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Annual meetings
Amazon.com's Bezos ducks questions on Toysrus.com suit

By Monica Soto Ouchi
Seattle Times technology reporter

JIM BRYANT / AP Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks with reporters at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle yesterday.

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Annual corporate shareholder meetings sometimes hold an element of surprise. Online retailer Amazon.com yesterday had its own unscripted moment.

Dan Barr, a productivity consultant from Seattle, led shareholders in three "hip-hip-hoorays" during the online retailer's question-and-answer session at Bell Harbor Conference Center. The audience seemed reluctant to participate at first, but warmed up by the third cheer.

"I suppose it was because, often, there was kind of a deafening silence," said Barr, 62, of starting a tradition two years ago to lead cheers at local corporate annual meetings. He headed one at Nordstrom's annual meeting yesterday, too.

"These are fabulous companies," said Barr, who attended 17 annual meetings last year. "I think (shareholders) ought to be celebrating and encouraging them to be the very best."

Amazon's annual shareholders meeting serves as the one time each year that noninstitutional investors can meet and question Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. One shareholder suggested strengthening Amazon's executive compensation policy. The proposal received 3 percent of the shareholder vote.

As has become customary, Bezos used part of the time to show off a variety of the online retailer's better-selling, if not more unusual, products. He selected from a wall of items arranged next to letters from A to Z.

Next to H was the Stiletto-brand hammer, a 15-ounce piece of titanium that sells for $174.99 in the retailer's home and garden store.

"This is the hammer of choice — solid cast titanium," Bezos said, holding it up for investors to see. "That's important in case your hammer ever needs to go Mach 3."

S stood for Sweet Mele's Hawaiian Coconut Surfboard Syrup, which sells in the gourmet food store for $3.69.

"Our anti-Atkins strategy is that, as groceries shed products like this and replace them with healthy, high-protein products, we'll be the last man standing," Bezos quipped.
 
Amazon last year reported a $35.3 million profit on $5.3 billion in sales, as its customers responded to deep discounts and a standing free-shipping offer on orders of more than $25.

After the meeting, Bezos declined to answer questions from reporters about a lawsuit brought last week by partner Toysrus.com.

"It's active litigation," he said. "It's not appropriate to comment on it."

In August 2000, the companies signed a 10-year deal to operate co-branded toy and baby stores online. But Toysrus.com sued Amazon on Friday, alleging it violated that arrangement by allowing other retailers to sell toys and baby products on Amazon's site.

Toysrus.com, a division of Toys R Us, has paid more than $200 million since the deal began for the right to exclusivity, according to the lawsuit.

The deal became the cornerstone of Amazon's strategy to expand its selection through partnerships with other retailers. Its largest partners include retailers such as Target, Borders.com and Office Depot.

Prominent mediator Randall Wulff, principal of Wulff, Quinby & Sochynsky in Oakland, Calif., oversaw talks on Thursday and Friday. Toysrus.com filed the lawsuit on the second day.

Wulff said yesterday that a lawsuit doesn't mean the end to mediation, and he has encouraged both sides to consider returning to the table. "It's not unusual to retire, let the dust settle, reflect maturely and then return," he said.

Amazon's shares closed yesterday at $43.62, up $1.99.

Monica Soto Ouchi: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com