Amazon has come a long way

Ever-charismatic Jeff Bezos charmed the crowd that gathered for the Amazon.com annual shareholders meeting in Seattle yesterday, leading a low-key gathering that seemed more like "a morning with Jeff" than anything more official.

Bezos, Amazon.com's founder, chief executive and chairman, fielded questions from the audience and then stayed after the meeting to chat one-on-one, listening to business proposals, posing for pictures, and even offering one woman a bit of advice.


	Jeff Bezos, founder, chief executive and chairman of Internet retailer Amazon.com, was the star attraction at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Seattle yesterday. Amazon posted its first profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. Nonetheless, Bezos said, "We have so much to do." Phil H. Webber/P-I

"Don't give up," Bezos told Karen Robbins who was trying to pique his interest in an educational product she invented. It was perhaps fitting advice from the chief executive who went from Time magazine's man of the Year in 1999 to an industry punching bag two years later when Internet stocks, including Amazon's, plunged.

In the past year, Bezos has climbed back on top, streamlining company operations and developing efficiencies. After seven years in business, Seattle-based Amazon reported its first profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001.

But there was little boasting about profits yesterday.

"This is still the beginning, we have so much to do," Bezos told shareholders.

He quickly introduced the board of directors and then announced their re-election by shareholders.

He gave a brief recap of 2001, noting that in the five years since the Internet retailer went public, sales have climbed from $148 million in 1997 to $3.1 billion last year. He outlined Amazon's goals of offering customers vast selection, convenience and low prices.

Fewer than 200 shareholders attended the meeting, held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.

"There was nothing new really, just a broad overview, but it was really entertaining. Jeff Bezos is a lot of fun," said Dan Geiman, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen.

Author Robert Spector predicted in his book, "Amazon.com, Get Big Fast," that Bezos' company would survive.

"He can talk about all aspects of his business with elan," Spector said after the meeting. "That's what separates him from the other dot-coms that are no longer with us."

During the meeting, shareholders were given a sneak peek at a half-dozen Amazon.com commercials that are being tested in Portland and Minneapolis. The ads, which show bored brick-and-mortar customers waiting in long lines or hunting for parking spaces at the mall -- with a raucous music backdrop -- drew chuckles from shareholders and belly laughs from Bezos.He shared the stage with a large table overflowing with some of the products Amazon.com sells online: books, CDs, electronics, toys and kitchenware. Like a door-to-door salesman, Bezos showed off some items, giving his opinions on a few and outright endorsements of others.

He announced that he's reached page 135 of Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science," a 1,200-page tome that is heavy on mathematical theory and No. 5 on Amazon's bestseller list.

Then Bezos raved about the Rabbit corkscrew. He noted that the patent has expired and the price should be coming down soon. He also put in a plug for a new CD collection of "lost" Elvis Presley soundtracks.

"Where were they lost?" wondered Bezos.

Amazon's chief executive didn't forget his annual tribute to J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, which has been responsible for some of Amazon's record-setting book sales. Recently, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" DVD set an Amazon record for pre-orders. More than 100,000 copies were ordered in advance.

"We bow before J.K. Rowling," Bezos said.

After show-and-tell, Bezos fielded questions on a range of topics, including selling used books alongside new, accounting methods, the number of returning customers, and free shipping on orders over $99.

The free shipping sparked a brief lecture on shopping psychology.

"We like people reaching for that hurdle," said Bezos. "We like that hunting behavior, we can learn so much."

Throughout the morning, Bezos stuck with his message: "There is more innovation ahead of us than behind us. I am as enthusiastic about this business as ever."

P-I reporter Kathy Mulady can be reached at 206-448-8131 or kathymulady@seattlepi.com

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