Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone
Amazon started out as a bookseller that gradually expanded to other areas as it rode the dot com wave. After the bust Amazon's public visibility waned. Revenues went up, but profits were small if they existed at all. In the last decade it has had a coming out party. Amazon created AWS and launched cloud computing. Prime Video took a page from Netflix and jumped into Hollywood and produced its own shows. The online marketplace took off, while Amazon also launched "store brands". Amazon took on much of its own logistics and provided one day and same day delivery. It manufactured devices such as Echos and Kindles. Amazon also went into the physical stores business with the purchase of Whole Foods and the launch of various other stores like Amazon Fresh.
As Amazon rose up, Jeff Bezos increased his profile. He smoozed with Hollywood. He had a messy divorce and became tabloid fodder. He was also asked to appear before congress. And now Amazon was under heavy scrutiny. It was hurting small sellers, possibly illegally. It was allowing counterfeits. Warehouse workers were not being treated well. Even the corporate culture was called into question. The reliance on "data" did not eliminate subjectivity. The company was having a negative impact on Seattle. In the process of all this, government relations became more important. Amazon had to pick its battles. It opted to support collection of sales tax. (This made it easier to support last-mile delivery - and helped even the playing field with others.) It fought unionization and head taxes in Seattle. Bezos turned the company over to a new CEO, but still has a presence. Amazon feels like a "big company" rather than an innovator.
One Click is a "pop biography" of Bezos. It provides a concise biography of Bezos and a history of his company. While it does provide some childhood background on Bezos, it seems to be rather shallow in his portrayal as a person. We get a lot of "facts" of a guy who was a bright programmer who decided to start his own company. He made lists, analyzed and calculated what would be the best field to go in, and where would be the best place to locate the company. This makes Amazon the alternative to many other Silicon Valley start ups that seem to start with the engineering first. Amazon seems to be a business foremost, with some good technology behind it. The "appearance" is important. (It wants an ethos of "cheap" even if it is spending more money to do so.)