many may be too young to remember but Eddie Lampert did this with Sears in the 80s and 90s as a thinly veiled attempt to turn the company into some kind of obscure land broker. It did not end well, and serves to this day as a textbook example of ideology eclipsing principled, well researched business decisions.
in the article Bloomberg attempts to invent reasons this practice is dicey for Amazon that dont involve "you arent a real estate company" but fall short. the regulatory landscape they paint simply doesnt exist in the places (texas) they want to buy land.
the real reason is likely to prevent competitors from setting up their own warehouses, as Lampert frequently did the same thing by buying out anchors and real estate in an attempt to funnel customers back into sears during its declining era as it was being bled dry by VC style profit chicanery that doesnt involve store refreshes or new markets.
in the article Bloomberg attempts to invent reasons this practice is dicey for Amazon that dont involve "you arent a real estate company" but fall short. the regulatory landscape they paint simply doesnt exist in the places (texas) they want to buy land.
the real reason is likely to prevent competitors from setting up their own warehouses, as Lampert frequently did the same thing by buying out anchors and real estate in an attempt to funnel customers back into sears during its declining era as it was being bled dry by VC style profit chicanery that doesnt involve store refreshes or new markets.