News and Commentary

Amazon’s Bezos Warns Investors, We’re Spending Entire 2nd Quarter Profit Fighting Coronavirus: ‘You May Want Take A Seat’

   DailyWire.com
CEO of Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos speaks during an event marking the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 02, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Osman Orsal/Getty Images

On Thursday evening, the world’s richest man, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, warned investors that the entire second-quarter profit the company made would be spent in various ways to fight the effects of the coronavirus in America, asserting, “If you’re a shareowner in Amazon, you may want to take a seat, because we’re not thinking small.” Bezos explained that the company would make “investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.”

Since the coronavirus crisis emerged as it is the go-to online delivery service, Amazon’s shares have risen 34% so far in 2020, as MarketWatch reported, but although its sales totaled $75 billion in the first quarter, its profit declined. Bezos himself has made over $24 billion since the crisis began, according to Fortune, which left his net worth at  $148.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Bezos’ statement to investors read, according to MarketWatch:

From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business as never before, but it’s also the hardest time we’ve ever faced. We are inspired by all the essential workers we see doing their jobs—nurses and doctors, grocery store cashiers, police officers, and our own extraordinary frontline employees. the service we provide has never been more critical, and the people doing the frontline work—our employees and all the contractors throughout our supply chain—are counting on us to keep them safe as they do that work. We’re not going to let them down. Providing for customers and protecting employees as this crisis continues for more months is going to take skill, humility, invention, and money.

Then, the warning to investors:

If you’re a shareowner in Amazon, you may want to take a seat, because we’re not thinking small. Under normal circumstances, in this coming q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit. but these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on COVID-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. This includes investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities. There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and the best investment we can make is in the safety and well-being of our hundreds of thousands of employees. I’m confident that our long-term oriented shareowners will understand and embrace our approach, and that in fact they would expect no less.

The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member 

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Amazon’s Bezos Warns Investors, We’re Spending Entire 2nd Quarter Profit Fighting Coronavirus: ‘You May Want Take A Seat’