Business & Tech
Ted Leonsis Has Astonishing Story About Amazon's Founding: Report
The Washington Capitals and Wizards owner says that Bernie Madoff may be partially responsible for Amazon's existence.
As the Washingtonian delved deep into the D.C. life of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently, the magazine uncovered a truly stunning anecdote involving Bezos, Ted Leonsis, and Bernie Madoff.
The story quotes Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, who recalled meeting Bezos in 1994 (when he was president of AOL) at a conference room in Sterling, Va., where Bezos told him he wanted to launch the largest bookseller in the world.
The two would develop a business partnership, and at one point Bezos confided in why he decided to leave Wall Street and start Amazon: "I had a competitor who was kicking my ass."
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That competitor? Bernie Madoff. The same Madoff who went to jail for running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
That means apparently Madoff wasn't beating Bezos at all. So if Madoff hadn't been cheating the system, one might wonder if Amazon would have ever come to be.
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You can read the full story here.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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