On Friday, Amazon said it was buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in cash.
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This story about Amazon's Jeff Bezos eating octopus for breakfast is symbolic of his business strategy (AMZN)
"When I look at the menu, you're the thing I don’t understand, the thing I've never had," Bezos said. "I must have the breakfast octopus."
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
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The deal is the largest in Amazon's history, but far from its first. In the nearly 23 years since it was founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon has acquired more than 70 companies of all shapes and sizes.
An interesting story from 2014 in Dallas' D Magazine profiles Matt Rutledge, who sold his daily-deals e-commerce company, Woot, to Amazon for $110 million in 2010. In it, Rutledge shares the story of his first meeting with Bezos after the deal was signed.
Not only does the anecdote reveal that Bezos is lousy at small talk, but it proves something about the way he thinks about business and Amazon's acquisition strategy.
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Rutledge flew into Seattle from Dallas on a Sunday night to go out to breakfast with Bezos on Monday. He had signed a contract to stay with Amazon for the next three years and thought the meeting was going to be about Bezos bringing him into his inner ranks.
Instead, it was awkward. Bezos didn't seem to have any real agenda, even though Rutledge had traveled far to meet with him.
Bezos ordered an exotic meal: Mediterranean octopus prepared with potatoes, bacon, green garlic yogurt, and a poached egg. When Rutledge asked Bezos why he had decided to buy Woot, Bezos paused for "many painful seconds" before answering.
Cue the chilling line from D Magazine's Tim Rogers: "Before it can be eaten, generally, the breakfast octopus must be killed."
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Jillian D'Onfro contributed to an earlier version of this story.
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