Post on man who made Amazon’s first-ever purchase in 1995 gets Bezos and Musk to react: ‘I thought I was going to get free books’
John Wainwright bought a book that was a compilation of essays exploring artificial intelligence concepts in the 1990s.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos recently reacted to a post highlighting that Amazon’s very first sale back in 1995 was a book about artificial intelligence (AI). At a time when the internet was still developing, the platform’s first-ever purchase was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter.
The book is a compilation of essays exploring AI concepts in the 1990s.
The post quickly gained traction after financial commentator Jon Erlichman shared a post on March 3. “On this day in 1995: the first item was purchased on Amazon. It was a book on artificial intelligence,” he wrote. He also posted an image of the book along with an invoice made out to John Wainwright. Bezos reshared the post, reacting with a smiling emoticon.
Elon Musk also reacted to it on April 4, commenting, “It was the start of something great.”
See here:
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 3, 2026
The post garnered a range of reactions, with a user commenting: “You two should have a public forum on starting companies and navigating extreme growth.” Another user wrote, “that purchaser needs recognition/ prize. not that you need the publicity but it would make for a neat walk down memory lane I know I would love it!”
“Absolutely! Every big achievement starts somewhere, and this feels like the first step toward something epic. Can’t wait to see what comes next!” a third user reacted.
The historic order was placed by Wainwright during Amazon’s early soft launch phase. He had been encouraged to try the platform by computer programmer Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee, who sent him a link and asked him to purchase a few books. The two had previously worked together and remained in touch after Kaphan left an Apple-IBM joint venture to join Bezos’s fledgling startup.
According to a 2025 report by Yahoo, Wainwright initially assumed the books would be complimentary and was surprised when he was actually billed for the order.
Recalling the experience in an interview with MarketWatch, Wainwright explained, “I was a very close friend of the founding engineer of Amazon, and was working at an Apple/IBM joint venture called Kaleida Labs. Shel Kaphan (widely noted as Amazon’s first employee) worked at Kaleida Labs, and in 1994, he decided to leave to work on this crazy idea of an online bookstore. We all thought he was crazy to do that. He kept me up to date on what he was doing. He sent me an email and said, ‘Create an account and order some books.’ I thought I was going to get some free books out of it. But they took my credit card and charged it!”
Billionaire Jeff Bezos recently reacted to a post highlighting that Amazon’s very first sale back in 1995 was a book about artificial intelligence (AI). At a time when the internet was still developing, the platform’s first-ever purchase was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter.
The book is a compilation of essays exploring AI concepts in the 1990s.
The post quickly gained traction after financial commentator Jon Erlichman shared a post on March 3. “On this day in 1995: the first item was purchased on Amazon. It was a book on artificial intelligence,” he wrote. He also posted an image of the book along with an invoice made out to John Wainwright. Bezos reshared the post, reacting with a smiling emoticon.
Elon Musk also reacted to it on April 4, commenting, “It was the start of something great.”
See here:
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 3, 2026
The post garnered a range of reactions, with a user commenting: “You two should have a public forum on starting companies and navigating extreme growth.” Another user wrote, “that purchaser needs recognition/ prize. not that you need the publicity but it would make for a neat walk down memory lane I know I would love it!”
“Absolutely! Every big achievement starts somewhere, and this feels like the first step toward something epic. Can’t wait to see what comes next!” a third user reacted.
The historic order was placed by Wainwright during Amazon’s early soft launch phase. He had been encouraged to try the platform by computer programmer Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee, who sent him a link and asked him to purchase a few books. The two had previously worked together and remained in touch after Kaphan left an Apple-IBM joint venture to join Bezos’s fledgling startup.
According to a 2025 report by Yahoo, Wainwright initially assumed the books would be complimentary and was surprised when he was actually billed for the order.
Recalling the experience in an interview with MarketWatch, Wainwright explained, “I was a very close friend of the founding engineer of Amazon, and was working at an Apple/IBM joint venture called Kaleida Labs. Shel Kaphan (widely noted as Amazon’s first employee) worked at Kaleida Labs, and in 1994, he decided to leave to work on this crazy idea of an online bookstore. We all thought he was crazy to do that. He kept me up to date on what he was doing. He sent me an email and said, ‘Create an account and order some books.’ I thought I was going to get some free books out of it. But they took my credit card and charged it!”
