Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday shared an old article published by American magazine Barron's that predicted the failure of Amazon.
In 1999, Barron's published a cover story titled "Amazon.bomb". The story predicted that Amazon's stock price would come crashing down and that the real winners of the Internet boom would be "firms that sell their own products directly".
"The idea that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has pioneered a new business paradigm is silly," the story read. The story deemed Bezos as "just another middleman."
The Barron's article mentioned over and over how Amazon wasn't making any money. It also speculated that a bigger retailer like Walmart or Barnes & Noble would start selling online and crush Amazon.
However, the prediction made by the magazine did not turn out to be so true as Amazon is one of the most valuable public companies in the world and is worth $1.6 trillion in market.
Sharing the old story, 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."
Bezos's tweet went viral and garnered more than 30K likes. Many social media users said the tweet was like a Monday motivation for them. Netflix co-CEO responded to Bezos's tweet, "The deeper the doubts, the sweeter the success."
Elon Musk Responds; Netizens Start to Speculate
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla caught the attention of everyone as he responded to Bezos's tweet with a silver medal emoji.
One user said, "He is referring to how Bezos is #2 and he is #1. Not sure why he had to be toxic like that though." Another wrote, "This might be something to do with the blue origin being at second place and SpaceX at first."
Simmering Rivalry
Musk and Bezos have been locked in a heated rivalry for the past 15 years. Last month after surpassing Bezos as the world's richest person, Musk took a celebratory crack at him by telling Forbes in an email that he would send Bezos a silver medal for becoming the world's second-richest person. "I'm sending a giant statue of the digit '2' to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal," Elon Musk wrote in his short email.
The two have sparred over their respective space ambitions — Musk runs SpaceX, while Bezos owns Blue Origin — but it hasn't stopped there: Musk has called out Bezos for running what he deemed a monopoly, and has called Bezos a copycat for his self-driving car interests, reported Business Insider. Musk also appeared to make digs about Bezos' age.
The Tesla chief reportedly said earlier that Bezos had "retired to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX" after Amazon protested against Starlink's expansion.
Bezos stepped down as Amazon's CEO in July this year.
