel it's a civic duty. Of course, nobody like that has actually won a public office for nearly 200 years. Well... not a federal office, anyway. I'm sure there's a mayor or city councilperson somewhere that actually feels it's their duty to serve the people.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    2. Re:That's why we get Trump by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Some people actually feel responsibility towards the country that made them successful, and feel it's a civic duty.

      Interestingly, I think President Johnson actually felt that way. But weirdly it didn't stop him from being an egomaniacle, incompetent sot.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:That's why we get Trump by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, I think President Johnson actually felt that way. But weirdly it didn't stop him from being an egomaniacle, incompetent sot.

      Are you talking about Lyndon Baines Johnson or Andrew Johnson, neither of whom ascended to the office by being elected to it? I would guess that neither, when it came time to leave the office the first time, thought about running because of "civic duty", but both thought "this is cool being President, I am incumbent and can probably waltz through the campaign..."

    4. Re:That's why we get Trump by WheezyJoe · · Score: 1

      and apparently the new rule is you have to have celebrity status to bubble up above the rabble that currently populate U.S. politics.

      People have short memories, but I remember the dozen idiots that Trump competed against in the primaries. To beat those guys, all he had to do is show up and be himself. If only another rich guy with an ego the size of his offshore bank accounts had entered the race, there might have been a competition. I also remember lots of people with Hollywood names, from Arnold to Clint Eastwood to Sonny Bono, who sailed over the competition each time they ran for office. If Oprah had run instead of Hillary, Trump would be in the wastebin of history, and people actually asked her to but she just smiled and said no.

      I know how to beat Trump in 2020: Beyonce. She might not be able to answer a single question about policy, but the way we vote today, Queen B would turn Trump into a memory faster than she can sell-out a concert. Jay-Z as first man... put that in your pipe and smoke it.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    5. Re:That's why we get Trump by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I was talking about L, but AJ is kind of an interesting case study, too. I don't really understand what was going on in his head.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:That's why we get Trump by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I know how to beat Trump in 2020: Beyonce. She might not be able to answer a single question about policy

      She doesn't need to......just hire some people to ghost-write policy papers for her, like Trump and Clinton both did.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  6. Channeling Lex Luthor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Translation: President? Do you have any idea how much power I'd have to give up to be president?

    1. Re: Channeling Lex Luthor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently none at all.

  7. Arrogant much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good grief. He can run with Kanye. Is it even humanly possible for many tech CEOs to be more full of themselves? Outside of the Silicon Valley bubble, who does this douchebag believe would even consider voting for him or any of the others of his ilk? Put down the crack pipe, Jeff.

  8. Washington Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fake News.

  9. Egomaniac by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have to be an ego-maniac or incompetent to want the job.

    Hillary wanted the job - was she an egomaniac?

    1. Re:Egomaniac by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Yes. Next?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    2. Re:Egomaniac by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arguably, she was both.

    3. Re:Egomaniac by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I put Hillary in the incompetent category. She had a thing for invading countries, but not doing it very well. She wasn't as bad as W, but not many are.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  10. Hey Jeff, The entire world thinks ur a n-iggerhead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A lot of people told me youre a ni-iggerhead. jeff. Why does everyone seem to think this?

  11. Musk 2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can we convince Elon Musk to run in 2020?

    He can run against Trump as being a real job creator and builder.

    1. Re:Musk 2020 by Raenex · · Score: 1

      a real job creator and builder

      Yes, Musk could blow tons of government money simultaneously on a hyperloop and a manned mission to mars.

    2. Re:Musk 2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, just ignore the fact that he is building the second largest factory in the entire country.

    3. Re:Musk 2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a real job creator and builder

      Yes, Musk could blow tons of government money simultaneously on a hyperloop and a manned mission to mars.

      Look, if you can think of a better solution to unemployment that paying people to ship otehr people to Mars we're all listening.

    4. Re:Musk 2020 by Raenex · · Score: 1

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    5. Re:Musk 2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bite me.

    6. Re:Musk 2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He can't, he was born in South Africa.

  12. To me, it's annoying. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 0

    I find the structure of Amazon web pages very annoying.

    1. Re:To me, it's annoying. by Obfuscant · · Score: 0
      I find lots of marketing things annoying, because I understand that they're trying to get me to buy more stuff. But I'm a big boy now and I can decide not to buy something even if "other people who bought X also bought Y." But I also understand that they do those things because they work -- people buy stuff because they see suggestions of similar or related products.

      I also understand that marketers don't care what I find annoying because of that latter bit. One of the most annoying TV ads evah was the kid making slurping noises sucking the last drop of Pepsi out of the bottle and he wound up inside. A close second is the Kit Kat jingle done in crunching noises. A current third place goes to a local dental outfit that thinks that crunching noises -- and nothing but crunching noises -- are good advertising.

      So, are you pointing out Jeff's web pages because you think he's good at marketing, or bad for using marketing, and therefore his abilities are good or bad?

  13. Another CEO-President transition? Doubtful by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

    We're on our second one this century, and this one has somehow managed to be even worse than the first in terms of outcomes for our country. There won't be enough crazy people left to vote in another CEO any time soon after we get rid of this one. He can have a reality show if he wants, and maybe even win a Golden Raspberry as well, but he won't be winning the presidency.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  14. You keep using that word... "love" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do not think it means what you think it means.

    I love my life. I love being an inventor. I love Blue Origin, my space company. I love The Washington Post.

    For example, let's reword this slightly:

    For me, my guiding purpose - meaning itself - is derived from all these cool things I thought of, and I care about my ideas more than anything else in the world!

    Maybe that's not the best translation, but as they say - garbage in, garbage out.

  15. Looking at this last election...I don't blame him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This was probably without a doubt the biggest circus side show I have ever seen, and this wasn't normal hookers and coke style dirt mongering....this went full dark side with rape accusations, under age sex ring accusations, idiots with home servers, pussy grabbers, witchcraft, personal family issues dragged through the mud....the whole freaking 9 yards...

    What happened to have some class and not turning everything into a mud pit? ....wtf is the next election going to be like? If I were a billionaire with even the slightest interest in running for POTUS, looking at this last election, it would certainly make me think twice if I valued my family and sanity...

  16. Re:Looking at this last election...I don't blame h by tsqr · · Score: 1

    What happened to have some class and not turning everything into a mud pit? ....wtf is the next election going to be like? If I were a billionaire with even the slightest interest in running for POTUS, looking at this last election, it would certainly make me think twice if I valued my family and sanity...

    Hmm. Maybe you've tripped over the real reason Joe Biden decided not to run.

  17. Bezos destroyed the Washington Post. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Washington Post was once a truly great paper.

    Since Bezos has owned it, it is nothing more than a reliable source for slanted faux-news
    which is useful only as humor or as an example of disinformation.

    I hope Bezos is stricken with some incurable terminal disease soon. The world would benefit
    as a direct result.

  18. He also loves the CIA by zedaroca · · Score: 1

    And their 600 million contract. That's his political career. WaPo is the fake news part of it.

  19. A proper CEO - looking ahead over the hill by Camembert · · Score: 1

    An interesting interview and it made me reflect back on Bezos's success.
    I think that he has -much like Steve Jobs back then- a good feel of what will be important and successful in a few years, and acts upon it.
    The runaway success of Alexa and Echo is discussed in the interview, and it seems they worked on it since a few years already; and also think of for example Amazon Cloud. I once read that the initial germ of this other success was his insistence to build all of Amazon's functionality using web services, long before that became common. Or the lead with the Kindle format.
    Then there are interesting recent experiments with drone delivery and supermarket experience.
    From a business POV, he does a lot of things right in a proactive way.

  20. Inventor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What has Bezos invented?