Jeff Bezos
KEY THREATS:
Manufactures consent for the oligarchy Anti-union and workers' rights Surveillance state Monopolizing everything After years of curating a public persona of quiet wealth and single-minded dedication to work, Jeff Bezos has taken the mask off and revealed who he was all along - just like every other billionaire. His purchase of the Washington Post, which he claimed in 2013 was to preserve an institution and not to cater to the private interests of its owners, is now doing exactly that. His space company Blue Origin, which he established with the mission "to restore and sustain Earth", has been decried by former staffers and critics alike to be one big ego trip. And when Donald Trump won for a second time, Bezos - who once labeled Trump "threat to democracy" - was there at the inauguration to kiss the ring. Just like every other billionaire.
Not content with making Amazon the 'everything store', Jeff Bezos is in the process of trying to own, well, everything. And if we don't stop him, he will.
NET WORTH
Executive Chairman
Amazon
OTHER COMPANIES
Washington Post (Owner), Blue Origin (Founder)
LINKED TO
Donald Trump
AGE
62
STATE
FL
PART OF
Political Ideology
Neoliberalism
In a note to reporters and the public on his new policy for the Washington Post’s opinions section, Jeff Bezos wrote: “We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
Controversies
- Infamously intervened in the Washington Post’s endorsement process to block his editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024
- Mandated that the Washington Post’s opinion section would only publish pro-neoliberal articles
- Donated $1 million for Trump’s inauguration
- Amazon has been under intense scrutiny for its abysmal working conditions, with Amazon workers nearly twice as likely to be injured compared to workers at other warehouses in the sector and drivers forced to pee in bottles to keep their jobs
- The National Relations Labor Board has nearly 350 open or settled unfair labor practice charges against Amazon, its subsidiaries, and its Delivery Service Partners
- Amazon has still failed to recognize its Staten Island JFK8 union, three years after a majority workers voted to unionize
- Bezos was part of an Amazon strategy meeting that discussed a plan to smear union organizer Chris Smalls, a Black man, as “not smart or articulate”
Obscene Spending
- His recent wedding is estimated to have cost $56 million, all while generating intense controversy for denying freedom of the city from its own residents
- Owns a $500 million dollar superyacht, a fleet of private jets worth $140 million, and a portfolio of properties worth at least $500 million
- Building a $42 million dollar clock in a mountain he owns
Enabling:
Deportation Industrial Complex
Amazon Web Services (AWS) undergirds the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation architecture. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, relies heavily on AWS as its primary cloud storage. Palantir’s Investigative Case Management system, which is a critical component of ICE’s deportation operations, relies on AWS to house the vast reams of data and proprietary algorithms required to track their targets. Not content with simply providing server space, Amazon has also pitched ICE and federal law enforcement on their facial recognition tool Rekognition, despite the software having wrongfully criminalized Black and brown people in testing.
