A new book explores all the little known facts surrounding Amazon's rise as an e-commerce powerhouse. Called The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Businessweek senior writer Brad Stone, the book was released on Tuesday.
In the book, we find that the original intended name for Amazon wasn't as cool as it is today. Still, the name exists and redirects to Amazon.com.
Stone describes the early formation of the company, during which founder and CEO Bezos and his wife struggled to come up with the right name:
Bezos and his wife grew fond of another possibility: Relentless.com. Friends suggested that it sounded a bit sinister. But something about it must have captivated Bezos: he registered the URL in September of 1994, and he kept it. Type Relentless.com into the Web today and it take to you to Amazon.
"Relentless" is also how the book portrays Bezos, offering an inside glimpse at the temperament and management style of the CEO more widely known for his over-the-top laugh and enthusiasm.
The book appeared on Tuesday on the
Businessweek website, and has several quotes from Bezos related to the writer by Amazon insiders:
- “Are you trying to take credit for something you had nothing to do with?”
- “Do I need to go down and get the certificate that says I’m CEO of the company to get you to stop challenging me on this?”
- “Are you lazy or just incompetent?”
The book offers an insight into Bezos' management style, one of which pushed Amazon to accomplish what it is today.