Amazon ‘Insane’ For Pursuit Of Its Precious
Prime Cut: Even Hollywood types were taken aback by the purported $250 million Amazon shelled out for the TV rights to “Lord of the Rings.” But that’s just the beginning: The e-tailer-cum-studio will need to spend upward of $150 million a season to achieve the blockbuster luster of “Game of Thrones,” observers said, prompting some to call the company “insane.”
Lord of the Rings actor on TV adaptation: 'Tolkien must be spinning in his grave’ https://t.co/ekpMAcDSMz pic.twitter.com/KItZ7znLak
— Independent TV (@TheIndyTV) November 16, 2017
TWICE Take: Amazon had long taken its lumps from Wall Street for profligate spending on technology and infrastructure — investments that paid off in spades. Our money’s on the hobbits.
See the full story at Deadline Hollywood.
Maine Takes Umbrage At HQ Slight
Prime Cut: As Amazon casts about for a second headquarters location, the Wall Street Journal mocked small-town efforts to entice the e-tailer, dismissing their ambitions as “implausible.”
TWICE Take: Three cheers to the Portland Press Herald, which stood up for local favorite Scarborough, Maine. The resort town “has one distinct advantage” over other places in the article, the Press Herald wrote: It ain’t Anchorage or Boise.
We take a look at likely bets for Amazon's new headquarters. See how they stack up. https://t.co/z9DwusMvNE
— Laura Stevens (@laurastevens) November 14, 2017
See the full story at The Wall Street Journal and The Portland Press Herald.
Trillion Dollar Baby
Prime Cut: Based on segment valuations, margin forecasts and projected sales growth, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak believes that Amazon’s stock price can reach $2,000 a share by next year, giving the company a $1 trillion valuation.
TWICE Take: With his roughly 16 percent stake in the business, CEO/founder Jeff Bezos could have a $160 billion payday if Nowak’s projection proves accurate.
Amazon ‘Kills Christmas’
Prime Cut: British parents are up in arms over an Amazon holiday ad that shows a dad, rather than Santa, bringing in the yuletide bounty. Wrote one irate parent: “So it’s Amazon that delivers Christmas is it?” Tweeted another, “You pretty much [expletive]-up the whole Christmas secret.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBVGjS_EJok
TWICE Take: Hey, we’re all for holiday traditions and childhood wonderment. But if any of those gifts have Internet access, the jig will be up soon anyway.
See the full story at Business Insider.
Echo In Aisle 12
Prime Cut: Amazon had already begun leveraging its $13.7 billion buyout of Whole Foods last summer by selling its proprietary tech devices in a bunch of the upscale supermarkets. Now, with Holiday 2017 upon us, the e-tailer has stepped up that effort by bringing its Echo, Kindle and Fire family of smart speakers, e-readers, tablets and streaming-TV devices to more than 100 Whole Foods locations.
TWICE Take: The rollout is the latest physical manifestation of Amazon’s online assortment, which can also be found in its 13 branded bookstores, 10 in-store Kohl’s shops, 62 pop-up stores and even on traveling “treasure trucks.”
Amazon Quote Of The Week
“I think Jeff [Bezos] is gonna be the most disruptive [to the media business]. As [his] Death Star moves into striking range of every industry on the planet.” — Liberty Media chairman John Malone, discussing the importance of scale in the media business and the cable industry’s inability to compete with Netflix.
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