This isn’t an exaggeration.

Amazon is taking over the world (wide web).

As of earlier this year, sales on Amazon.com accounted for 43% of  ALL online retail sales in the US.

You read that right!  Over 4 out of every 10 online retail transactions in the U.S. happen on Amazon!  4 out of 10!!!

One of the many keys to Amazon’s surreal success is that they have catered to both sides of the sales equation.  From the beginning, they rewarded anyone who sent traffic to Amazon with a couple of pennies worth of commission.  AND, more importantly, they expanded their marketplace to allow anyone to sell their products on Amazon.

I personally know several people who have made millions of dollars selling stuff on Amazon.

(In fact, we’ve got a few things . . .  my book, my Broadway board game (which we sell exclusively through Amazon) and this hot little product that we released for the holidays, and is flying off the e-shelves.)

Amazon is crushing it because buyers are happy and sellers are happy.

Win, win, and Amazon’s stock price explodes (I was offered a chance to buy into it in 1998.  My broker told me it was too expensive at $47.  It’s now at $1,127).

And because they’ve got that cash, they continue to expand.  And every industry they’ve gone after, they’ve disrupted.

It’s no secret that they are sniffing around, and waiting to make their move into live entertainment (specifically ticketing – since the secondary market has exploded).

And yeah, they’ll be after Broadway, for sure (another example of the Hamilton effect – big corporations are seeing there is big money here on Broadway and they want a piece). They’ve already been playing in the London market, and with their immense database of customers and more importantly, their buying habits, they could move a lot of tickets, and fast.

It’s going to be harder for them to break into the Broadway scene.  We’ve got our gatekeepers . . . and, honestly, those gates are up for good reason.  We’ve got to protect what we have before we let in a lion like Amazon.

But I started to wonder what would happen if we didn’t let them in.

Then I realized what a company like Amazon would do . . . they’d just make a musical.

When they wanted to get into the TV market and couldn’t find an easy path?  They created a production studio.  Through content, they found an in.

And what’s $20mm to a company like that?  I’ll tell you what it is. . . it’s what they profit in THREE DAYS.

Don’t be surprised if Amazon or any big corp that wants a flag planted in any area of the Broadway business, from ticketing to lighting to program printing, pushed their way in by creating a show and bringing the other stuff along for the ride.

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