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9 wild stories that reveal the brutally competitive side of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

Áine CainNov 14, 2017, 20:31 IST

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

• Amazon is known throughout the business world for being a ruthless competitor - and is on track to become the first trillion-dollar company.

• Reports from Brad Stone's "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon" to the New York Times' 2015 feature story indicate CEO and founder Jeff Bezos can be a demanding boss, too.

• It's been alleged Bezos has barked out questions like "Are you lazy or just incompetent?" at employees, and referred to the publishing industry as a "sickly gazelle."

Amazon's brutal workplace culture is no secret.

And, if reports like Brad Stone's "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon" and the New York Times' 2015 feature story on the company are true, this culture flows from founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

From comparing businesses to exotic octopus dishes to banning Powerpoint outright, the tech mogul has acquired something of an intense reputation in the industry.

Here are several wild anecdotes that illustrate Bezos' competitive side.