Next: Costco Does Health Care “Your margin is my opportunity.” –Jeff Bezos [Editor’s Note: Edina Realty is a subsidiary of a Berkshire Hathaway-owned entity.] For anyone horrified by spiraling U.S. medical costs, the just announced Amazon-Berkshire-JP Morgan initiative is welcome news. While the companies’ focus (at least initially) is to provide better care for their...Read More
Gargantuan State + Local Tax Incentives = Pyrrhic Victory for “Winning” Bidder “Amazon Narrows Down List for HQ2 to 20 Cities” —Headline, Bloomberg.com (1/18/2018). Anyone hearing the news that Amazon had “narrowed” the list of contenders down to 20 cities might properly comment, “Good Lord! How many cities were on the original list??” (answer: 238). While...Read More
“Everyday Savings,” Indeed You could be excused for thinking, at least momentarily, that “Whole Foods + Amazon” had aggressively cut prices on salmon. After all, Jeff Bezos (“your margin is my profit”) had already slashed prices on ground beef, fresh turkey, avocadoes, and a few other loss (?) leaders. Math Machinations Alas, it was not to...Read More
A Win For the Luddites (or, ARE They??) What if there was a home security system that had all of the following virtues: it was simple and easy-to-use; (very) cheap; crash-proof; hack-proof; and never needed a software patch, update, or monthly subscription? (see, “very cheap”). Fortunately, there is. Give up? It’s called, “a key” (or,...Read More
Two-Tiered Pricing, or, “The ‘Annual Membership’ Business Model” To the long list of consumer goods offered at a discount to Amazon Prime members, add one more: Thanksgiving turkey at newly-acquired Whole Foods. Sound familiar? It should. Training shoppers to pay an annuity-like annual (membership) fee is the business model of competitor Costco. See also, “Conversion...Read More
Share Price Heaven [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] Before I got religion on Amazon, you could say I was an “Amazon atheist” (or at least, an “Amazon...Read More
