'Amazon will go bankrupt': Jeff Bezos keeps talking about Amazon's inevitable death

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has repeatedly talked about his company's inevitable demise. Bezos has said that big firms tend to live for only "decades."

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. It has since grown into a tech behemoth — momentarily the most valuable company in the world this week — and made him the richest man in modern history. But the billionaire seems convinced that Amazon is doomed to die. Three times over the past five years Bezos has talked about the firm's inevitable demise. Such chatter is strikingly unusual for a CEO of a major company. Media trained within an inch of their life and with demanding investors

'Amazon will go bankrupt': Jeff Bezos keeps talking about Amazon's inevitable death.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has repeatedly talked about his company's inevitable demise.

Bezos has said that big firms tend to live for only "decades." Bezos once said he hopes he dies before Amazon does.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. It has since grown into a tech behemoth — momentarily the most valuable company in the world this week — and made him the richest man in modern history. But the billionaire seems convinced that Amazon is doomed to die. Three times over the past five years Bezos has talked about the firm's inevitable demise.

Such chatter is strikingly unusual for a CEO of a major company. Media trained within an inch of their life and with demanding investors looking over their shoulders, senior executives are normally unflinchingly positive about their firm's prospects. But it seems a fear of failure, and talking about that fear of failure, propels Bezos on. Here are some of the times he has talked about Amazon's inevitable demise:

Bezos spoke to CBS show "60 Minutes" in 2013 to show off Amazon's burgeoning automated drone delivery service. "Companies have short lifespans… and Amazon will be disrupted one day," he said. Asked whether that fact worried him, Bezos replied: "I don't worry about it because I know it's inevitable. Companies come and go, and the companies that are the shiniest and most important of any era — you wait a few decades and they're gone." Bezos added that he would love for Amazon's final breath to come after he himself dies.

Bezos elaborated on his "Day One" philosophy in a 2017 letter to shareholders, in which he answered a question he'd got in an all-hands meeting about what "Day Two" looks like. "Day Two is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day One," Bezos answered. "An established company might harvest Day 2 for decades, but the final result would still come," he added. He then talked about how a company can "fend off" Day Two.

In a recording of an all-hands meeting obtained by CNBC, Bezos was still just as convinced of Amazon's inescapable mortality. "Amazon is not too big to fail … In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail," Bezos said in reply to a staffer who asked about big businesses like Sears going bankrupt. "Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years," he said. Bezos went on to say that it was his job to delay that date by as long as possible. Amazon turned 24 years old in July, so it is fast approaching Bezos's 30-year benchmark.

https://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Amazon-will-go-bankrupt-Jeff-Bezos-keeps-13451525.php

CIA Names First Woman to Lead Clandestine Operations

Elizabeth Kimber’s appointment comes as more women have filled senior leadership ranks across national-security agencies during the Trump administration.

CIA Director Gina Haspel has chosen an agency veteran and close ally to be the first woman to run the part of the agency that recruits spies overseas, gathers intelligence and engages in covert actions authorized by the White House, an agency spokesman said Friday. Elizabeth Kimber will assume control of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations, until recently a male-dominated bastion also known as the clandestine service.

The CIA’s other major branch is the Directorate of Analysis, which is responsible for analyzing classified and unclassified information from multiple sources, and preparing reports for the president and other top U.S. policy makers. “With nearly 34 years of experience and a proven ability to deliver with impact on CIA’s operational mission, Beth Kimber will be an exceptional leader of our Directorate of Operations,” Brittany Bramell, CIA’s director of public affairs, said. Little is known publicly about Ms. Kimber’s CIA career, most of which she spent in the operations branch and which included stints dealing with Russia and terrorism, a person familiar with the matter said. Her LinkedIn page, which describes her merely as a “senior executive” in the U.S. government, says she received a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College in New York and speaks French.

Daniel Hoffman, a former senior CIA officer who worked with Ms. Kimber, said “she has a very high intellect—not just when it comes to the operational tradecraft on which our work is based, but also on understanding the world.” Mr. Hoffman, who served as a CIA station chief and whose overseas duty included considerable time in Russia, said he didn’t expect the operations branch to have difficulty accepting a female leader. “I think pretty much those days are gone,” he said. Ms. Kimber’s appointment comes as more women have filled senior leadership ranks across national-security agencies during the Trump administration. In addition to Ms. Haspel, who is the first woman to head the CIA, Sue Gordon serves as the principal deputy director of National Intelligence and had been rumored to be in consideration for director of the CIA if Ms. Haspel’s nomination failed to earn Senate confirmation.

Tonya Ugoretz, a senior intelligence official, is expected to be named in the coming weeks as the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, according to people familiar with the matter. Ms. Ugoretz had been serving as the director of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, where she worked on issues including tracking Russian efforts to disrupt U.S. elections. Her move to a senior leadership role follows the appointment this summer of Amy Hess as the FBI’s executive assistant director of the criminal, cyber, response and services branch. Ms. Hess, a career FBI employee, is the highest-ranking woman at the bureau and was tapped for her current role after several senior officials retired this summer.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cia-names-first-woman-to-lead-clandestine-operations-1544221807

>>4221374

I certainly is..I wonder if any of them did report on themselves.

House Committees Release James Comey Transcript

The chairmen of the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees released a transcript of an interview conducted Friday with former FBI Director James Comey. Comey appeared in response to a subpoena for his testimony. The former FBI chief initially sought a public hearing before the committees, which are investigating the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email and Trump-Russia investigations. But after a brief legal battle, Comey agreed to appear behind closed doors for an interview, on the condition that a transcript of the proceedings be released within 24 hours.

According to Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte and South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairmen of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, respectively, Comey will continue his interview on Dec. 17. Comey largely avoided discussing the Russia probe, citing the ongoing investigation and classified information.

In an exchange with Gowdy, Comey quibbled with the idea that the FBI’s investigation, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane, initially focused on the Trump campaign. “We opened investigations on four Americans to see if there was any connection between those four Americans and the Russian interference effort. And those four Americans did not include the candidate,” Comey said. But pressed by Gowdy, Comey acknowledged that he did not review the FBI document that authorized Crossfire Hurricane to open. Gowdy suggested in his questioning that the initiation document, which was written by Peter Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, contained a reference to the Trump campaign.

Comey did not identify the four Trump adviser who were put under investigation, but they have since been identified as Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. Comey also told lawmakers that by the time he was fired as FBI director, on May 9, 2017, he was not certain whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians. “We opened them in late July, didn’t know whether we had anything. In fact, when I was fired as director, I still didn’t know whether there was anything to it,” he said.

The statement comports with what Strzok indicated in text messages that he exchanged with FBI lawyer Lisa Page. “You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern that there’s no big there there,” Strzok wrote to Page on May 19, 2017, two days after Robert Mueller was appointed to oversee the special counsel’s probe. Strzok was removed from that investigation and ultimately fired from the FBI over his text messages, which showed him expressing anti-Trump sentiments. Comey told Gowdy during his round of questioning that he likely would have removed Strzok and Page from the Clinton and Russia investigations had he been aware of their text messages.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/08/james-comey-transcript/

The transcript can be found here:

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Comey-interview-transcript-12-7-18_Redacted-1.pdf

>>4221695

This guy is really unbelievable!

>>4221672

Thanks anon, my intention here was for those who were looking for something to dig.