SEATTLE, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN - news) today released the following statement in response to the announcement that Barnes & Noble Inc. has agreed to acquire Ingram Book Group:
Amazon.com currently purchases books from a variety of sources, including Ingram. Our long-term strategy has been to diversify our supplier base and to increase our direct purchasing from publishers. We anticipate that this trend will continue for some time to come.
That said, Ingram is the largest book distributor in the United States, and many independent book stores rely on it as their sole source of supply. The combination of the country's biggest book retailer with its biggest distributor, and, given the recently announced Bertelsmann transaction, its biggest publisher group, undoubtedly will raise industry-wide concerns. Like other independent booksellers, we hope that Ingram resolves those concerns with a strong commitment to treating all bookstores fairly.
``To our customers: Worry not,'' said Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. ``Those who make choices that are genuinely good for customers, authors, and publishers will prevail. Goliath is always in range of a good slingshot.''
About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc., the Internet's No. 1 book and No. 1 music retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and quickly became Earth's Biggest Bookstore. Today, the Amazon.com store has expanded to offer more than 3 million books, music CDs, audiobooks, videos, DVDs, computer games, and other titles, plus easy-to-use search-and-locate features, secure credit card payment, personalized recommendations, streamlined ordering through 1-Click(SM) technology, and direct shipping. Amazon.com operates two international bookstore Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service, and the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, the unpredictability of its future revenues, and risks associated with capacity constraints, management of growth, and new business opportunities. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997, and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 1998.
NOTE: Amazon.com, Earth's Biggest Bookstore, and 1-Click are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 6, 1998--The following is a statement by barnesandnoble.com
With regard to the acquisition of the Ingram Book Group, Barnes & Noble, Inc. is amused to read Jeff Bezos' quote, where he describes himself as an independent bookseller: ``Goliath is always in range of a good slingshot.''
Well, Mr. Bezos, what with a market capitalization of some $6 billion and more than four million customers, we suppose you know a Goliath when you see one. Your company is now worth more than Barnes & Noble, Borders, and all of the independent booksellers combined. Might we suggest that slingshots and pot shots should not be part of your arsenal.
About barnesandnoble.com
barnesandnoble.com offers customers more than four million books, featuring the largest selection of in-stock titles of any bookseller online, with over 650,000 titles in its distribution center and two million in-stock rare and out-of-print books through its partnership with Advanced Book Exchange. The site also has access to over 2.5 million additional titles from more than 50,000 publisher imprints. It was the first online bookseller to offer deep discounts, including up to 40 percent off hardcover books and up to 90 percent on its selection of thousands of bargain books.
barnesandnoble.com is the exclusive bookseller to America Online (AOL)'s more than 13 million subscribers (Keyword: bn) and has strategic partnerships with ten of the top twenty web sites, including ZDNet, CNN and Lycos. Through its affiliate network, barnesandnoble.com has established ``remote storefronts,'' paying the highest commissions with the best reporting tools of any similar bookseller program in e-commerce.
Contact: Mary Ellen Keating Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications Barnes & Noble, Inc. 212.633.3323 or Ben Boyd Director of Communications barnesandnoble.com 212.414.6014
SEATTLE, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- "Oh."
SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.