Amazon 1997 Letter to Shareholders

TL;DR — The first Amazon shareholder letter — ‘It’s All About the Long Term’ — reprinted in every annual report since.

The founding document of a management style. Bezos reports 1997: more than 1.5 million customers served, 838% revenue growth to $147.8 million, market leadership extended against aggressive competition.

The numbers are not the point. The letter’s argument is that Amazon will optimise for long-term market leadership over short-term profitability, and that shareholders who disagree should not own it — stated plainly, up front, as a filter. Amazon reprinted this same letter as an appendix to every annual report that followed, which makes it the rare corporate document that functions as a constitution.

Directly load-bearing for Capital Allocation and Company Building.

Where this came from

• Brendan Sheehan’s public are.na channel

3 pages. A copy is archived locally against link rot; the header links the original source.