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Jeff Bezos to a Reporter: 'I Don't Care If We're a Pure Internet Company'

By Jeff Bezos · Leadership · 1 min read

A CNBC reporter told Bezos he's not really a pure internet company anymore. Bezos: It doesn't matter to me. What matters is — do we provide the best customer service?

Key Points

3,000+ employees, 4 million square feet of distribution — and Bezos was proud of it
Distribution at 30 cents per square foot vs retail at $7. Comparing them is bad math.
In the long term, there is never any misalignment between customer interests and shareholder interests

It doesn't matter to me whether we're a pure internet play. What matters is: do we provide the best customer service?

The Reporter's Challenge

Reporter: You're not really a pure internet company anymore. You've got millions of square feet of real estate, a huge and growing inventory, thousands of employees.

Bezos: We have over 3,000 employees and over 4 million square feet of distribution center space. And those are things I'm very, very proud of.

4 million square feet of distribution centers. Those are things I'm very, very proud of.

It Doesn't Matter

Bezos: If there's one thing Amazon.com is about, it's obsessive attention to the customer experience end to end. It doesn't matter to me whether we're a pure internet play. What matters is — do we provide the best customer service?

Reporter: But it matters to your investors. They need to know what kind of company they're investing in.

Bezos: They should be investing in a company that obsesses over customer experience. In the long term, there is never any misalignment between customer interests and shareholder interests.

It doesn't matter if we're a pure internet play. What matters is customer obsession.

Bad Math

Bezos: We'll open as many square feet and hire as many employees as we have to. That's a costly proposition? Not compared to opening a network of retail stores. We pay 30 cents a square foot instead of $7 in a high-traffic retail area.

You can't compare a chain of retail stores to half a dozen distribution centers. It's just bad math.

We pay 30 cents a square foot. Retail pays $7. You can't compare them. It's bad math.