I have attached my highlighted copy of Amazon’s 2022 Annual Report. If you only read the yellow highlights, it will take about 5 -7 minutes. Amazon is Relentless in its focus on customer service. The letter from Andy Jassy, President and Chief Executive Officer, is really worth reading. He joined Amazon in 1997 when they had only $15 million in sales. He started AWS in 2008, and last year had $80,096 billion in sales and $22,841 billion in profit. AWS is 16% of Amazon’s sales.
Sales at Amazon were $513,983 billion in 2022, with a growth of $44,161 billion in revenue. They lost $2,722 billion. Jeff Bezos owns 12.3% of the company, and his salary is the same as when he started at $81,840. Bezos’s net worth is $120 billion.
You will learn a lot in Andy’s letter to Shareholders “Change is always around the corner…But when you see it’s coming, you have to embrace it. Jassy said, “We believe our leading customer experiences, relentless invention, customer focus, and hard work will result in significant growth in the coming years.”
Amazon always attaches its 1997 Shareholder Letter. Andy said, “What’s written there is as true today as it was in 1997.
“We will continue to focus relentlessly on our customers.” Amazon is one of the few companies that never lost focus on customer service. With COVID, I think most firms in the world gave up on customer service. NOT Amazon. Customer service is very weak around the world. It is awful in the US.
I just reviewed my highlights to shareholders, and it appears I highlighted over 75% of the 3-page letter. I hope you learn as much as I have.
In May 2003, I invested $1,000 in Amazon and another $1,000 in eight other customer service leaders. Only three have kept their focus on Relentless Customer Service. Amazon’s stock value as of May 9 is $67,829, Costco’s is $20,806, and Home Depot’s is $15,315. Here is a link to my Relentless Book, where I teach you what it takes to be Relentless.