Monopoly
The Tweet Wars between space-rivals Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos intensified when Musk called for Amazon to be broken up, and said "Monopolies are wrong."
Elon Musk recently called for Amazon to be broken up, labeling it a "monopoly" when an author complained on Twitter about being unable to self-publish a book on Amazon.
So, what is a monopoly and why is it so bad?
A monopoly exists when only one company can supply an essential product or service. The single seller enjoys supreme power over pricing (how much you pay) and distribution (who gets what).
These companies are in total, or near-total control of a market. Guess who controls the book publishing market? Hint: They also control most of online buying and selling.
Fueled with cash flows from its cloud services business, Amazon promises to bring products and services to customers at the least cost. What it also does in this process is wipe off all competition. Then, it gets to control what you see and purchase (in this case, restricting that guy to self-publish his book).
After the social media debacle, Amazon finally allowed the guy's book to be published, but this incident has opened a Pandora's box for them.
Should Amazon be broken up? Or should we let the "Everything Store" become the "Only Store"?
Food for thought.
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Book Recommendation
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Amazon at first started with the delivering of books through the mail but the founder Jeff Bezos was never satisfied in being just a book seller. He wanted Amazon to become ‘The Everything Store’. He wanted Amazon to offer limitless selections of things at reasonably low prices. This book has a detailed account of Amazon and how it came into being, and takes a closer look into what goes on in the brain of the richest man in the world. Â