Amazon's 2025 letter to shareholders

About this letter

Andy Jassy, president and chief executive of Amazon, wrote this letter to shareholders on the company's 2025 results, published in April 2026. He opens with his own winding route to the company, from hoping to be a sportscaster to joining Amazon in May 1997, and borrows the title of an album by the New Zealand band The Beths, Straight Line Was a Lie, to argue that long-term efforts seldom progress in a straight line.

Amazon's revenue grew 12% in 2025 to $717 billion and operating income rose 17%. Jassy describes the company as being in the middle of several large inflections, from AI to robotics and space, and walks through current efforts: more than a million robots in its fulfilment centres, over $4 billion committed to rural delivery, the Amazon Leo satellite network due to launch in mid-2026, Zoox and the new Alexa+. As in every year, the original 1997 letter is reprinted at the end.

What to notice

1. 1

   Jassy uses AWS's uneven early history to argue that long-term bets rarely progress in a straight line.