getting exposure to somebody like jeff bezos at that moment in time and seeing what he has accomplishedoday is amazingly rewarding. i have been able to keep up with him. he is a large investor in our fund and one of the smartest, quickest thinkers i've been exposed to. >> what has surprised you most about amazon and jeff bezos, now almost 20 years later? >> he has convinced wall street that he is playing this super long-term game, and they let him forgo profits for what is now 20 years. it kind of goes back to what we were talking about with the overfunded startups. he gets to play a different game because he has convinced them it is ok. >> is it ok? >> every investor gets to decide that on a daily basis. i think there were multiple periods in amazon's life where people doubted whether the model had long-term legs and they forced him to show more profitability, which he did, and then backed off of. >> does it matter if amazon never turns a significant profit? >> it only matters if wall street comes to doubt they can. >> will amazon have the confidence of wall street indefinitely? >> boy

jeff bezos. multibillionaire. larry page. multibillionaire. elon musk. >> elon musks, the jeff bezos, the paul allens, myself diamandis, all of us who are in this cause right now, i believe, come from a place of hope and possibility. >> rick tumlinson is the ceo of deep space industries, one of two asteroid mining companies in the us. >> several of us were sitting in the room, it was about 1986 1987. we pledged our lives and fortunes to making the human breakout into space happen in our lifetimes. we called it the benevolent conspiracy. well, that same group of people are still involved today and we're making it happen. >> what will tomorrow look like? our world is at our limits at yet we all want more. and why not? why shouldn't the future be better than today? >> but he prime directive of all these companies that you name seems to be profits. but the way you speak about it is like this... >> no buck, no buck rogers. nobody stays until somebody pays. it can be you the taxpayer, and that's wonderful, thank you very much. but the day that you g

>> the comparison i would make first with jeff bezos is you have the revenues from amazon. you can't say the same as much for google. really the core of the business is search. and that's one of the reasons we've remained on the sidelines because is there going to be a fundamental way different change in the way that people search? because as you shift to mobile and use mobile apps increasingly, we think that it's not going to be as much about the last click anymore but about the branded advertising to the native advertising as you see the content more so than explicitly searching for an item. david: james, we have to run, i have to ask you about net income, revenue versus income is flattening out to an alarming rate to many investors. does that concern you? >> i mean, google is a research company at the end of the day, and so we expect them to continue to invest, but really it's about the top line. if we can see the reacceleration in the growth, it will translate to the bottom, but we're not seeing that right now. david: james, thank you very much. liz: taking a $10 hit. w

bezos anddolize jeff idolizees -- did you jeff bezos and bill gates? >> yes. i used to test products for microsoft. >> so you met your cofounders in middle school, tell me about that. our chief financial officer and be played trumpet together in middle school, neither of us were good. i did a lot on the internet with jeff. >> tell me how box began. ago,u go back 10 years there was not a lot of -- time,in college at the and the idea was that if you have these hard drives in the cloud where you put these files in the hard drives and you can access it from any device you want to work from. >> telling about the early days tell me about the early days. >> mark cuban was an early investor, and he sent a 350,000 dollars check to people he didn't met -- people he had met. this gave us the idea to pursue this full-time. freak out our parents by dropping out of college, then we convinced our other friends to drop out of college. we all settled together in berkeley and moved to a renovated garage. i am not sure that it was legal day workingent all on the software model,

jeff bezos made no promises he would do it again next quarter.the online retailer shares shall -- soaring. >> i have to credit my dad. he is the perfect example. >> for the profit? >> he signs up for amazon prime, forgets that he has to pay for it, but he has to pay for it because he really likes "transparent." >> i do not think they are making that much money on prime. >> the truth is they are not making money at all. $30 billion in revenue and you make $200 million? that is a profit? >> technically, it is a profit. >> for the full year, they still made a loss. if you bring home $30,000 in salary, and at the end of the year you have $200 in your wallet, do you feel you have saved a lot of money? that is the same proportion. >> except when you are amazon. >> they are not making money. >> no, they are not. that is true. google missed estimates largely due to stiffer mobile competition. companies like facebook are eating into google's advertising business, driving down the average price of ads by 3%. >> did you read the bloomberg view article today

a really interesting year for jeff bezos. they are trying a few moonshot things.ng sales. how long do you get a pass? >> the cfa institute should use emma stone as a case study. -- amazon as a case study. >> jeff bezos and i share a taylilor. shake shack starts trading today. betty has an interview coming up in one hour. do i buy a shake shack burger or the stock? >> or get it delivered by drone? it is interesting that shake shack is doing an ipo the week we saw the immense change at mcdonald's. a tale of two burgers. dolls has 36,000 outlets. shake shack has 63 around the world. -- mcdonald's has 36,000 outlets. they went abroad their price range -- above their price range. they will expand to 400 stores across the world. they are pretty popular in the middle east. the big question for shake shack , can they continue to put out these gourmet burgers at the same price with the same taste? can they do that to the skill that mcdonald's -- in the way mcdonald's has? >> is there a ceiling on how many outlets he can build? will they hit 1000 or 6000? what is the upper

i would love to have a conversation with jeff bezos about the self-destructive nature of this particular strategy. >> amazon is arguing that books must be cheaper in this environment where there are so many media distractions. do you have any sympathy for their argument? >> complete sympathy for it. i just don't understand why, in order to get to that preferred outcome, they have chosen to screw over the people who bring revenue to their business and customers to their site. >> do you need a traditional publisher for your next book? is there another way? >> is this an industry that is going to be disrupted, and the answer is absolutely. will i have the same arrangement for my next book that i had for this one? unlikely. but the arrangement i had for david and goliath is better than the arrangement i had for books that came before it. i can imagine a world without traditional publishers, but i can't imagine a world without traditional bookstores. i would like to see a revision of the publishing environment in a way that ensures the continued success of the physical bookstore. >> some writ

. >> did you idolize jeff bezos and bill gates? >> i knew the bill gates story by heart.t's cool about microsoft, you could go and they would let you be a product tester. a lot of people in high school would go to microsoft, and they would give you a free mouse. >> you met your cofounders in middle school. >> dylan smith, the first cofounder of box, has been our chief financial officer. we played trumpet together in middle school. neither of us were any good at that. in middle school and high school, i did things on the internet was josh, and later in high school is some kids. >> tell me have box began. >> 10 years ago, not a lot of innovation was happening. it was hard to do basic things. share files, access data from anywhere, collaborate and work with other people. i was in college at the time, and the idea was, what if you could have hard drives in the cloud where you put all your files, then access it from the internet and any device you want to work from? >> tell me about the early days, fondest memories. >> mark cuban was an angel investor in box. that was done by

amazon trying to break a losing streak, we're going to find out if jeff bezos finally decided to the can never have too much "money. t". ♪ ♪ ♪ approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free [decision guide]. it's full of information on medicare and the range of aarp medicare supplement plans to choose from based on your needs and budget. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients and there are no network res

. >> did you idolize jeff bezos and the bill gates?> everybody knew the bill gates story by heart. what's cool about microsoft is that you can actually go and be a product tester. a lot of people from high school would actually go to microsoft and test new products and they would give you a free mouse. >> you met your cofounders in middle school. tell me about that. >> the first cofounder of box, our chief financial officer, we actually played trumpet together in middle school. neither of us were good at that. throughout middle school and high school, i did a lot of stuff on the internet with jeff and later in high school. >> tell me how box began. >> if you go back about 10 years ago, not a lot of innovation happening. it was really hard to do basic things like, how do you share your files and access data from anywhere, and how do you collaborate and work with other people.ago, not a lot of innovan happening. i was in college at the time. what if you could have these sort of hard drives in the cloud that would let you put all your fil

investors are keeping a close eye on top line growth, and jeff bezos who's been receiving increasing criticism is putting off the when are you going to make real profits question. for google's larry page, the future is noun, and it -- now, and it has a lot to do with capital spending. like amazon, google takes a little bit of flak for spending billions on these projects that look well into the future but have yet to turn a profit. jack ma learning an important lesson today. miss earnings estimates, and you could lose your shirt. at least a sleeve or two. he's also taking fire from the chinese government for allegedly failing to crack down on counterfeit products and for maybe burying the news that there were inquiries into thing like pirated items on the alibaba site. plus, mcdonald's ceo thompson out after being forced into early retirement. he'll be placed by longtime executive steve easterbrook who's also had a couple of other businesses. mcdonald's under pressure for sagging sales and failing to connect with millennials who tend to favor fresher, more healthy alternatives. a lot

jeff bezos is still spending big when it comes to amazon.his company isn't anymore and online retailer. it wants to be ubiquitous. it is an immediate company, a consumer hardware company. its competition is no longer just ebay and other retailers. it is netflix time warner, microsoft, google. they are trying to be all things to all men. they want us to watch the television and by all the products we might need -- buy all the products we might need in our home. we can also buy everything from that as well. they are investing in speedier package delivery drones, original programming. woody allen is on board. another thing paying off, prime. it is a premium product. you're able to access video content. they are taking some of the new business ventures very seriously. a huge area for amazon has been amazon web services. it is dawning as a reality on the rest of the world. they now provide consumer hardware and software products luring them into cheap deals to provide them with online needs. they are separating it out. they are going to give us e

you can see jeff bezos encouraging the same thing across the company, whether it is the way they sellloud service, which is a back of the envelope idea which is doing about $5 billion in annual revenue. you can also see it outside the box. this morning, they announced they are building a wind farm in indiana. so they can power a datacenter. amazon is trying lots of different things. they are getting into the power generation business. they have a greener datacenter. they are willing to try things that do not look like walmart or barnes & noble. they are thinking like a business that can be reinvented based on the connection the company has with its customer. >> i do not know what you are talking about. i think wind farms in indiana is an amazon -- is a fit for amazon. the story has always been that jeff bezos is making so much money that they are giving him a pass, letting him spend whatever they want. shareholders are putting his feet to the fire now right? >> to some degree. the stock is still insanely valued. it has a tremendous value, but the company runs along the edge. they spen

. >> did you idolize jeff bezos and bill gates? >> yeah, everybody knew the bill gates story kind of by heart. what's cool about microsoft is that you can actually go and they let you be a product tester. so a lot of people in high school would actually go to microsoft and test out new products and then they would give you like a free mouse at the end of it. >> ok, you met your co-founders in middle school. tell me about that. >> so, dylan smith, kind of the first co-founder of box who's now our chief financial officer, we actually played trumpet together in middle school. neither of us were any good at that. and then throughout middle school and high school though, i did a lot of stuff on the we actually played trumpet internet with jeff and later in high school with sam ghods. >> tell me how box began. >> if you go back about ten years ago, not a lot of innovation was happening. so it was really, really hard to do basic things like, how do you share your files, how do you access your data from anywhere, how do you collaborate and

the alternate model is the amazon model, the jeff bezos model.f you want a desk, it is a recycled door on two sawhorses. go crazy. we are much more on the side of, let's get out the sawhorse desks. let's tamp down on the spending. >> you had a spirited back-and-forth with the activist investor, carl icahn. last week, you called him evil captain kirk. he said some things. i wonder though, do some of these activist investors actually have the same concerns you do? >> i think they are a result, not a cause. they are a consequence of companies being very cheap on the stock market. they are a consequence of companies needing to restructure. or needing to react to market changes. the activist is a little bit of a sideshow to the core question of, how is the company being run. >> is there a disconnect between wall street and silicon valley? is there a fundamental misunderstanding? >> i think in the long run -- i do not think in the long run there is a misunderstanding. >> i'm curious about your thoughts on payments. it is an area that is wide open. now

. >> it's a great lineup and he has jeff bezos funding and as well. >> you can get the headlines all your phone, on your tablet and on bloomberg.com. thanks for joining us. ♪

they have jeff bezos funding it. >> thanks for joining us. ♪ >> from bloomberg world had courtesan newark crumpton. -- bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm mark crumpton. this is "bottom line." to our viewers in the united states and those of you joining us from around the world welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories making headlines on this wednesday. scarlet fu will join me for a roundtable on china's economy. peter cook is on capitol hill

. >> did you idolize jeff bezos and bill gates? >> i knew the bill gates story by heart.ol about microsoft, you could go and they would let you be a product tester. a lot of people in high school would go to microsoft, and they would give you a free mouse. >> you met your cofounders in middle school. >> dylan smith the first cofounder of box, has been our chief financial officer. we played trumpet together in middle school. neither of us were any good at that. in middle school and high school i did things on the internet was josh, and later in high school is some kids. >> tommy have box began. >> 10 years ago, not a lot of innovation was happening. it was hard to do basic things. share files, access data from anywhere, collaborate and work with other people. i was in college at the time, and the idea was, what if you could have hard drives in the cloud where you put all your files, then access it from the internet and any device you want to work from? >> tommy about the early days fondest memories. >> mark cuban was an angel investor in box. that was done by a cold e-mail

>> it's not a good number, it's $7.4 billion, which is how much jeff bezos lost in holdings after sharesell more than 22% in 2014. it was a company's worst year since 2008 marked by a particularly rough third quarter. shareholder showed a lack of support for his big spending and pouring money into everything from smartphones to television programming to drones. despite the bad year, he is still worth $28.6 billion and he currently ranks 20th on the billionaire index. i cannot say i feel too bad for him. >> he was still able to afford an uber on new year's eve. it is still trading 160 times earnings. >> it was the third quarter that was horrible. the fourth quarter is the best quarter of the year. >> they just love him last. 95% of my holiday shopping was on amazon. so he got some of my money. >> everyone i talked to still uses them. it's the first place they go to buy something. you don't see the lack of support. >> i am glad for both of you. thank you very much. the latest headlines you can get on your phone and tablet. we will see you on monday with more of "bloomberg west." ♪

jeff bezos is a great ceo. >> google is another one that everyone is talking about. it is also a winner brought in $1 billion a week last quarter says it will keep spending big on futuristic products. what is your future with google? >> the country is better for having google. we have the driverless car, google x prius google x is doing incredible things with renewable energy to all kinds of things most companies can't afford to spend but as far as the underlying fundamentals growth had slowed, this is a profitable company but i see head winds ahead as far as growth and numbers are catching up to this company. tom: apple hitting an all-time record high. now that it is up there what do you do with that one? >> i would take profits in this. apple very interesting paradigm shift when you have bill gates come along, software is the most important part, steve jobs coming along say we can make a lot of money in hardware. you are seeing no innovation. tim cook has done a wonderful job, the most powerful company of all time but they are not innovating any more. they are maki

all the big boys, jeff bezos has uber at 200 million-dollar valuation, all the big boys will drop it.> 273 companies went public last year. highest since 2000. so people are saying, you equate the fact that everyone is going public at the top. why not cash in. why would you not want to go public. that's not the reason to believe it's the end. there's still a lot of innovation out there. a lot of companies you mentioned are changing the way we do business. charles: no one, hitha, disputes the business aspect of them. some people legitimately worry about the valuation aspect. every other week uber goes from 6 billion to 10 billion to 25 billion. by the time the people watching the show get a taktaste of the stock, it could have a 50, 60 billion-dollar valuation, woul would it be worth chasing the stock? >> i don't like uber. charles: any example. >> the difference we're seeing this time around as opposed to 2000, because i was on the floor -- at bernstein's during 2000. charles: you were a baby. >> it was my internship. demand was there. that's why you're seeing these valuations grow. i

. >> yeah, he joins amazon's jeff bezos. newspapers are here to stay, but they have to change to survive. neil: great vote of confidence though. >> some of these front page writers at the new york times are so long and windy. everyone thinks they're earnest hemingway. and the train of thought is going off on any tangent. you cannot be like that. you have to hold your audience. you have to solid -- the times has pretty good reporting. you have to have really great stories written well and short. >> aarp might as well have come in and invested in these newspapers. these newspapers are going away. our kids won't read newspapers. neil: you always need the content though. >> but you won't have it in paper form. neil: you don't. that doesn't mean he's making a foolish investment. >> people want the newspaper on the train. yes, they do. neil: you're right. >> at 14% interest mind you, and made a boatload of money. neil: he won't move the needle. >> that's correct. and the challenge is. how is it going to be delivered to us? where w

the amount of money that jeff bezos spent on video content in 2014, not likely to get worse.uld even get better. the bottom line is 2014 may have been the low water margin. over the last five years, the expanded steadily from 2011 to 2013, this bundle -- they stumbled last year. citigroup predicts margins could expand to a 20% for the school year. -- this full year. the share price has performed over the past 12 or 14 months, there's reason to be optimistic. >> optimism blooms this time of year. thank you. amazon changed a little bit this week, they got some attention from hollywood and they are hoping to get a lot more for their next hit. the company has decided to sign it woody allen to create his first-ever tv series, fresh off the momentum from his first golden globe win over the weekend, transparent. what kind of name is amazon making itself -- making for itself in original content? paul, it's interesting to me that amazon had toward success, because we have no idea how the business is doing streaming this content. >> i think this was huge for amazon. it gets so much att

. >> a great anecdote in the book jeff bezos stuffing books in packages to send to people and he wanted to buy knee pads, and someone said, i would don't you buy a packing desk, and that made a lot more sense. >> guest: the thought that was a tremendous idea and one of the greatest he heard that year. its suggests the primitive nature of the early online entities that have become so dominant and so important. >> host: i want to ask you -- we have a headline from a mercury news announcing the -- are you ready for the internet? how did the mainstream media treat the emergence of the internet? obviously the internet has not been a good thing for the newspapers nationwide, worldwide. >> guest: that's right. there were actually two ways in which the internet was discussed and presented in main stream traditional media in the mid-90sened including the headline here, from the san jose mercury news inviting people to experiment and get online and see what the hype was all about. on the other hand a lot of media, particular live media leaders are were saying we dope think the internet is ever go

and what can jeff bezos do to revive amazon stock. but first we've got a winner in our competition for trader of the year. everyone wants to know. we'll break down the trades that worked and the ones that fell flat and we'll name names who won the year. halftime report will be right back. but i'm a bit skeptical of sure things. why's that? look what daddy's got... ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! growth you can count on from the bank where no branches equals great rates. so ally bank really has no hidden fethat's right. accounts? it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. >>> it is official. we've got a winner for winner of the year. joe terranova. wink picks this year. united airlines. apple. -- i know you are going to talk a lot more about this with joe on monday. >> i think if i had one more week. i played this competition really really incorrectly. i started out the year very conservatively. i did a lot of etfs and thought i would ease into the t

. >> host: you pointed out that steve jobs and jeff bezos didn't know their real fathers. what you bring that up? >> guest: it's an interesting thing. you have such talented in a sense superior and driven people behind these companies. why is it that apple and amazon the visionaries of these companies who were so relentless and restless in their pursuit it's interesting that jeff bezos and jobs didn't know their fathers. i feel in a sense they have become our fathers the fathers of technology and just had this relentless pursuit to be at the top, to be number one. i respect them but i also wonder at what point are they satisfied and at what point will they be happy? >> host: you have a subchapter called the problem with life. what is the problem? >> guest: one thing that the facebook like if there is not a dislike button. even if you have bad news to share peoples only option is to like it and say yes i agree you lost your job. what do i do? so it forces you to make all your news positive even if that something bad. in the way people say i liked that and i think it's a bit

it had been in the audience and of course it was jeff bezos. we had a funny conversation where i told him the story audio cafe and how he killed my first business. which of course, -- had a happy ending because i became a writer. he is one example of a brilliant internet entrepreneur. he is very very articulate and at the same time is this practices, i explained, are questionable. >> we only have a couple of minutes. >> wow this has been quick. >> i have to ask about two people you write about. france, and herod -- friends got--franz kafka and kostka >>kafka describes the way we are. i make it clear that he was a student of a different kind of central european totalitarianism. that is not what is happening today, but there is something ka fka-esque about what is happening now. even he couldn't have come up with anything quite as outrageous as what is existing. to add a third to that list, the argentine short story writer. in many times, he imagined this much more accurately. also is the theory of totalitarianism as a person who argues,--the art

it had been in the audience and of course it was jeff bezos. we had a funny conversation where i told him the story audio cafe and how he killed my first business. which of course, had a happy ending because i became a writer. he is one example of a brilliant internet entrepreneur. he is very articulate and at the same time, his business practices, as i explained, are questionable. >> we only have a couple of minutes. >> wow, this has been quick. >> i have to ask about two people you write about. franz kafka, and hannah arendt. >> kafka because he was describing a world of surveillance bureaucracy which we are falling into today. a world where it seems like you are always being watched. i make it clear that he was a student of a different kind of central european totalitarianism. that is not what is happening today, but there is something kafkaesque about what is happening online. this world that we are embracing and yet we are being perpetually watched. even he couldn't have come up with anything quite as outrageous as what is existing. to add

amazon shares dropped 20% in 2014 costing founder and ceo jeff bezos $7.4 billion. but las vegas sands sheldon adelson lost basically almost $9 billion. >>> all right. time now for the power pitch where one entrepreneur gets just 60 seconds to cook up his big idea. >> hi. my name is steve cold. i'm the founder of the cluck and moo burger. we love a healthy burger but to do that we take a bite into it and can't believe how dry it is. i have developed a new burger that's not only juicy but it's 52% less fat, has 34% fewer calories and also certified gluten free. and it remains juicy due to our patent pending process as when you cook this burger the moisture stays into the burger. it doesn't evaporate like other burgers do. right now we're selling the burger up and down the east coast at stores such as fareway, publix. it's doing very well. when we do in-store demos, 52% of the people who taste it buy it. which is an accolade we know we have something good. and we believe it's going to be a profitable business. >> and welcome to today's power pitch. you just saw steve'

melissa: jeff bezos really has no fear.s always the guy to go in and turn the industry upside down. i remember interviewing him years ago, and he said we're going to all be reading books off a tablet. you're not going to carry a book around anymore and i love -- [laughter] and now like there's a million problems with that. now i have an ipad, i don't use his device, so there is problems, but he is an innovator that sees the future. >> and they are the ultimate long-tall company many some ways. they make a lot of money selling way back catalog stuff that no one really cares about or thinks about too much. $5-$25 million is a great sweet spot for independent films documentary films. that's where they're going to make it. melissa: all right. so if you've got a case of the mondays today, you are not alone. today is blue monday, aka the saddest day of the year. now, i thought it might be the day when most people call in sick because that's coming up it's not although this is a very popular one. february 2nd is the day that most

. >> poland has their own jeff bezos.ormally think of poland when you think about great entrepreneurs, but here is a 37-year-old guy who says the more people are using the web, the more they want things delivered whether clothes off of ebay or books from amazon but door to door it's too expensive. so he's created these old-style lockers where he'll deliver them to the locker. they're all around town. >> ifill: like you find at a bus station? >> exactly. remember "the french connection"? that's before you time. >> ifill: yes, certainly before my time. >> but exactly like that. he's got 5,000 across the country in some other parts of central europe, as well. people pay less than $2 which is 25% off of what they pay otherwise, and they're able to get goods they couldn't get. >> ifill: is this something he's thinking about bringing here? >> it is. it's coming our way in two days. he's not only coming to the rest of europe, including the u.k., he's now coming to canada. he says that as a prelude to coming to the united states.