Primed for Omnipotence

The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power
Dana Mattioli, 2024
391 Pages
San Diego City library, 4 copies available, County library, 7 available

Does it seem quaint or pointless to read Amazon critiques these days, with the colossus courier so woven into the household day-to-day? Let us find out. I don't know if you've read the Washington Post under Bezos, but its editorial page is uniformly filled by writers defending dominance and control by the wealthy, or, at least, unapologetically boosting right-wing economic policy--which is the same thing. I don't know if a tycoon publisher's nakedly pro-fat cat op eds have any real influence. But there's no doubt Bezos and his ilk have tremendous power. So let's learn more and discuss Bezos's project,

• Publisher's Summary: With unparalleled access, and having interviewed hundreds of people – from Amazon executives to competitors to small businesses who rely on its marketplace to survive – Mattioli exposes how Amazon was driven by a competitive edge to dominate every industry it entered, bulldozed all who stood in its way, reshaped the retail landscape, transformed how Wall Street evaluates companies, and altered the very nature of the global economy. It has come to control most of online retail, and uses its own sellers’ data to compete with them through Amazon’s own private label brands. Millions of companies and governmental agencies use AWS, paying hefty fees for the service. And, the company has purposefully avoided collecting taxes for years, exploited partners, and even copied competitors—leveraging its power to extract whatever it can, at any cost. It has continued to gain market share in disparate areas, from media to logistics and beyond. Most companies dominate one or two industries; Amazon now leads in several. And all of this was by design.