Amazon to buy Zoox for $1B, a self-driving car startup with Apple lineage

That's the thing with Amazon.  Jeff Bezos is not cheap when it comes to acquiring tech which is another reason why Amazon is worth as much as it is.  Amazon doesn't let their money just sit in a bank doing next to nothing.  Apple is scaling back while Amazon is scaling up.  Whether Amazon gets much out of this purchase, I don't know for sure, but big investors like the idea of Amazon grabbing technology to grow the company.  Self-driving cars may be a long way off for all I know and of no immediate use to Apple.  As an Apple shareholder, it's disappointing that Apple may be leaving good tech on the table and letting Amazon get ahead of them.  A billion dollars should be almost nothing for Apple to spend.  Anyway, what's done is done and I'm just expressing my opinion.  I suppose Apple knows what it needs to do better than I do.

gmgravytrain said:

That's the thing with Amazon.  Jeff Bezos is not cheap when it comes to acquiring tech which is another reason why Amazon is worth as much as it is.  

Ummm what?  First, Amazon's "worth" is based on what people are willing to pay for a stock, not on its "acquiring tech."

Second, Amazon's revenue and profits are largely derived from peddling cheap Chinese crap, exploiting workers, offering horrible customer service, taking advantage of its massive scale to extract tax and other concessions from cities, cheaping out on things such as delivery (instead of using reputable and competent companies like UPS and Fedex), and stealing IP from their third-party sellers.  It has little to do with "acquiring tech."

Amazon's acquisition of this company has more to do with continuing its trend of replacing competent services such as UPS with its own in-house garbage delivery.  In other words, going "cheap" as you call it. 

Hmmm, Tesla had semi-self driving cars already in the road....interesting to find out later who will get there first....

flydog said:

gmgravytrain said:

That's the thing with Amazon.  Jeff Bezos is not cheap when it comes to acquiring tech which is another reason why Amazon is worth as much as it is.  

Amazon's revenue and profits are largely derived from peddling cheap Chinese crap, exploiting workers, offering horrible customer service, taking advantage of its massive scale to extract tax and other concessions from cities, cheaping out on things such as delivery (instead of using reputable and competent companies like UPS and Fedex), and stealing IP from their third-party sellers.  It has little to do with "acquiring tech."

Amazon's acquisition of this company has more to do with continuing its trend of replacing competent services such as UPS with its own in-house garbage delivery.  In other words, going "cheap" as you call it. 

Ummm, What?
Amazon has been the top or nearly so in brand rankings for a few years now. I think they're even more loved than Apple.  Buying Zoox for  $1B may be a bargain depending on how Amazon puts it to work. 

As for their in-house delivery, off-topic but still, while it started out shaky, at least in my area, they have their feet under them now and a lot of my orders are now getting here the next morning via their own delivery trucks. I have no problem with them at all that I don'[t also have with other multinationals.  What retailer (or manufacturer for that matter) isn't taking advantage of low-paid workers "in order to pass the savings on to you" LOL? Same as it's ever been. If anything they're taking the same road as other big techs: Way too much power and money for comfort and undue influence in the marketplace because of their wealth and resources.

Amazon in general seems to find a way to put their acquisitions to good use. 

flydog said: Ummm what?  First, Amazon's "worth" is based on what people are willing to pay for a stock, not on its "acquiring tech."

Pretty much. The Amazon strategy is to constantly expand in order to convince investors that they're still relevant. The Whole Foods acquisition was like that. At the time, people actually believed Amazon would turn Whole Foods into a bargain shopping nirvana and disrupt the grocery business. Instead, they've just been slowly modifying Whole Foods stores into the grocery version of an Amazon Warehouse.