Featured Image Credit: NBC/ KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: US News, Money, Film and TV, Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Katherine Sidnell
Topics: US News, Money, Film and TV, Jeff Bezos, Amazon
There’s an old saying: he who laughs last laughs longest.
While it’s not always true, it was seemingly right for Jeff Bezos after the Amazon exec was laughed at for how unprofitable his brand was.
It happened when the founder appeared on a talk show back in 1999, with him joking about his unusual business strategy - which ultimately paid dividends in years to come. Take a look below:
Advert
Sat opposite legendary late night host Jay Leno on his show, Bezos seemed unfazed when discussing how Amazon had never made a profit.
“Here’s the thing I don’t understand, the company is worth billions and every time I pick up the paper each year it loses more money than it lost the year before,” says the seasoned talk show presenter, with the audience erupting into laughter off screen.
When pressed as to why this was, Bezos then jokes: “It seems like a new math, doesn’t it?”
He even quips about a series of cartoons based upon this fact, still smiling and poking fun at Amazon’s business model.
While most of us would be losing our hair over this (as did he eventually), the exec sits and calmly explains the tactic behind the brand’s finances.
“We are a famously unprofitable company and we are investing in the future, which isn’t unusual,” he tells the audience, revealing how he's constantly reinvesting.
He adds that the only thing that is strange is the ‘scale’ of reinvestment.
However, Bezos would eventually have the last laugh with Amazon making over $33 billion in profit in 2021.
Though most of that has been reinvested over the years, Bezos has also launched his Earth Fund with over $10 billion given to help fight climate change and protect the environment.
If that weren’t insane enough, the fund will be distributed by 2030 to scientists, activists and organizations who offer possible solutions to the climate crisis.
As part of the 2020 launch, he wrote: “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.”
While it’s a staggering sum, it’s pocket change compared to the Amazon founder's net worth which is estimated to be $162 billion, according to Forbes.
Seems he really did have the last laugh after all.