Despite COVID-19, World¡¯s Richest Man Jeff Bezos Is Optimistic Of Amazon's Future

COVID-19 has been hard on people, but it has been equally hard on businesses. From layoffs to pay cuts, companies have been trying hard to keep their ship afloat.

However, Amazon CEO feels optimistic despite the challenges the novel coronavirus has put in front of us.

Reuters

He revealed this in his first-ever online meeting with its shareholders while expressing gratitude for being by its side in the fight against COVID-19.

Jeff Bezos, while addressing the shareholders stated, ¡°There are challenges ahead, but I remain very optimistic that we as a society will meet them and take important lessons from this pandemic that will make us stronger.¡±

It is important to note that while other businesses and organizations were trying their best to save it from sinking with the pandemic shutting everything down, Amazon managed to keep things afloat by keeping its facilities open for business, albeit with safety norms such as maintaining social distancing among others.

Amazon under scrutiny

Bezos, as well as Amazon, has been under the radar by people online after an Amazon employee was fired who had spoken against Amazon¡¯s working conditions. Bezos refuted these allegations stating, ¡°We didn't fire anyone for speaking out about working conditions. We support every employee's right to criticize their employers working conditions, but that also doesn't mean that they're allowed to not follow internal policies.¡±

When talking about being under scrutiny, Bezos said, ¡°It's completely normal that we be scrutinized. And we want people to know the truth about Amazon, and how we use our scale for good and how we work hard and we will work hard to explain that."

Safe environment for employees to voice their opinion

He also stated that Amazon is leaving no stone unturned to make a safe environment for the employees, especially for the ones working in the warehouses. He also expressed his support for the right to protest against working conditions, stating, ¡°We take that super seriously and we have no problem with that at all.¡±

Jeff Bezos

Proud of Amazon workforce

Another thing Amazon did in the pandemic was creating 175,000 jobs, at a time when other conglomerates were laying off their workforce to make ends meet.

Bezos expressed pride for their effort in these troubled times, for workers ¡°who continue to do their part to bring necessary items to Amazon¡¯s customers. For those most vulnerable to the virus, having products delivered to their front steps is more than a simple convenience. It is a lifeline.¡±