the same question, but good try.
Q:Did John Doerr try to intervene with Lehman Brothers to tone down or halt the Ravi Suria report?
Bezos:No. He did not. He called them up, just as our investor relations group had already done, and said the report is inaccurate and we would like you to try and make it accurate before you release it. That's very different from trying to stop the publication. By the way, Lehman asked us to look at it. That's why they sent it to us in advance. They sent it to us and said, "Is this accurate?" And we said, "No. It's not. It is widely off the mark."
Q:Several analysts have criticized Amazon over the years, including some that put "sell" ratings on the company. You don't usually criticize their research. Why did Amazon feel it had to be so publicly critical of former Lehman Brothers analyst Ravi Suria when he issued his negative reports?
Bezos:Well, if you look at our harshest critics outside of that Lehman report that you are talking about, they question the valuation of Amazon.com. They question many things. But they don't question something as fundamental as whether or not the company is just going to run out of cash. That's the key difference. That is such an egregious piece of speculation that we felt it very important to set the record straight on that point.
Q:To this day, Lehman stands by Suria's report. Is this simply a matter of opinion?
Bezos:I don't think so. You'd have to ask them. I can't tell you. All I can tell you is the report is wrong.
Q:In early February, after seeing Suria's report but before the report came out, you sold some $12.2 million in Amazon shares. Did you check with Amazon's lawyers before the sale, and are you aware of a reported Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the sale?
Bezos:I went through the normal preclearance trading process that every executive of every publicly traded company does, which is to get approval from the general counsel. That is a regular practice. I know the report you are referring to, the New York Times article. The Dow Jones News Service ran an article the same day saying the New York Times story was wrong. They had a source inside the SEC telling them there was no cause for action. We have never been contacted by the SEC. If that were ever to happen, we stand ready to immediately help. This speculation was so misguided, because the Lehman Brothers report you are talking about, while it was a negative report, there was absolutely no change in the report. This particular analyst being negative on Amazon.com is not news, much less material news. This analyst being negative on Amazon.com is [like] "Sun Rises in East. Dog Bites Man." There was no news there. A good indicator of that is the fact that after the report was issued, our stock price went up.
Q:There have been reports echoing Suria's concerns that some of your suppliers and creditors are worried about Amazon's viability and are beginning to tighten credit and payment deadlines. Are those reports wrong?
Bezos:Yes they are. We've got great relationships with our vendors. We have 10,000 vendors, and if you go through them, you will be able to find someone to say anything you want. But we have very good relationships with our vendors in all of our product categories.
Q:There are a number of shareholder lawsuits that allege Amazon misled investors when it signed up partners. The key allegation is that while Amazon implied that payments from partners would be in cash, they really were mostly stock, which now has lost its value. Do you feel you misled investors?
Bezos:Obviously no. I don't at all. Beyond us saying that there is no merit to the suit and we hope it will be dismissed, we are not going to comment on active litigation. If you look at
