Saturday, December 30, 2017

Trustbusting

The globe’s 500 richest people, as measured by the Bloomberg billionaires index, have seen the value of the wealth increase by 23% so far this year, taking their combined fortunes to $5.3tn. The increase is largely the result of booming stock markets. The MSCI World Index and the US Standard & Poor’s 500 are both up almost 20% so far this year. The UK’s FTSE 100 is up more than 6% – and hit a new closing high of 7,620.7 points on Wednesday.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is the world’s richest man. His fortune has increased by $34.2bn so far this year to take his “net worth” to $99.6bn. On just one day in October Bezos’s fortune increased by $10.3bn, when Amazon posted profits much higher than analysts had expected and the company’s shares spiked.
Bezos,53, who founded Amazon in his Seattle garage in 1994, owns 16% of the retailer. He also owns all of space exploration company Blue Origin and the Washington Post newspaper, which he bought for $250m in 2013.
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 A century ago companies with far less market control were broken up. 



62 comments:

Lawyerliz said...

Welp, Bezos is at least is doing something useful, and did something useful to get there.
FURST??

Lawyerliz said...

I wonder if Bezos eats spaghetti as I am now.

Lawyerliz said...

???????? Nobody home?

Lawyerliz said...

Darkest hour very good.

LBD said...

Nobody home, went Cosmic bowling. Days are getting longer, ready for spring!

LBD said...

Have to admit I like Amazon, easy to deal with. Yes these guys need to be broken up. IMO

Rob Dawg said...

Tedious drive down to San Diego. Lots of traffic.

dilbert dogbert said...

Dawg, Is everyone trying to escape from LA? What I remember about LA traffic from around 1970 was that it took a least 2hrs to get out of town by road.
There is an amazing amount of traffic, going both ways, to and from the Gamma Quadrant on Hwy 80.

Rob Dawg said...

I-5 was Wall to Wall crowded. Sometimes 80mph others full stop.

LBD said...

Good Morning!

0 degrees and dressed for sledding! No traffic jam here on the mountain!

Cinco-X said...

Jimmy Dore was agreeing with Trump about the evils of Amazon...

Rob Dawg said...

Amazon is predatory and the shareholders approve. Were they to adopt sustainable business practices they would open themselves to competition. Insist on profitability and the issues go away.

Cinco-X said...

I thought the IRS required that you be profitable 2 or 3 out of 5 years. Not sure how Amazon managed it's first 20 years

Lawyerliz said...

What does their predation consist of?

Lawyerliz said...

I learned something that I actually wanted to di with senior dummies.

Lawyerliz said...

Do

Cinco-X said...

Living off venture capital and underselling their competitors while losing money, and once their competition is out of business, raising process. Kinda what the Chinese companies did while being subsidised by their government and not being required to be profitable

Jim the Realtor said...

>>I-5 was full stop.

Doesn't it feel like an opportunity?

Let's make a movie about fixing traffic gridlock. I have the answer.

We'll call it Operation Oleander.

Keep and restore oleander growth to visually separate freeways. Stop radio/TV broadcasting of traffic conditions. Improve on-ramps. Get local news and advertising to support. Keep drivers focused on whats ahead.

Rob Dawg said...

I’m waiting for Waze to monetize by charging neighborhoods to detrend their shortcuts.

Rob Dawg said...

Squeezing suppliers by either preventing alternative distribution channels, charging for “shelf space,” or plain old cutting them out of the channel with end run deals.

Lawyerliz said...

Isn't this stuff what Walmart did?

Lawyerliz said...

Called Blackmail, in other circumstances

Rob Dawg said...

Yes, Walmart often does the same.

LBD said...

If So Cal increased the freeway capacity it would bring more people and clog it back up before it's done. Been there done that, twice.

Any business that rules squeezes suppliers due to the volume they can provide.

Remember Sears? Who Dat?

LBD said...

Happy New Years eve. Boy I am going to hurt tomorrow, I slid down the hill a couple of times! :)

Rob Dawg said...

The only reasons new road capacity fills up is because we don’t build new capacity until you can prove you need it. The other reason is locals go ahead and approve developments because they see the new roads.

Lawyerliz said...

Happy NEW Year!! Good night.😀

Lawyerliz said...

All true, but people have to live somewhere.

Lawyerliz said...

Is that the same as falling off the wagon?

LBD said...

2018! Happy New Year!

Lawyerliz said...

Happy new Years. Who is frozen?

Lawyerliz said...

Champaign -11, feels like -21°. Son said he wanted cold.

Cinco-X said...

They did it while making a profit and paying sales taxes.

Cinco-X said...

How many years of the last 40 did Walmart claim no profit

Cinco-X said...

Happy New Year's y'all

Rob Dawg said...

Duuudes! It’s legal annnd amaaaazing!

Rob Dawg said...

Oh look. A classic Nor’easter is form up in the Atlantic. Good times a comin’.

Cinco-X said...

Well... Looks like I'll get Thursday off too...

Cinco-X said...

Or maybe it's Friday... Then back to the deep freeze

Lawyerliz said...

I hope power doesnt fail, except possibly in DC. That's mean of me, I know.

LBD said...

Good New Year!

7F with a high of 11F up to 30F later this week. More sledding today.

Cinco-X said...

It'll only hurt the poor. I'm sure the Whitehouse has backup get generators

Lawyerliz said...

Atlanta wins chill factor is 1 yeah, 1°!!!

Lawyerliz said...

When back to old posts. De .2008 and rob's Misean Institute Curiculum. Histerical. Bad times.produced better humor.

Lawyerliz said...

I wonder where Misean is now.

Lawyerliz said...

The hub has a sneezy cold.

Rob Dawg said...

Wait until you get to the movie titles post.

Lawyerliz said...

Oh, make up some new ones.

Lawyerliz said...

Good night.😀 from one non frozen person to another .

LBD said...

Hey, my thermostat is set for 72F. :)

sm_landlord said...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-we-can-put-a-man-on-the-moon-why-cant-we-put-a-man-on-the-moon-1514833480


It will be interesting to see if NASA ever manages to get moving again.

Lawyerliz said...

Give them money and they will do marvelous things. In the meantime, the private types are going great.

dilbert dogbert said...

Liz and Sm_Landlord, Here is a gig for you!!! An Old Coot Actor!!!
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/1/2/16812366/senior-citizen-acting-older-adults
When we lived in Torrance and I worked at the Trojan Rubber Works, we attended a lot of little theater. The old coots were terrific actors. Left overs from the movie industry I think.

LBD said...

Good Morning!

Warming trend starts today, 41F by Saturday possible.

Mish has a nice comment on renting today.

Lawyerliz said...

Sending dragon capsule here to be worked on.

Lawyerliz said...

I am a coot-ess.

dilbert dogbert said...

Liz, I am overflowing with coot-ness. Love it. I can kid, joss and complement women old and young and they all seem to enjoy it as much I do. Coooooollll!!!

dilbert dogbert said...

Re: Previous post with a Life Mag cover.
That is I and my sweet wife kicking up our heels. I love to throw her around doing Western Swing Dance. We also do Line Dancing. Old Coots having fun.
Today she is off to Tahoe to ski. I stay home to help the shoer do the horses feet.
The St. Pete daughter sent a photo of the grand daughter all bundled up for the cold weather. Cute as a bugs ear.

Lawyerliz said...

Must clean kitchen. Need !Kitchenba. Willing to pay a lot for same.

LBD said...

Go out to eat or hire a maid. Love the Roomba and if I end up in town with a postage stamp yard the Yard Roomba should be pretty well perfected. If not I will do artificial grass. Less work more play time!

Rob Dawg said...

New post.

Lawyerliz said...

We do but, but clearly not often enough. The mom and pop breakfast guy loves us.