Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gives a frank warning about the future of the company

To this date, Amazon remains to be one of the biggest online retailers. The man behind the enterprise is none other than billionaire Jeff Bezos. Despite the acclaim of Amazon, Bezos himself understands that it will not be at the top forever. For someone who has achieved a lot with the website, Bezos is not fully optimistic of his company’s future.

“Amazon is not too big to fail … In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years,” says Bezos in a recording heard by CNBC. The statement was said during an all-hands meeting last week in response to a question about where the company is headed.

The question was first linked to Sears, which filed for bankruptcy last October despite being the largest retail chain at one point. Bezos says that if Amazon and its employees want to stay afloat, it needs to “obsess over its customers.” He adds that the retail giant should not focus on itself if it wants to delay the day it will finally tumble.

The success behind the worries

Despite Bezos’ warning, Amazon seems to be doing pretty well. The company recently announced the location of its two new headquarters—Queens, New York, and Arlington, Virginia. It was a hard fought battle between cities in the U.S. that wanted Amazon in their territories. The company was offered billions on investments and subsidies just to set up shop.

One of the biggest bidders was Washington. According to The Washington Post, the district offered up to $1 billion in tax incentives. Amazon has the potential to open up approximately 50,000 jobs in D.C., which is the reason many cities sought after it. Aside from that tax incentives, Amazon was also offered discounts on property, sales and corporate franchise taxed over the next 15 years.

With its new headquarters, the retailer has once again expanded its reach in more cities in the U.S. Along with it comes the opening of thousands of jobs which will further help the company grow. This is just the tip of Amazon’s many accomplishments in recent years though.

Earlier this year, Amazon did an amazing feat by being the second publicly traded company to reach the trillion-dollar cap, with the first being Apple. Since that happened, more investors flocked Amazon’s stock on exchanges.

If there is one person who understands the mortality of Amazon, that is no other than the CEO himself. Bezos’ frank admission might have been worrying for a lot of Amazon’s employees, but they should take it as a word of advice instead of a warning. After all, Bezos has even said the direction the brand should take if it wants to stay at the top.

(Featured image by JD Lasica via Flickr. CC BY 2.0)