Jeff Bezos tweets 1999 magazine article, Elon Musk awards him a silver medal

Team Udayavani, Oct 13, 2021, 12:36 PM IST

An American magazine back in 1999 predicted the crash of Amazon stock, calling the founder Jeff Bezos a mere “middleman”. Jeff Bezos after a decade reshared the magazine clipping.

“The idea that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has pioneered a new business paradigm is silly,” began the article featuring a caricature of Bezos inside a bomb. Dismissing him as “just another middleman,” read the article. It further read, “Net will be firms that sell their own products directly to consumers.”

Bezos wrote, “Listen and be open, but don’t let anybody tell you who you are. This was just one of the many stories telling us all the ways we were going to fail. Today, Amazon is one of the world’s most successful companies and has revolutionized two entirely different industries.”

Listen and be open, but don’t let anybody tell you who you are. This was just one of the many stories telling us all the ways we were going to fail. Today, Amazon is one of the world’s most successful companies and has revolutionized two entirely different industries. pic.twitter.com/MgMsQHwqZl

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 11, 2021

The tweet received a response from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who poked fun at the Amazon founder and replied with a silver medal emoji.

🥈

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2021

Below is how the internet reacted.

https://twitter.com/Indianstudent21/status/1447948602496602120

https://twitter.com/holisticchamber/status/1447937361673953281

A good reminder we’ve all been there at one point or another in our lives. I wasn’t a big fan until I looked into Amazon’s humble beginnings: it’s a shame perseverance and innovation are now considered shameful.

Envy is a truly destructive force. pic.twitter.com/3na9ty3cya

— Landrew (@AndrewSea) October 11, 2021

Futurism is hard but pessimism is easy

People become defenders of status quo often not even bc of incentives but bc they hate a philosophy of wealth creation https://t.co/W9PKMJV6gP

— 朱溯 🐂 (@zhusu) October 12, 2021