Amazon is a global e-commerce giant that capitalized on selling physical books online and then diversified into eBooks. The company is notoriously silent when it comes to the inner workings of life in Seattle and once in awhile we get an introspective, such as the Anything Store by Brad Thor. CNBC has produced a new one hour documentary telling the story of a shrewd visionary named Jeff Bezos who bet his fortunes on the exploding internet and created one of the most admired — and feared — companies in the world.
On Sunday, June 29th at 9PM ET/PT, CNBC presents “Amazon Rising,” a one-hour documentary reported by award-winning correspondent David Faber, which tells the story of a shrewd visionary named Jeff Bezos who bet his fortunes on the exploding internet and created one of the most admired — and feared — companies in the world. With more than 240 million customers, Faber reports on this powerhouse that has upended publishing, retail, and cloud computing, is poised to disrupt the supermarket industry, and faces increasing scrutiny as it extends its reach ever further into the fabric of American life.
Amazon sells everything from accordions to zippers and has changed the way we shop, bringing goods to our doorstep faster than we ever imagined. CNBC speaks with former Amazon executives and employees who shed light on a range of fascinating aspects of the company including Bezos’s extraordinary vision and often confrontational leadership style; Amazon.com’s infrastructure, designed to create “frictionless” shopping and maximize purchases; the relationship with third party merchants, some of whom complain that Amazon unfairly undermines their sales; the toll taken on fulfillment center workers to keep up with shipping demands; and Amazon’s overwhelming and controversial incursion into the book industry. The documentary also examines the unusual faith that Wall Street has placed in Bezos, who guides an enterprise that has taken in hundreds of billions of dollars over the past two decades but has barely turned a profit.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.