>How about Amazon, which has, over the past 12 months, been a favorite whipping boy as well?
Vilar: Unfortunately, it was a favorite whipping boy of mine but for different reasons. I just felt at the top, that Jeff Bezos was out of touch with reality and he had a view on how to run his company, and I thought the view was not Wall Street-friendly. Wall Street will put up with a number of things, including losses if you're showing progress, and he basically said, I'm going to do it my way, I'm going to increase my losses because I have an opportunity to gain market share and do this.
I had several discussions with him and I said don't do this, Wall Street's going to shoot you. And of course, when you get to be worth $20 billion you don't listen to many people, so the answer is, Wall Street shot him. I mean, I was one of the first people in line that really began to reduce enthusiasm for the stock.
If you take a three- to five-year view, and you could say are we going to have an electronic Sears or Wal-Mart, the answer is yes. Is he likely to be that candidate? Yes. Do you feel a compelling need to have that kind of retail representation? That's a different thing. |
