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Sunday 9 May 2021

'I love milk so much': Billionaire Jeff Bezos' old Amazon reviews are unearthed revealing some quirky product preferences from the world's richest man

 Amazon reviews made by Jeff Bezos have been unearthed - including $1,469 high-powered binoculars - showing insight into the purchases of the world's richest man.

Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, had created a public profile with his online retail giant company with which he reviewed six products in the early 2000s, Inc. Magazine revealed. He is ranked as reviewer number #78,951,609. 

Each of the six products, which all appear to still be sold by the online retailer, were given full stars by Bezos with brief comments about how much he loved the products.


His last review was made on Aug 9, 2006 when he reviewed a gallon of Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk.

'I love milk so much that I've been drinking it since the day I was born. I don't think it was Tuscan though,' Bezos quipped, noting he is a 'long time fan' of the product.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Amazon to find out if Bezos still drinks the Tuscan vitamin milk, and for additional comment.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, had created public profile with his online retail giant company with which he reviewed six products in the early 2000s - including milk

His last review was made on Aug 9, 2006 when he reviewed a gallon of Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk

 His last review was made on Aug 9, 2006 when he reviewed a gallon of Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk

A product image shows Tuscan's DairyPure Whole Milk with Vitamin D, apparently Jeff Bezos' favorite milk

A product image shows Tuscan's DairyPure Whole Milk with Vitamin D, apparently Jeff Bezos' favorite milk

Bezos' second review was for the film Life Is Beautiful, which he hailed as a 'masterpiece'

Bezos' second review was for the film Life Is Beautiful, which he hailed as a 'masterpiece'

Bezos said: 'I strongly recommend going with the subtitles instead so you can hear Benigni's amazing acting and passion'

Bezos said: 'I strongly recommend going with the subtitles instead so you can hear Benigni's amazing acting and passion'

Bezos's first review, titled 'Wow. A masterpiece,' was made on Mar 17, 2000 when he praised the film Life Is Beautiful, which had snagged three Oscar wins.

'This movie is absolutely all it's cracked up to be. Hysterically funny and simultaneously a tear jerker - it's ultimately very uplifting. The cinematography is also fantastic - amazing use of color,' Bezos wrote.

'The DVD has dubbed english (sic) as an option, but I strongly recommend going with the subtitles instead so you can hear Benigni's amazing acting and passion.'


He added: 'Too bad the DVD doesn't include any deleted scenes. With Benigni, I think it would be particularly fun to see out-takes.'

Robert Benigni won Best Actor for his role playing Guido - 'a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor' who life is threatened by World War II, the film's description on Amazon reads.

Bezos' second review, for Canon 18x50 Image Stabilization All-Weather Binoculars, was made six months later on September 7, 2000

Bezos' second review, for Canon 18x50 Image Stabilization All-Weather Binoculars, was made six months later on September 7, 2000

Bezos added that he only had 'two small complaints' despite giving the product five stars, like all the products he reviewed

Bezos added that he only had 'two small complaints' despite giving the product five stars, like all the products he reviewed

Bezos' second review, for Canon 18x50 Image Stabilization All-Weather Binoculars, was made six months later on September 7, 2000. The same binoculars are listed on Amazon nearly 20 years later for $1,469. 

'The problem with high power binoculars is that humans can't hold them steady, and that jitter makes it impossible to really look at something without a tripod,' Bezos wrote.

'The image stabilization in this pair solves that problem and holds things rock steady. This is an expensive product that clearly distingues (sic) itself, and one of those products that technology makes seem a little magic.'

Bezos added that he only had 'two small complaints' despite giving the product five stars, like all the products he reviewed.

'First, for a product this expensive they should pre-install the neck strap for you - not a big deal, but it would be nice for the customer,' he wrote.

'Second, I wish the lens cap covers were higher quality and attachable to the unit so they wouldn't get lost. Again, not a big deal. These are without a doubt the best binoculars I've ever used.'

The binoculars review was his most popular  with 136 people voting it 'helpful.'

Bezos, whose net worth is now $192 billion, was worth a mere $4.7 billion at the time he made in 2000, according to Forbes.

That same year, Amazon recorded 25 million active customers- but a Lehman Brothers analyst wrongly predicted that the company would run out of cash the following year causing the company's stock to end 79% down at the end of the year.

In 2000, Bezos also launched his space exploration company Blue Origin.

Bezos' third review came on Jun 10, 2001 when he reviewed the book The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race

Bezos' third review came on Jun 10, 2001 when he reviewed the book The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race

The book features first-hand accounts- including from Oracle founder Larry Ellison - from 'one of the worst modern sailing disasters'

The book features first-hand accounts- including from Oracle founder Larry Ellison - from 'one of the worst modern sailing disasters'

Bezos' third review came on Jun 10, 2001 when he reviewed the book The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race - which he called 'intense and disciplined.'

Bezos' net worth had dropped to just $1.2 billion that year - his lowest net worth since he joined The Forbes 400 in 1998, according to Forbes.

'This book is about people - an incredibly interesting assortment of determined, competitive people thrust into a circumstance more challenging and dangerous than any of them expected,' Bezos wrote.

'Bruce Knecht captures acts of heroism and frailty, but, in a display of astonishing writerly discipline, he never judges these people. Judging these strong people would inevitably over-simplify the reality of human behavior under life-threatening stress.'

He added: 'The way Knecht does it, as we read, we get to wonder how we would react.'

The book is free for subscribers to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited service, according to the product's current listing. The book features first-hand accounts- including from Oracle founder Larry Ellison - from 'one of the worst modern sailing disasters.' 

Ellison has been described as Bezos' 'nemesis' in an article from Business Insider.  

Bezos' fourth review came on Apr 14, 2002 when he reviewed another nonfiction book: Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship

Bezos' fourth review came on Apr 14, 2002 when he reviewed another nonfiction book: Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship

As noted by Inc. Magazine, the book's author George Dyson has since been involved with Bezos's Blue Origin space company

As noted by Inc. Magazine, the book's author George Dyson has since been involved with Bezos's Blue Origin space company

Bezos' fourth review came on Apr 14, 2002 when he reviewed another nonfiction book: Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship. 

The book, written by George Dyson, details his father's attempts to power spaceships with hydrogen bombs at the height of the Cold War so human astronauts could explore the solar system. 

As noted by Inc. Magazine, George Dyson has since been involved with Bezos's Blue Origin space company.

'For those of us who dream of visiting the outer planets, seeing Saturn's rings up close without intermediation of telescopes or charge-coupled devices, well, we pretty much *have* to read 'Project Orion',' Bezos wrote in his lengthiest review.

'In 1958, some of the world's smartest people, including famous physicist Freeman Dyson (the author's father), expected to visit the outer planets in 'Orion,' a nuclear-bomb propelled ship big enough and powerful enough to seat its passengers in lazy-boy recliners.'

'They expected to start their grand tour by 1970. This was not pie-in-the-sky optimism; they had strong technical reasons for believing they could do it.'

He added: 'To pull this book together, George Dyson did an astonishing amount of research into this still largely classified project. And, maybe because he's connected to Orion through his father, the author captures the strong emotion of the project and the team. Highly recommended.'

In his next review, he hailed the science-fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

In his next review, he hailed the science-fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

Business Insider noted that author Cory Doctorow 'has been consistently vocal of his criticism of Amazon on his Twitter'

Business Insider noted that author Cory Doctorow 'has been consistently vocal of his criticism of Amazon on his Twitter'

Bezos' next review followed the theme, but - instead of a nonfiction book - he reviewed the science-fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow - which he called a 'grand idea novel!' on Jan 22, 2003. 

Bezos began the review with a quote from Star Trek, which was not one of the products he reviewed, though he later made an unrecognizable cameo in Star Trek Beyond, GeekWire noted.

'Star Trek may be a money-free universe, but they've always left blank the details of how scarce assets like a starship or a Picasso ... or the Haunted Mansion might get allocated,' Bezos wrote.

'In this fun, fast book, the clearly talented Cory Doctorow explores a full-on reputation economy. With the help of a sophisticated, real-time network, people accumulate and lose a reputation currency called 'whuffie'.'

He continued: 'The ideas are an incredibly rich playground, and the author doesn't make you suffer through flat characters or clunky prose to get to them. On the contrary, these are totally alive characters set in a deeply conjured world (which world is Disney World, a place you can feel the author's passion for).'

'By the end, you'll know the characters well enough to be able to judge what impact this new world has - or doesn't have - on the fundamentals of human nature.'

He added: 'Cory Doctorow deserves much whuffie for this novel. Highly recommended.'

Business Insider noted that author Cory Doctorow 'has been consistently vocal of his criticism of Amazon on his Twitter.'

In a lengthy Twitter thread in January, Doctorow wrote: 'While many Amazon warehouse workers in Europe have unionized, its brutalized, underpaid, routinely maimed US workforce remains tragically unorganized, thanks to the US's weak labor laws that make forming a union far harder than at any time since the Gilded Age.'

Bezos' final review, and perhaps his best was for the Tuscan Dairy Whole Vitamin D Milk. He appeared to love the milk so much that he returned from a three-year reviewing hiatus just to praise the milk.

His net worth in 2006 was somewhere between $4.8 billion, from 2005, and $8.7 billion in 2007. His exact net worth for 2006 was not immediately clear.

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