from Aditya Kondawar | by Aditya Kondawar

The story of Milliravi and Amazon - It was June 2000 when Ravi Suria at Lehman Brothers released a scathing report on Amazon, suggesting “the company will run out of cash within the next four quarters.” This contributed to a 20% fall in Amazon’s stock t.co/jOyyPh7rxd

1/n In hindsight, this was incorrect, given Amazon’s near-$1 billion in cash and securities to cover supplier accounts, and its negative-working-capital model

2/n The mere mention of Amazon running out of cash would trigger a self-fulfilling prophecy, scaring away customers and spooking suppliers into requiring immediate payment from Amazon Bezos and Amazon clarified this in the press arguing the analysis is strongly incorrect

3/n Internally, they coined the term “milliravi” to indicate a math error of a million dollars or more. This was in detest of Ravi Suria Nevertheless, Bezos announced a goal to become profitable by Q4 2001

4/n In April, 2003 when Amazon announced its quarterly earnings, the press release had an odd headline - Meaningful Innovation Leads, Launches, Inspires Relentless Amazon Visitor Improvements - that also doubled as a quote attributed to Bezos

5/n The intended meaning was lost to the journalists and analysts present but to Amazon employees - the first letters of each word spelt - 'Milliravi. 🙈🙈🙈 On his part, Ravi Suria notes that he hasn't purchased anything from Amazon ever since! t.co/URmHjZqF3p

6/n Jeff Bezos is one relentless guy Here's one more fun fact - Type relentless dot com onto your browser and see which site it redirects to :) Story taken from the Book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon By @BradStone A super book, i recommend it.