![](https://poy.time.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2012/12/poypwm_bezos.jpg?w=260)
Amazon may still be best known as what its TV commercials call it: the people with the smile on the box. But more and more of founder Jeff Bezos¹s big ideas go way beyond his roots as a mail-order merchant. In 2012, he unveiled three new Kindle tablets, the company¹s most ambitious salvo in the gadget wars to date. He also took on Netflix¹s video-streaming service, signing distribution deals with content owners such as NBCUniversal and Warner Bros (like TIME, a part of Time Warner). And he¹s willing to operate businesses at the slimmest imaginable profit margin — making it tough for the company¹s many rivals to compete.