Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of e-commerce giant Amazon, has for many years written an annual letter to shareholders.
The letters were eagerly awaited and dissected by observers who sought to understand how Bezos managed to keep Amazon (AMZN) alive when the internet bubble burst. At the time many experts predicted the death of the online bookseller.
For six years, the firm had not been able to make a single profit; years later Amazon became a juggernaut, the second company to reach the symbolic threshold of $1 trillion in market capitalization.
Currently, Amazon's market value is $1.006 trillion, according to companiesmarketcap.com, making it the fifth largest company in the world. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), oil giant Saudi Aramco and Alphabet (GOOGL), parent of Google, are the only companies valued higher.
Bezos's Annual Letters to Holders
In these annual letters, we find out that since Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, he has run the company on unusual principles: Don't worry about competitors, don't worry about making money for shareholders, and don't worry about the short term. Focus on the customers, and everything else will g n-fall into place.
But then Bezos broke those rules and created a new philosophy, according to his annual letters, which he began writing after Amazon's IPO in 1997. These letters outline his approach to leadership, business, technology and other questions entrepreneurs pose.
For many experts, reading these letters is like going through the playbook of how to run a successful business in a rapidly changing technological world.
In total, Bezos wrote 24 such letters. The first was sent in 1997 and was titled "Bring on shareholders who align with your values." The last of these letters was sent on April 15, 2021. It covered the year 2020 and had as its headline: "Company culture can be both employee-centric and customer-centric."
"In Amazon’s 1997 letter to shareholders, our first, I talked about our hope to create an 'enduring franchise,' one that would reinvent what it means to serve customers by unlocking the internet’s power," Bezos said in this final letter, which you can read here.
"I noted that Amazon had grown from having 158 employees to 614, and that we had surpassed 1.5 million customer accounts. We had just gone public at a split-adjusted stock price of $1.50 per share. I wrote that it was Day 1."
"We’ve come a long way since then, and we are working harder than ever to serve and delight customers. Last year, we hired 500,000 employees and now directly employ 1.3 million people around the world."
'It's Legit Day 3 at This Point'
He ended the letter with the following sentence: "To all of you: be kind, be original, create more than you consume, and never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings. It remains Day 1."
These last words inspired a joke to a Twitter user. In the joke he summarizes all 24 of Bezos's letters.
"Just read all 25 of Jeff Bezos annual letters for Amazon since 1997. Here is one takeaway from each year," the user wrote on Feb. 9. "1997: Day 1."
According to them it was still "Day 1 until 2020," and then Bezos would tease the readers with "Day 2" in 2021 but the billionaire would finally say "It's def Day 1."
Just to be clear, no letter covered 2021 as Bezos had stepped down as Amazon's CEO in July 2021. He was succeeded by Andy Jassy. The letters were written while Bezos was CEO.
Which brings us to Musk, who seems to have appreciated the joke made at the expense of Bezos, since he did not hesitate to criticize his rival.
"It’s legit day 3 at this point," Musk commented.
This nasty shot was followed by many mocking comments from platform users against Bezos.
"Since Bezos retired it's now always day fun," one Twitter user said.
"Say it Jeff say it," another one wrote.
"Someone needs to try turning Bezos off and on again," another Twitter mocked.
Musk and Bezos are rivals on several levels. The Tesla CEO is currently the world's second richest man, with a fortune valued at $186 billion as of Feb. 9, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos has a net worth of $122 billion. Musk's SpaceX and Bezos's Blue Origin go head-to-head in the effort to conquer space.
