In his first Amazon shareholder letter, CEO Andy Jassy talks about AWS, Prime and labor
Andy Jassy, who became Amazon CEO last year, has released its first annual letter to shareholders, which acts as a summary of how the company fared in 2021 and outlines its goals for the future. The letter begins by glorifying Amazon Web Services’ role in helping businesses during the pandemic — familiar topic for Jassy, whose previous role was as CEO of AWS. The letter also discusses well-known topics such as supply chain disruption, labor shortages and Amazon’s focus on getting more Prime packages faster.
Labor is currently a hot button topic for Amazon. Aside from the difficulty in getting new hires, Jassy addresses reports that the company has significantly higher injury rates than the industry average for warehouse workers by saying it is working to systematically fix “the top 100 employee experience pain points.” But Jassy is silent on the subject of work organization. Amazon is currently in the midst of two disputed union elections, one in Bessemer, Alabama (where the union objected to Amazon’s actions against campaigners), the other in Staten Island, New York (where Amazon objected after the union’s historic victory). ). Union elections will begin again on April 25 at the LDJ5 facility.
You can read the full shareholder letter here† It’s long and how much value you get from it depends on how interested you are in Amazon’s business, but it could provide some insight into the tone Jassy is trying to set for his tenure at Amazon. If you’d like to learn more about him, we’ve got a great account of his history with the company, which you can read here.
