But that's the thing, it just wasn't a financially good idea. People forget that financial engineering (not the cynical connotation) matters a lot, i.e. what your numbers need to look like to have a solid business that grows and attracts capital. The corporation itself is a "product" of the business.

Jeff Bezos had good product/leadership sense but above that, had genius financial engineering sense. He knew exactly what the company needed to look like on paper every step of the way for it to become the behemoth that it became.