Paycheck to Paycheck, Jeff Bezos Does Not Fail to Spark Controversy

Jeff Bezos is no stranger to controversy. Having skirted round damning headlines about severe labour treatment, trademark infringement and even explicit product availability such as antisemetic content, it can be a strain on the mind to try and remember the ambitious beginnings of an ex-wall street investor piecing together his dreams with his parents’ support and one jam packed garage.

Bezos has not failed to shock the world over the years, particularly when one considers the fact that his net worth accumulates to $193 billion. However, one of the earlier surprises that Bezos offered up to the world was back in the 1990s when he quit his high-paid position as senior vice president of the esteemed Wall Street investment firm DE Shaw, to instead begin an online bookseller under the fragile loan of his parents, and the promising space of his garage. Jeff Bezos has said that this curious leap of faith was a result of what he calls his “regret minimization framework” that essentially comes down to reducing any instances where he would potentially regret not getting involved in the internet business boom of the 90s. The name of the company is a curious one and usually connotes to the tropical rainforest that expands over most of northwestern Brazil. However, this was purposeful. Bezos selected the name after flipping through a dictionary, and settled on “Amazon” as it hints to a place being “exotic and different” which was the exact vision for his internet enterprise. Amazon’s eventual launch in July of 1995 saw a website only selling books, yet Bezos had spectacular hopes and dreams that the site would explosively grow and eventually dominate e-commerce as an “everything store”. Under careful speculation, I do believe it is safe to say that he has succeeded.

When considering Jeff Bezos’ adamant determination, which can be inspiring, one mustn’t forget those who have suffered at the expense of this. Amazon’s labour controversies started to boil up and make headlines within its early, start up years. A considerably small team was running on tireless ambition in an attempt to live up to what was a customer-focused goal - market domination. The relentless pace at which the team were expected to run, coupled with minimum wage, meant that workers were being exhausted just to make ends meet. By 2011, Amazon’s workplace culture was infamous to the public, characterised by a series of grueling headlines discussing: badly paid, relentlessly observed, overworked staff, struggling to maintain a breakneck pace. Bezos had ultimately created a toxic workplace culture in which everyone - from the lowest paid intern to the highest paid executive - had to match his competitive determination, without being compensated as he is with endless profits. As a result, the early 2000s saw extremely high staff turnover. ‘InTheTimes’ calls Bezos a “declared enemy of ​social cohesion,” as he ruthlessly pushed his inferiors to reject compromise and instead encouraged them to adamantly negotiate and undermine colleagues whenever there was a disagreement, much to his megalomaniac desire.

Twenty seven years after the humble beginnings of Amazon as an online bookstore, Jeff Bezos announced in February 2021 that he would be stepping down as CEO. Although there is much to be celebrated, as Amazon’s evident prosperity has created a precedent for e-commerce, one cannot ignore the ruthless staircase to success which Bezos built for himself, composed of the tired spines of minimum wage workers. It is no question that Jeff Bezos is wealthy, yet the fortune that he sits on now tells a story of much more than just a young entrepreneur hoping to make his mark on this world. As himself and fellow business magnate Elon Musk have rallied the title of “The World’s Richest Man” between them for years while the two amass nearly $200 billion each, an extreme amount of controversy has been created as many are left to wonder what benefits this amount of money might have for those who are not so lucky to prosper within a competitively capitalist society. Bezos’ entire career nods in the direction of the exact unfair distribution of resources that - as ‘InTheseTimes’ so carefully put - “our neoliberal capitalist system enables.” Evidently, if the riches which Bezos holds were redistributed, a fairer and more equal society might hope to be created.

By Charlotte Rodney 12E