Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s 2025 shareholder letter

Pricey Shareholders:

2024 was a powerful yr for Amazon.

Our complete income grew 11% year-over-year (“YoY”) from $575B to $638B. By section, North America income elevated 10% YoY from $353B to $387B, Worldwide income grew 9% YoY from $131B to $143B, and AWS income elevated 19% YoY, from $91B to $108B. For perspective, simply 10 years in the past, AWS income was $4.6B; and in that very same yr, Amazon’s complete income was $89B.

Amazon’s working revenue in 2024 improved 86% YoY, from $36.9B (an working margin of 6.4%) to $68.6B (an working margin of 10.8%). Free Money Movement, adjusted for tools finance leases improved from $35.5B in 2023 to $36.2B.

Aside from the monetary outcomes, we made our prospects’ lives meaningfully higher and simpler. In our Shops enterprise, we considerably expanded choice, continued reducing costs (impartial analysis agency, Profitero, discovered Amazon the lowest-priced on-line U.S. Retailer for the eighth yr in a row), and for the second yr in a row, we shipped at document velocity to our Prime members. AWS launched a slew of latest infrastructure and AI providers that make it even simpler to construct outstanding buyer experiences, together with our newest customized AI silicon (Trainium2), a brand new set of frontier basis fashions in Amazon Nova, and vital growth of accessible fashions and options in our main Generative AI (“GenAI”) providers Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock. Prime Video continued to supply compelling authentic exhibits, together with new seasons for Fallout, Reacher, The Boys, and The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Energy, motion pictures like Street Home, The Concept of You, and Purple One, reside sports activities like Thursday Night time Soccer and UEFA Champions League in Europe (with the NBA and NASCAR coming in 2025), and new choice, highlighted by Apple TV+ becoming a member of Prime Video Channels. We launched a sequence of latest Kindle gadgets that included a brand new shade model, a bigger Scribe choice, and our quickest Paperwhites ever (the gathering of which drove the best Kindle unit gross sales for a single quarter in over a decade). And, we continued so as to add extra choice, value transparency, and identical day delivery for Amazon Pharmacy.

These accomplishments are a subset of what the group launched in 2024, however characterize a whole lot of invention, onerous work, and considerate execution throughout Amazon. I am grateful for my teammates and their supply this previous yr (a few of which you’ll see in our 2024 outcomes, others of which will not be seen for the following few years).

A Why Tradition
Yearly in my annual letter, I attempt to share perception into what makes Amazon tick. On the highest degree, we’re aiming to be Earth’s most customer-centric firm, making prospects’ lives higher and simpler every single day. This isn’t simple to do usually, not to mention yr after yr. Actually, it is really fairly onerous, particularly with the speedy price of change in expertise, buyer habits, and new merchandise from giant and small corporations alike. If we wish to have an opportunity at succeeding in our mission, we have now to continually query the whole lot round us.

We have had this long-held philosophy at Amazon about two-way and one-way door selections. A two-way door choice is one the place when you get the choice incorrect, you may stroll again by way of that door, revert to the place you had been, and there are few (if any) ramifications. You may make these selections rapidly and domestically. A one-way door choice is one the place it is fairly tough (if not inconceivable) to stroll again by way of that door when you get the choice incorrect, so these selections are made extra methodically. However, each of those constructs assume the door is unlocked. A whole lot of invention is about attempting to open doorways which have traditionally appeared bolted shut. And, over the previous 30 years, we have discovered one of the vital vital keys to unlock these doorways has been a easy query: “Why?”

“Why does this buyer expertise must be this manner?” “Why cannot it’s higher?” “What are the constraints—why should we settle for them?” “Why cannot we invent round that?” “Why will it take so lengthy to get to prospects?” Why?

My Dad has informed me that I used to be the form of child who saved asking why, maybe to an annoying extent. He is additionally jogged my memory how shortly after I joined Amazon in 1997, he tried to influence me to work someplace extra conventional (and on the east coast nearer to household)—solely to understand that I would already discovered the right match.

That is as a result of Amazon is a Why firm. We ask why, and why not, continually. It helps us deconstruct issues, get to root causes, perceive blockers, and unlock doorways that may have beforehand appeared impenetrable. Amazon has an unusually excessive quotient of this WhyQ (let’s name it “YQ”), and it frames the best way we take into consideration the whole lot that we do.

Beginning in 1995, we requested why cannot we provide prospects each in-print e book?

Then, we requested, why restrict ourselves to in-print—why cannot we additionally supply each out-of-print e book?

Why not supply each e book, ever written, in any language—all obtainable inside 60 seconds on a tool that is gentle and suits within the palm of your hand (Kindle)?

After we supply critiques, why should all of them come from skilled “specialists?” Clients are nice sources and will probably be brutally trustworthy. Why not embody buyer critiques even when they often dissuade a purchase order?

Why not supply greater than Books? What about Music, Video, Electronics, Instruments, Kitchen, Attire, Residence Furnishings?

Why not virtually the whole lot?

Why ought to we be the one sellers of this stuff? Thousands and thousands of third-party retailers and small sellers supply related or distinctive objects. Why not let prospects select the choice, value, and supply velocity they like from amongst these hundreds of thousands of sellers?

After struggling for a pair years to create consciousness for sellers’ choice, we requested ourselves why not present their choice on the identical product element pages as our first-party choice (the place all of the visitors was)?

Why not enable our sellers to additionally retailer objects in our success community, allow these objects to have quick, Prime supply, and fulfill these objects for sellers (a program known as Achievement by Amazon)?

Why not experiment with related ads in our retailer to reveal prospects to new sellers and objects (versus solely what our algorithms would possibly floor primarily based on previous purchases)?

Why does each firm want their very own capital-intensive datacenters and infrastructure? Why ought to each growth group hold reinventing providers like compute, storage, database, and analytics? Why ought to builders spend 80% of their time on the undifferentiated heavy lifting vs. their distinctive buyer expertise? Why not construct a set of providers (AWS) to resolve that for inside and exterior builders?

Why do I’ve to purchase a bodily video to look at a film? Why do I want cable or linear TV to look at wonderful TV exhibits (Prime Video)?

Why cannot I get my Prime delivery advantages on different web sites than simply Amazon (Purchase with Prime)?

I can go on. However, you get the thought. Each one in all these Whys have led to vital invention, and each one in all them have made prospects’ lives higher and simpler. A few of these appear apparent now. However on the time, these had been provocative questions that required curiosity, risk-taking, experimentation, and persistence to make these into success tales.

Enabling a Why Tradition
When you consider having excessive YQ is crucial to inventing for patrons, how do you allow it? In my view, it isn’t solved with one mechanism. It must be constructed deeply into your tradition and management group, and needs to be fiercely protected over time when you’re fortunate sufficient to achieve success. Listed below are a couple of of the methods we make use of.

Create management ideas that set the tone. We now have 16 Management Ideas that information our conduct. They’re all integral underpinnings to our YQ, however I am going to contact on three particularly:

Are Proper a Lot
“Leaders are proper rather a lot. They’ve sturdy judgment and good instincts. They search various views and work to disconfirm their beliefs.”

After we first instituted this management precept, some individuals incorrectly assumed it meant that the very best leaders had been those whose concepts had been chosen (i.e. they had been proper, rather a lot). It led to some individuals overly digging in and preventing for his or her concepts. There’s nothing incorrect with pushing for what you consider. However, in my expertise, the very best leaders wish to hear others’ views. They do not wilt or bristle when challenged; they’re intrigued. Efficient leaders change their minds when introduced with new compelling data (which makes it ironic how individuals dismiss politicians as “flip-floppers” once they change their place). Finally, leaders are liable for attending to the very best reply for patrons, no matter whose authentic thought is chosen.

Be taught and be Curious
“Leaders are by no means finished studying and at all times search to enhance themselves. They’re interested in new prospects and act to discover them.”

Within the practically 28 years I have been at Amazon, the most important distinction within the relative development of corporations and people has been their aptitude to study. At a sure level, some leaders appear to lose their thirst to study. It is onerous to know the rationale in every case, nevertheless it’s as if some individuals discover it too exhausting, too time-consuming, or too threatening to not have all of the solutions. Regardless, the day we cease studying at Amazon is the day we threat undermining what we’re able to constructing sooner or later. Folks with excessive YQ are at all times curious how they’ll get higher, turn out to be wiser, and incorporate their new data into higher buyer experiences.

Have Spine; Disagree and Commit
“Leaders are obligated to respectfully problem selections once they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They don’t compromise for the sake of social cohesion. As soon as a choice is set, they commit wholly.”

We do not simply empower individuals to problem each other, we obligate them to take action in the event that they disagree. Questioning, asking the onerous questions, forcing the dialogue (versus silently considering a mistake is being made) is critical to getting to higher solutions for patrons. “I informed you so” has no foreign money at Amazon. It is also vital to concentrate on the second a part of this management precept: disagree and commit. Whereas constructive debate is helpful; sooner or later, groups have to decide and take motion. From that time on, everyone—even those that advocated for a distinct resolution than the one chosen—should commit to creating that call successful. Meaning the group goes all in—no pocket-vetoing nor hedging between different choices. That is the one means we will protect velocity and confidence that if a difficulty is closely debated, the group will in the end pull collectively.

Create norms that assist the Why. Much like how our Management Ideas information our conduct, we have constructed norms through the years that information how we work. Listed below are a couple of examples:

Narratives. We stopped presenting data to one another inside the corporate through powerpoint in 2004. Given how excessive degree powerpoints are, we discovered that powerpoint was simple for the presenter to organize, however more durable for the viewers to know the substantive points. As an alternative, we moved to writing narratives with a most of six pages within the physique. Narratives are more durable for the presenter (it is onerous to put in writing a considerate six-page doc that highlights the important thing points in sufficient element to be crisp and clear), however a lot simpler for the viewers to have interaction with and ask the fitting Why questions.

Working backwards paperwork. After we construct providers or options, earlier than we begin coding, we write Press Launch and Incessantly Requested Questions (“FAQ”) paperwork. The Press Launch is meant to make sure that what we’re proposing constructing is outstanding to prospects (so we do not get to launch and ask “wait, why did we expect prospects would discover this fascinating?”). And, the FAQ is designed to pressure ourselves to ask the onerous questions on which prospects will use this functionality, what they will like most, what they will be most disillusioned with, why are we drawing the launch line the place we’re, why is it higher than present options, how ought to we take into consideration pricing, what pricing dimensions we advocate, and why have we made the architectural selections we have now. The Press Launch and FAQ are how we work backwards from prospects, and the way we push ourselves to ask questions prospects would in the event that they had been in these conferences.

Be collectively each time doable. There are numerous paths that may result in breakthrough innovation. Often, a lone genius comes up with a superb thought, and everybody else merely executes it. Whereas that may work, it isn’t how we sometimes function. Amazon invention is deeply collaborative. It begins with a seed of an thought, then a gaggle of sensible, mission-driven individuals refine, problem, and construct on it collectively. And, we have discovered that this course of is much simpler in individual than distant. After all, you may invent with everyone distant (and a few cultures appear to choose that). Nevertheless, in my expertise, it would not evaluate to being in the identical room. The power, the tempo, the spontaneous brainstorming, the willingness for individuals to leap in, the best way concepts evolve in actual time, and the post-meeting iteration is significantly better when in the identical room—and yields higher outcomes for our prospects and groups. With what’s occurring in AI proper now, and the probability that each buyer expertise we have ever identified will probably be reinvented, there has by no means been a extra vital time, for my part, to optimize to invent nicely.

Tolerating messy conferences. It is onerous to “schedule” innovation. You possibly can’t e book 60 minutes to invent Amazon Prime, or AWS, or Alexa+, or Achievement by Amazon, or Regionalization in our Achievement Community, or Venture Kuiper. These innovations are borne out of anyone asking why we won’t change what’s doable for patrons, after which they tackle a lifetime of their very own, usually meandering down a number of lifeless ends earlier than attending to a last vacation spot. This would possibly hassle some regimented people. However, after we’re inventing, we settle for the method being fantastically imperfect.

Function like a startup (in our case, the world’s largest startup). We try to function just like the world’s largest startup. What does that imply?

First, no matter we’re considering constructing needs to be targeted on fixing an actual buyer drawback or meaningfully bettering a buyer expertise. Firms can get off observe prioritizing expertise as a result of they’re excited concerning the expertise. Nice startups are on a mission to alter what’s doable for patrons.

Second, we have now a disproportionate want for builders. These are inventors. They’re individuals continually dissecting buyer experiences, even ones that appear fairly good at this time, and asking why they can not be higher. They’re divinely discontent (possibly annoyingly so for group members happy with what they’ve beforehand constructed), and by no means really feel just like the job is finished.

Third, we would like house owners. One of many strengths of Amazon over the primary 30 years is that we have employed actually sensible, motivated, ingenious, formidable individuals who have been nice house owners. And, that implies that our teammates are continually asking themselves, “What would I do if this was my very own cash?” “What would I do if I began this firm and I used to be the bulk proprietor?” “Hey, I do know I’ve solely been requested to personal part of this undertaking, however I am undecided if the opposite elements are being pushed nicely—ought to I stick my nostril into this and ensure or simply belief anyone’s obtained it?” House owners really feel accountable. They care deeply concerning the high quality and effectiveness of what they personal, and consider the corporate’s mission as their mission (we would like missionaries, not mercenaries). That is a part of what our effort to extend the ratio of particular person contributors versus managers is about. We would like flatter organizations the place our house owners doing the work really feel like they personal the two-way door selections (that are the overwhelming majority), can transfer quickly, and are totally accountable for fixing the Whys of their buyer experiences.

Fourth, velocity disproportionately issues for each enterprise, in each business, always. It is a false binary to argue which you can transfer quick or ship excessive requirements. If you wish to be quick, you may be quick, and nonetheless be top quality. We have finished it for a few years (although we will nonetheless be quicker). Velocity is a management choice. The management group has to consider it is a precedence, reinforce it continually, manage and take away structural boundaries, and construct in modular ways in which allow tempo. However, velocity doesn’t occur except your complete firm and tradition embrace it. We now have this persistent feeling, all through the corporate and in each enterprise through which we function, that there are closing home windows throughout us. We function in fiercely aggressive market segments, with extremely proficient, well-funded, formidable corporations at each flip. Clients are at all times searching for one thing higher. We spend a whole lot of time figuring out the best way to unlock these experiences for them as rapidly as doable, and know if we do not, anyone else will.

One other option to acquire velocity is to remove paperwork. There’s a distinction between course of and paperwork. If you’re operating one thing at scale, you want mechanisms to ship the fitting expertise and fixed enchancment for patrons. Nevertheless, as corporations develop and add extra managers, unneeded processes get layered on that add little worth. Final fall, I requested teammates throughout the corporate to ship me paperwork examples that they had been experiencing. I’ve acquired virtually 1,000 of those emails, and skim each single one. Builders hate paperwork. It slows them down, frustrates them, and retains them from doing what they got here right here to do. As leaders, we do not at all times see the crimson tape buried deep in our organizations, however we will positive as heck remove it after we do. We have already revamped 375 modifications primarily based on this suggestions. We have to transfer quick, and we’re dedicated to rooting out paperwork that ties up time and dispirits our teammates.

Fifth, you need to be scrappy. As companies succeed and get bigger, they often overlook how issues obtained began. We constructed Amazon Easy Storage Service (S3) with 13 individuals; Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) with 11 individuals. Managers can confuse themselves that the best way to develop and get forward is to build up giant groups. Traditionally, we have had intervals the place we have allowed this considering to carry sway. However, it isn’t the best way we essentially take into consideration constructing groups and merchandise, and have adjusted to replicate that once more. Our greatest leaders get probably the most finished with the least variety of sources required to do the job. They pleasure themselves on being lean.

Sixth, you need to be prepared to take dangers. This sounds simpler than it’s. You want intelligent sufficient individuals to establish worthwhile bets. And when you’ve got these ingenious, formidable builders with excessive requirements, they don’t seem to be used to failure. They think exterior (and possibly inside) ridicule awaits them if they fight one thing very completely different that does not work out. So, individuals usually play it protected. However, you may’t obtain one thing extraordinary for patrons by taking part in “to not lose.” In case your Whys take you down an invention path that delivers an expertise that does not appear to be what’s been finished earlier than, let buyer obsession be your compass. You not often, if ever, change the world by doing the identical factor as everyone else.

And eventually, you need to care most about delivering compelling outcomes for patrons. It isn’t how charismatic you might be. It isn’t whether or not you are actually good at managing up or sideways. What issues is what we really get finished for patrons. That is what we wish to reward.

Subsequent technology Whys
Whereas the group and I really feel fairly optimistic concerning the progress and potential of our present companies, we have now loads of new Whys we’re asking. Under are a couple of of them and a few fast ideas.

Why is AI so vital? Will it actually have as a lot impression as some declare and when?
Generative AI goes to reinvent nearly each buyer expertise we all know, and allow altogether new ones about which we have solely fantasized. The early AI workloads being deployed concentrate on productiveness and price avoidance (e.g. customer support, enterprise course of orchestration, workflow, translation, and many others.). That is saving corporations some huge cash. More and more, you may see AI change the norms in coding, search, procuring, private assistants, main care, most cancers and drug analysis, biology, robotics, area, monetary providers, neighborhood networks—the whole lot. A few of these areas are already seeing speedy progress; others are nonetheless of their infancy. However, in case your buyer experiences aren’t planning to leverage these clever fashions, their capability to question big corpuses of knowledge and rapidly discover your needle within the haystack, their capability to maintain getting smarter with extra suggestions and knowledge, and their future agentic capabilities, you’ll not be aggressive. How quickly? It will not all occur in a yr or two, however, it will not take ten both. It is transferring quicker than virtually something expertise has ever seen.

OK, I purchase AI is large; however why make investments this a lot this rapidly?
Basically, in case your mission is to make prospects’ lives higher and simpler every single day, and also you consider each buyer expertise will probably be reinvented by AI, you are going to make investments deeply and broadly in AI. That is why there are greater than 1,000 GenAI functions being constructed throughout Amazon, aiming to meaningfully change buyer experiences in procuring, coding, private assistants, streaming video and music, promoting, healthcare, studying, and residential gadgets, to call a couple of. It is also why AWS is rapidly growing the important thing primitives (or constructing blocks) for AI growth, corresponding to customized silicon AI chips in Amazon Trainium to supply higher price-performance on coaching and inference, extremely versatile model-building and inference providers in Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock, our personal frontier fashions in Amazon Nova to supply decrease price and latency for patrons’ functions, and agent creation and administration capabilities.

There may be additionally substantial capital funding required. In AWS, the quicker demand grows, the extra datacenters, chips, and {hardware} we have to procure (and AI chips are way more costly than CPU chips). We spend this capital upfront, although these property are helpful for a few years (within the case of datacenters, for a minimum of 15-20 years). We solely begin monetizing this capital funding many months after we spend the capital, and over a few years—which results in engaging long-term FCF and ROIC (as individuals have seen in AWS during the last a number of years). However in intervals, like now, of unusually excessive demand (our AI income is rising at triple digit YoY percentages and represents a multi-billion-dollar annual income run price), you are deploying a whole lot of capital. We proceed to consider AI is a once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of the whole lot we all know, the demand is in contrast to something we have seen earlier than, and our prospects, shareholders, and enterprise will probably be well-served by our investing aggressively now.

Why do chips and AI must be this costly for patrons?
AI doesn’t must be as costly as it’s at this time, and it will not be sooner or later. Chips are the most important wrongdoer. Most AI thus far has been constructed on one chip supplier. It is expensive. Trainium ought to assist, as our new Trainium2 chips supply 30-40% higher price-performance than the present GPU-powered compute situations typically obtainable at this time. Whereas mannequin coaching nonetheless accounts for a considerable amount of the entire AI spend, inference (that are the predictions or outputs of the fashions) will characterize the overwhelming majority of future AI price as a result of prospects practice their fashions periodically, however produce inferences continually in large-scale AI functions. Inference will turn out to be one other constructing block service, together with compute, storage, database, and others. We really feel sturdy urgency to make inference cheaper for patrons. Extra price-performant chips will assist. However, inference can even get meaningfully extra environment friendly within the subsequent couple of years with enhancements in mannequin distillation, immediate caching, computing infrastructure, and mannequin architectures. Decreasing the price per unit in AI will unleash AI getting used as expansively as prospects need, and likewise result in extra general AI spending. It is like what occurred with AWS. Revolutionizing the price of compute and storage fortunately led to decrease price per unit, and extra invention, higher buyer experiences, and extra absolute infrastructure spend.

Why have private assistants not but taken off? How can Alexa assist?
An ideal private assistant can reply nearly any query and get issues finished in your behalf. There have been no digital options that may do each but. That’s, till Alexa+ arrived. Alexa+ shouldn’t be solely comparably clever to the main chatbots, however can take a plethora of actual actions for you. She will be able to play music, play video, transfer media from one in all your gadgets to a different, set alarms and timers, management your sensible house, order throughout a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of ecommerce objects, make reservations for eating places or Ubers, order live performance tickets, warn you when your favourite artist pronounces a tour, discover a plumber to repair your sink, and memorize no matter you’ve got finished on Amazon. That is fairly game-changing for shoppers, and simply the beginning of what Alexa+ will do. We now have over 600 million Alexa gadgets on the market at this time, and count on Alexa+ to play an much more important position within the lives of those a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of shoppers sooner or later.

Why cannot we get objects to prospects even quicker? Does it matter?
Yearly, individuals ask whether or not we have reached the regulation of diminishing returns on velocity of supply. Our knowledge exhibits this to not be the case. After we promise quicker supply occasions, prospects full purchases at a meaningfully increased price and store with us extra often. Amazon Prime began with limitless, free, two-day supply for 1,000,000 merchandise; it is now grown to over 300 million objects, with tens of hundreds of thousands obtainable in at some point (or higher). An rising variety of deliveries occur identical day. This velocity enchancment is primarily resulting from our regionalization redesign of our success community, our new placement algorithms, and the introduction of our revolutionary same-day success facilities. Though we have set velocity data for 2 consecutive years, we’re nonetheless honing these improvements, and have others deliberate. And, do not forget Prime Air, our drones that may get objects to prospects inside an hour. We aren’t finished bettering velocity.

Why cannot individuals in small cities get pleasure from the identical quick supply speeds as individuals in cities?
As another corporations are abandoning small-town prospects resulting from price to serve, we’re going the opposite means—we’re investing to serve our rural prospects even higher. We have already expanded Identical-Day and In a single day Supply to dozens of smaller cities and cities throughout the U.S., with extra coming. This growth will present even quicker Amazon supply speeds for a lot of hundreds of thousands of shoppers, notably in much less densely populated areas, enabling us to ship over a billion packages every year to prospects residing in 13,000 zip codes spanning 1.2 million sq. miles.

, why cannot we assist the a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of individuals with out broadband connectivity?
There are about 400-500 million households all over the world, most in small, rural cities that do not have entry to broadband connectivity. They can not leverage the Web to study, store, do enterprise, entry leisure, and talk the identical means individuals take without any consideration in larger cities. This digital divide is what Venture Kuiper, our low Earth orbit satellite tv for pc community, goals to resolve. We’re simply launching our first manufacturing satellites, and can in the end have over 3,200 in orbit over the following few years. Whereas capital-intensive to launch, we consider Kuiper will probably be a significant working revenue and ROIC enterprise for us.

Why does healthcare must be so annoying?
Healthcare, particularly within the U.S., is kind of irritating. It is onerous to get quick appointments with main care physicians, usually more durable with specialists. There’s a whole lot of ready round. Physicians spend only some minutes with sufferers. Then, sufferers must drive someplace (usually not shut) to get their drugs. And, once they get to the pharmacy, they’re usually shocked by the pricing, what’s coated by their insurance coverage, and what you may simply entry that is not behind a locked shelf. Clients deserve higher. It is why you see such optimistic buyer sentiment and development for Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon One Medical, and we proceed to iterate rapidly on choice and transparency for Amazon Pharmacy, and bodily clinic capability for One Medical.

These are a number of the Why questions we’re asking ourselves proper now, and I am excited concerning the future innovations to return. We’re not going to be bored any time quickly.

Once I first began working, I believed it was unfathomable that my Dad labored on the identical place for 45 years. How may that be? That is so lengthy. I used to inform my pals that will by no means be me. Now, with virtually 28 years and counting at Amazon, I’ve to reply those self same pals with their very own Why query.

In spite of everything these years, why are you continue to at Amazon?

I am clearly a Superfan, however there are a number of compelling elements to working at Amazon. First, I am undecided that any firm prioritizes prospects as relentlessly as we do. A number of corporations say they are going to; few observe by way of. Second, it is difficult to discover a firm the place you may make a much bigger impression on the world than you may at Amazon. Third, we make vital long-term investments and bets in each innovations and folks. This enables our groups to iterate on concepts, and make the fitting long-term selections for patrons and the corporate. And, I’ve by no means encountered a extra clever, artistic, formidable, hungry, hard-working, and missionary group of teammates than we have now at Amazon. In my view, this can be a outstanding set of qualities to have at an organization. And, for builders who wish to change the world, and who’ve fireplace of their stomach, there isn’t any higher place to be than Amazon.

We function just like the world’s largest startup largely due to our tradition of Why. We do not at all times get the whole lot proper, and we study and iterate like loopy. However, we’re continually selecting to prioritize prospects, supply, invention, possession, velocity, scrappiness, curiosity, and constructing an organization that outlasts us all. It stays Day One.

Sincerely,

Andy Jassy
President and Chief Government Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.

P.S. As we have now at all times finished, our authentic 1997 Shareholder Letter follows. What’s written there may be as true at this time because it was in 1997.