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Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world, but his annual wage at Amazon has left a lot of people shocked.
The 61-year-old billionaire might have stepped down from his position as Amazon CEO to instead focus on other exploits, such as Blue Origin, which remarkably took Katy Perry into space earlier this year.
Considering the astonishing amount he was able to spend on his recent marriage to journalist Lauren Sanchez, who incidentally joined Perry on that quick trip outside the Earth's atmosphere, you might think that Bezos might have paid himself a decent annual wage.
However, it seems as if he decided to put the company first with his official wages, which he revealed in an interview with the New York Times.
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He said: “My view was I was a founder. I already owned a significant amount of the company and I just didn’t feel good about taking more. I had plenty of incentive. I owned more than 10 percent of the company. I just felt, how could I possibly need more incentive?”
Bezos confessed that he kept his annual salary at just over $80,000 (£62,000) for years, instead choosing to prioritise the long-term value of his Amazon shares.
That certainly paid off as there was a time between 2023 and 2024 in which Bezos effectively made $8 million (£6.2 million) for every hour of the year, so really his official wages probably could have been £1 annually and we certainly shouldn't feel sorry for his wages, which are probably still well above average in the US.
Calling entrepreneurs like himself 'owner-operators', Bezos said they generate wealth 'not by getting more equity, they just want to make the equity they have more valuable'.
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It isn't the first time that Bezos has wanted to put the company first, as he previously had a surprising response when an employee emailed him directly to complain about her pay.
In 2020 when Tara Jones discovered that she was missing money from her paycheck, she needed to take action as she was struggling to pay her bills.
Presumably, Bezos then passed on her email and prompted a wider investigation, which found that a lot of employees were also struggling with bills, with a NYT report revealing that employees had been underpaid at 179 warehouses for around 18 months.
Meanwhile, the billionaire's fortune could be set to increase even further if his plans for the international space station to become a hotel in the sky come to fruition.
Topics: Amazon, Business, Jeff Bezos, Money
James Moorhouse