With 64,588,418 shares, Jeff Bezos is the primary individual investor. Owning 12.7% of the company. Other top individual investors comprise Amazon’s CEO Andy Jessy, with 94,729 shares. Top institutional investors include mutual funds like The Vanguard Group (6.6% ownership) and BlackRock (5.7% ownership).
Aspect | Description | Analysis | Examples |
---|---|---|---|
Products and Services | Amazon is a multinational technology and e-commerce company that offers a wide range of products and services. These include online retail through the Amazon.com marketplace, Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud computing, Amazon Prime for subscription services, Amazon Fresh for grocery delivery, and more. | Amazon’s diverse portfolio encompasses e-commerce, cloud computing, digital content, and subscription services, making it a versatile and customer-centric company. | Amazon.com, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Prime, Amazon Fresh, Kindle e-readers. |
Revenue Streams | Amazon generates revenue from various sources, including online retail sales, third-party seller services, AWS cloud services, subscription services (Amazon Prime), advertising, and digital content sales. | Online retail and AWS are major revenue drivers. Subscription services and advertising contribute to recurring revenue. | Revenue from e-commerce sales, fees from third-party sellers, AWS usage fees, Amazon Prime subscription fees, advertising revenue. |
Customer Segments | Amazon serves a broad and diverse customer base, including consumers, businesses, developers, and enterprises. It caters to individuals seeking retail products, organizations requiring cloud computing, and content consumers. | Amazon’s customer-centric approach targets a wide range of market segments, allowing it to be a one-stop-shop for various needs. | Individual shoppers, e-commerce businesses, startups, enterprises seeking cloud services, readers of digital content. |
Distribution Channels | Amazon distributes its products and services primarily through its e-commerce platform (Amazon.com), AWS data centers, and digital content platforms like Kindle and Amazon Prime Video. It also operates physical stores (Amazon Go, Amazon Books) and offers global shipping and delivery services. | A combination of online platforms, physical stores, and logistics networks provides accessibility and convenience for customers worldwide. | Amazon.com, AWS data centers, Amazon Go stores, global shipping and delivery services. |
Key Partnerships | Amazon collaborates with third-party sellers, content creators, app developers, and publishers on its e-commerce and digital content platforms. It also partners with businesses for AWS cloud services and logistics providers for shipping and delivery. | Third-party seller partnerships drive product variety. Content and app partnerships enhance the user experience. Business collaborations expand AWS’s customer base. | Third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace, content creators on Kindle Direct Publishing, enterprise customers using AWS. |
Key Resources | Amazon’s key resources include its extensive e-commerce platform, AWS data centers, fulfillment centers, delivery networks, digital content library, customer data, and a global workforce. | The e-commerce platform, cloud infrastructure, and logistics network are vital for Amazon’s operations. Customer data and a large workforce enable personalized experiences and efficient operations. | Amazon.com, AWS data centers, fulfillment centers, customer reviews and recommendations, a global team of employees. |
Cost Structure | Amazon incurs costs in logistics and fulfillment, technology development, marketing and advertising, employee salaries, data centers, and content acquisition for digital platforms. | Fulfillment and logistics are significant costs due to Amazon’s vast product range. Investment in technology and marketing is essential for growth. Employee salaries are substantial due to a large workforce. | Operating fulfillment centers, developing new technology, advertising campaigns, data center maintenance. |
Competitive Advantage | Amazon’s competitive advantage lies in its customer-centric approach, vast product selection, efficient logistics, cloud computing dominance, and investments in technology and innovation. It continuously seeks to improve customer experiences and expand its ecosystem. | Amazon’s relentless focus on customer satisfaction and convenience sets it apart in e-commerce. AWS’s leading position in cloud services provides a strong competitive edge. Investments in technology and logistics enhance operational efficiency. | Amazon Prime’s fast and reliable shipping, AWS’s cloud infrastructure reliability, Amazon Echo’s voice-powered AI assistant. |
Value Proposition | Amazon offers customers convenience, vast product selection, competitive prices, fast shipping, cloud computing solutions, digital content, and subscription services. It provides solutions to a wide range of needs, from shopping to cloud infrastructure. | Amazon’s value proposition centers on making customers’ lives easier and more efficient. It offers convenience, variety, and reliability in shopping, computing, and digital content consumption. | Ordering products online with fast shipping, using AWS for scalable cloud computing, streaming Amazon Prime Video. |
The Bezos Empire
Jeff Bezos’ ownership of Amazon makes him the wealthiest person on earth.
Amazon itself is an empire, owning many subsidiaries!
In fact, as of 2023, his ownership stake is worth over $121 billion.
Following the divorce of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, the Amazon ownership structure didn’t change that much.
Indeed, Jeff Bezos kept voting and controlling power for all the stocks co-owned with Mackenzie Bezos.
Therefore, of this 15%, 100% of the voting power belongs to Jeff Bezos.
Of this 15%, 75% of ownership belongs to Jeff Bezos, while the remaining 25% belongs to Mackenzie Bezos.
Amazon customer obsession
As Jeff Bezos said in their first shareholders’ letter of 1997:
It’s All About the Long Term
We believe that a fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term. This value will be a direct result of our ability to extend and solidify our current market leadership position. The stronger our market leadership, the more powerful our economic model. Market leadership can translate directly to higher revenue, higher profitability, greater capital velocity, and correspondingly stronger returns on invested capital.
The key metrics Amazon is using to measure its long-term growth are:
- customer and revenue growth,
- the degree to which our customers continue to purchase from Amazon on a repeat basis,
- and the strength of our brand
What has driven Amazon along this massive growth is what Jeff Bezos calls “customer obsession.”
This customer obsession has transformed into a trillion-dollar company, with Jeff Bezos seeing his wealth turning to over sixty billion dollars!
Amazon business milestones
In 2022, Amazon reached a few critical milestones:
Prime
More than 15 years post-launch, it had exceeded 100 million paid Prime members globally.
By 2022, Prime generated more than $35 billion in revenue, and it’s a key segment for the company, as it drives repeat customers while offering a streaming service that competes against Netflix.
Prime Video award-winning Prime Originals, like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, winner of two Critics’ Choice Awards and two Golden Globes, and the Oscar-nominated movie The Big Sick. Those help Amazon sell more shoes.
AWS
Amazon Web Services, an over $80 billion revenue run rate business in 2022, which just a few years before didn’t even exist as a line of business
Marketplace
By 2017, for the first time in Amazon’s history, more than half of the units sold on Amazon worldwide were from third-party sellers, including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Amazon today is one of the largest platforms on earth.
Alexa & Amazon Devices
Alexa-enabled devices are among the best-selling items across all Amazon.
With tens of millions of Echo devices, Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa were the best-selling products across all of Amazon – all categories and all manufacturers.
Amazon’s flywheel is one of the most potent mental models of the business world.
Amazon’s humble beginnings: a simple bookstore
As specified in the 1997 shareholders letter signed by Jeff Bezos:
From the beginning, our focus has been on offering our customers compelling value. We realized that the Web was, and still is, the World Wide Wait. Therefore, we set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way, and began serving them with books. We brought them much more selection than was possible in a physical store (our store would now occupy 6 football fields), and presented it in a useful, easy- to-search, and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Amazon didn’t seek to expand right away and become what we like to call today “the everything store.” Instead, it started as a bookstore.
It conquered that niche, then expanded to monopolize and disrupt other niches; Until it became so big to disrupt entire industries.
Amazon Business Model today!
Today Amazon’s business model is diversified across various segments which makes up a company, that by 2022, generated half a trillion in revenue!
For some context, Amazon reached “the Walmart status” by 2022.
The interesting part is that each component (business unit) plays a different role when we look at Amazon’s business model.
For instance, the e-commerce segment, which is still the core of the company’s business model, is run at negative margins.
While other segments (like advertising, prime, and AWS) are run at much wider margins.
Yet, the e-commerce part is absolutely the main component of Amazon’s flywheel!
Key Highlihgts
- Jeff Bezos’ Ownership: Jeff Bezos owns 12.7% of Amazon with 64,588,418 shares, making him the primary individual investor in the company. His stake is worth over $121 billion as of 2023.
- Top Institutional Investors: Top institutional investors in Amazon include mutual funds like The Vanguard Group (6.6% ownership) and BlackRock (5.7% ownership).
- The Bezos Empire: Jeff Bezos owns and invests in companies across various industries, including healthcare, retail, robotics, real estate, and media. His wealth from Amazon has made him the wealthiest person on earth.
- Amazon Subsidiaries: Amazon owns several subsidiaries, including AbeBooks.com, Audible, CamiXology, IMDb, PillPack, Shopbop, Souq.com, Twitch, Whole Foods Market, Woot!, and Zappos.
- Amazon Shareholder Philosophy: Amazon’s long-term success is driven by customer obsession and market leadership. Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of creating shareholder value over the long term.
- Amazon Business Milestones:
- Amazon Prime: Prime membership revenue exceeded $35 billion in 2022, with over 100 million paid Prime members globally.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS generated over $22 billion in operating income in 2022 and is a key contributor to Amazon’s profitability.
- Marketplace: More than half of the units sold on Amazon worldwide in 2017 were from third-party sellers, including small and medium-sized businesses.
- Alexa & Amazon Devices: Alexa-enabled devices, such as Echo and Fire TV Stick, are among the best-selling products on Amazon.
- Amazon Flywheel: Amazon’s business strategy revolves around the concept of the Amazon Flywheel, which focuses on customer experience, selection of goods, cost structure improvement, and price reduction to drive growth.
- Amazon’s Humble Beginnings: Amazon started as a simple online bookstore and gradually expanded to become a dominant force in e-commerce and other industries.
- Amazon’s Diversified Business Model: Amazon’s revenue is diversified across various segments, including online stores, third-party seller services, physical stores, AWS, subscription services, and advertising. Each segment plays a different role in Amazon’s business model.
- Comparison with Walmart: In 2022, Amazon closed the revenue gap with Walmart, with Amazon generating over $513 billion in revenue compared to Walmart’s over $572 billion. Amazon’s business units have different profit margins, with e-commerce being the core component of its flywheel.
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