When the CEO Is the Company

What is Amazon.com (AMZN Quote) without Jeff Bezos?

That's what some investors may be wondering following reports that the company's chairman and chief executive officer survived a helicopter crash in Texas last week. Although Bezos, 39, presumably has many years of service to the company left in him, the frightening incident highlights his importance to the company, and Amazon's lack of an acknowledged No. 2.

"It would probably be more disruptive than you would imagine," said Jeff Matthews, general partner of Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm Ram Partners, and a contributor to the Street Insight Web site. "It's a great yellow flag for them, to make sure they do have a good guy or woman in place to fill his shoes." ...