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For a short while on September 4, Amazon was worth $ 1 trillion, the second US company to reach this level (Apple was the first). Earlier this summer, Amazon's chief executive, Jeff Bezos, was named the richest man in the world, with a personal fortune of $ 167 billion, 3.5 times the market capitalization of Target .
Amazon and Bezos have long managed to avoid political attention, but the riches of this quality place a target on everyone's back. On September 5, US Senator Bernie Sanders, after attacking the company for low wages and poor work practices, introduced a bill – the "Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act" or "Stop BEZOS Act" . government assistance programs, such as SNAP and lease subsidies.
Sanders found support in a strange corner. "Jeff Bezos does not pay his employees enough to eat, so you've made up the difference with your taxes," said Tucker Carlson, Fox News commentator, in a program broadcast on August 30th. He then criticized Walmart and Uber for underpaying the workers and forcing them to fall back on the federal safety net. "It's an indefensible scam", Carlson tweeted. "Why is Bernie alone talking about it?" In the Amazon, the left and right have found a common ground.
Amazon has already resisted the insults of Donald Trump. During his campaign, Mr. Trump called Amazon a "tax shelter" and an "antitrust problem" and made fun of Bezos and the Washington Post, which Bezos owns separately from Amazon. "If I become president, oh, do they have problems, they will have such problems," Trump said in February 2016. He has continued to harass Bezos and make antitrust threats against Amazon since taking office. , and Google as "a very antitrust situation". Trump even pushed the postal service to raise prices on Amazon.
Sanders' attacks hit a nerve Trump never managed to touch. On August 29, Amazon made the rare decision to respond to the Vermont senator in a long blog post, calling his charges imprecise and misleading. Amazon touted the jobs it creates (130,000 last year), averaging over $ 15 an hour for full-time employees, including cash bonuses, shares and incentives), benefits offered (health, disability, retirement savings plans and shares) and the "safe and air-conditioned work environment".
Amazon has also encouraged its employees to communicate with Sanders and share their "real" – read, positive – work experiences for the company. In the meantime, the company has deployed a small number of "ambassadors" on Twitter – people working in its warehouses – to repel public criticism and send tweets explaining why they like working for Amazon.
The Stop BEZOS bill, despite its acrobatics of abbreviation, seems unlikely. Sanders' proposal was criticized because it could hurt low-income workers, including the Progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Jared Bernstein, former chief economist of Joe Biden and senior member of CBPP. The bill, says CBPP, would actually encourage employers to hire fewer workers "who are in low-income families and, therefore, more likely to benefit from Medicaid or nutritional assistance or housing." of color, and workers with disabilities or significant health problems – in short, the most vulnerable populations of America.
And yet, the political pressure on Amazon is likely to intensify. The high valuation of the company and the wealth of its managing director are enough to make it a target. Add to that the grievous complaints of workers, the union efforts of Whole Foods employees, the fatigue with Amazon's hunt for games for a new seat, the persistent antitrust rumors and Congress looking for cutting-edge technologies. Beware of Washington.
Amazon, of course, knows it, even if he does not admit it. This could explain why three of the 20 cities on Amazon's HQ2 shortlist were in the Washington metropolitan area; why Bezos spends $ 12 million to renovate his $ 23 million mansion; and why Bezos earlier this week made his biggest contribution to the campaign, by donating $ 10 million to a PAC that supports veterans of the army who show up at Congress on both sides of the country. 39; driveway. It is the company's responsibility to monitor the policy closely.
For most of its history, Amazon's main concern was keeping its customers happy and investors eager for profits. But these days, money is flowing. Alexa is a success, the stock has grown more than 60% since January and Amazon crushes its competitors with simple ads. It's hard to define Amazon as a company. Amazon has never been perfect. But it is only in 2018 that it has climbed so high that it is now a target of choice for right and left critics.
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