In Jeff Bezos' letter, mention of a couple that bought 2 shares of Amazon in 1997
According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon has created $1.6 trillion of wealth for its shareowners.
Jeff Bezos, in his final letter to shareholders as the chief executive officer of Amazon, talked about a couple that bought two shares of the company for their 12-year-old son in 1997, and 24 years later, is going to use the return on their investment to buy a house. The stock the couple bought split three times within the next two years, leaving them with 24 shares.
Mary and Larry, whose second name was withheld for privacy reasons, sent an email to Bezos in March, thanking him for turning Amazon into a "great" company. The Amazon CEO attached their email in his final annual letter to the shareholders.
"Due to the exponential growth in value, we decided to split the stock between ourselves and both of our children, Ryan and Katy. This year Ryan is buying a house and would like to sell some shares," the couple wrote in their email read. "Those two shares have had a wonderful influence on our family. We all enjoyed watching Amazon value grow year after year and it is a story we love to tell others," they added.
The Amazon CEO, who is set to step down this year as Amazon Web Services' (AWS) founder Andy Jassy Amazon takes his place, said he is approached with similar stories all the time. "I know people who’ve used their Amazon money for college, for emergencies, for houses, for vacations, to start their own business, for charity – and the list goes on," he said. "I’m proud of the wealth we’ve created for shareowners. It’s significant, and it improves their lives," he added.
According to Bezos, Amazon has created $1.6 trillion of wealth for its shareowners. "My Amazon shares have made me wealthy. But more than 7/8ths of the shares, representing $1.4 trillion of wealth creation, are owned by others," he said in his letter.
Giving details about how the company has grown, Jeff Bezos said it hired 500,000 employees last year, and now directly employs 1.3 million people around the world. "We have more than 200 million Prime members worldwide. More than 1.9 million small and medium-sized businesses sell in our store, and they make up close to 60% of our retail sales. Customers have connected more than 100 million smart home devices to Alexa," he said in his letter.
