Jeff Bezos may be stepping back from day-to-day operations at Amazon, but he plans to keep busy--perhaps busier than ever. Some 25 years after founding Amazon, he told Shelf Awareness in an exclusive interview, he misses the excitement of being an entrepreneur just starting out. "Over the years, the job changed so much for me," he said. "We became so big and so dominant that it ceased to be challenging. I mean we could kill industries at will." He paused. "I never wanted to be emperor of the world." He then guffawed, adding, "Well maybe not."
In any case, he said one of his big projects now is to re-create the excitement of the early days by founding a new company independent of Amazon. He's not sure what the focus of the venture will be, but he does have strong ideas about how to start out.
"I'm definitely going for the Big Tech-Amazon origin story," he explained. But already he's encountered some bumps in the road. For one, he said that he wants to write the business plan on his laptop while being driven from Texas to Seattle. This time, however, his ex-wife will not be driving, and he's not sure that he will be inspired in the same way by the team of drivers and the accompanying convoy of security and communications vehicles.
In the same way, he's not sure how to configure the initial mandatory garage office. The problem: his 45-bay Seattle garage is full of his collection of cars. "I don't know which to move and where to move them," he lamented. "Do I get rid of the $3 million Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio or the $3.4 million Bugatti Veyron Mansory or the $4 million W Motors Lykan Hypersport or the $4.8 million Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita or the $5 million Lamborghini Veneno??? You get the picture! It's so frustrating!"
Bezos did say he is looking forward to making the obligatory investment pitch to venture capital firms. "At least now my name's known," he said with a chortle. "And my collateral of $180 billion shouldn't hurt either!"
Despite his entrepreneurial plans, Bezos continues to be deeply involved in some aspects of Amazon: he's leading the charge for what he calls "Right to Work Prime," a campaign that includes an effort to strip the word union from daily life. "It's insidious, and it's everywhere" he said, citing the European Union, the Union side in the Civil War, the Soviet Union, the State of the Union Address, the Union Theological Seminary. "Even Union Stations in D.C. and L.A.!" he added with some annoyance.
In a similar vein, Bezos is heading development of a new personnel program in case workers in Bessemer, Ala., vote to be represented by a union. The program will organize a kind of elite team at the Bessemer warehouse whose main function will be to uphold Amazon morale and principles. With the name Staff Controlled by Amazon Bull S**t, or SCABS, the program will be expanded as needed.