Jon Fortt conducted a rare interview of Jeff Bezos, one that was videotaped and featured by LinkedIn. Here is Fortt’s introduction. To watch the video of the interview, please click here.
Photo: Steve Jurvetson/Flickr
* * *
At the beginning of the week I flew up to Seattle for a rare on-camera interview with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for CNBC. (You can view the full interview here.) The occasion: He’s unveiling Amazon’s newest line of Kindle Fire tablets, including the new Fire HD at $139, and the Fire HDX at $229 and $379.
As usual with this kind of sit-down with a singular character like Bezos, some of the most fun moments came outside of the obvious news. As we sat down and got wired up for the interview, for example, the sound technician was trying to get people in the hallway to quiet down. Bezos joked that he’s the last person who can complain, since he’s so… expressive himself.
It got to the point, he said, where growing up his brother and sister refused to go to the movies with him. “They said I laughed too loud,” he told me. “I can’t help it.”
The guy’s got plenty to be happy about. Amazon stock has been on a tear this year, up about 22%, which makes Bezos’s 19% stake in the company worth about $5 billion more than it was in December. (Probably better than your portfolio.)
Another thing Bezos can’t help, apparently, is his love for the printed word.
Amazon got started as a book retailer, then practically created the e-book market. Last month Bezos bought the Washington Post (a newspaper company!) for a quarter billion dollars, or two weeks worth of Amazon stock gains, depending how you count it.
But my favorite detail from the Bezos interview? This summer he spent time at Lab126, a Silicon Valley outpost about a mile from Apple headquarters where Amazon engineers hash out hardware designs. And he also hosted three all-day book clubs with Amazon’s top executives, capped by nice dinners at the end. Bezos said he used the books as frameworks for sketching out the future of the company.
Which books? Bezos was kind enough to share the titles.
o The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
o The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
o The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
They are, of course, available on Amazon.
* * *
Jon Fortt joined CNBC as technology correspondent in July 2010, working from CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau. He covers the companies, start-ups and trends that are driving innovation in the industry. Fortt also contributes to the blog “Tech Check” on CNBC.com.
Jon came to CNBC from Fortune magazine where, as a senior writer, he covered both large technology companies— such as Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft—and trends, including cloud computing and the smartphone revolution. He appeared regularly on KNTV’s “Press:Here” technology show and analyzed tech trends on CNNi’s “Quest Means Business.” Along with a Fortune colleague, he conceptualized “Techmate,” a video series and column that appeared on Fortune.com and in the magazine’s technology section. He graduated from DePauw University as a Media Fellow, with a B.A. in English.
To read all of his articles, please click here.