Jeff Bezos has seen it all in his decade-long quest to build Amazon into the biggest internet retailer in the universe. During the Web 1.0 era he was Time magazine�s Man of the Year, but many on Wall Street wrote his company off during the bust. Now Bezos is back, and his plan to turn Amazon into a web platform for both consumers and partners has paid off handsomely. So what�s next?

Jeff Bezos has always been interested in anything that can be revolutionized by computers. Intrigued by the amazing growth in use of the Internet, Bezos created a business model that leveraged the Internet's unique ability to deliver huge amounts of information rapidly and efficiently.

In 1994 he founded Amazon.com, Inc., now the leading online retailer, offering services that traditional retailers cannot: lower prices, authoritative selection and a wealth of product information.

Before heading west to start Amazon.com, Bezos worked at the intersection of computer science and finance, helping build one of the most technically sophisticated quantitative hedge funds on Wall Street for D.E. Shaw & Co. He also led the development of computer systems that helped manage more than $250 billion in assets for Bankers Trust Company.

He graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986.

This conversations is moderated by Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media, Inc.

This is a presentation delivered at the Web 2.0 Conference held in San Francisco, CA, October 5-7, 2004. Our thanks go to MediaLive International and O'Reilly Media, the producers of Web 2.0, for permission to bring you this session, one of many from Web 2.0 here on IT Conversations.