Jeff Bezos Said ‘Results Were Horrifying’ After Amazon Prime’s Free Shipping Introduction But He Went Ahead With It Because Good Decisions Require ‘Instinct And Risk-Taking’

Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime is today one of the most successful loyalty programs in retail history, but when it first launched, Jeff Bezos and his team faced major concerns about whether the service would work—or even bankrupt the company.

What Happened: In a 2018 interview with David Rubenstein, Bezos reflected on how Amazon Prime started as an idea from a junior software engineer.

Rather than a traditional loyalty program, the initial concept was for an “all-you-can-eat buffet” of fast, free shipping. However, when Amazon’s finance team ran the numbers, the outlook was grim.

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“The …

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