Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, said Thursday he’s game for a bidding war that could raise the minimum wage for millions of workers across the US.
“I challenge our top retail competitors (you know who you are!) to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” Bezos wrote in his annual letter to Amazon shareholders.
“Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us. It’s a kind of competition that will benefit everyone.”
Target last week said that it would be raising its minimum wage to $13 per hour, with plans to up it to $15 by next year. Rival Walmart, meanwhile, still starts its workers at $11 per hour.
The Amazon CEO’s net worth currently sits at $115 billion, while Walmart’s Jim, Rob and Alice Walton are worth $47 billion, $46 billion and $45 billion, respectively.
Bezos also admitted that Amazon isn’t perfect, and warned shareholders to expect future failures from the e-commerce titan.
As Amazon grows, he writes, so will the size of its “multibillion-dollar failures.” The e-tail giant’s notable flops in the past have included the Fire Phone, which reportedly cost the company $170 million before it scrapped the devices in 2014.
On the other hand, Amazon’s plunge into smart home speakers has reaped a bonanza and left rivals Apple and Google scrambling to catch up.
“If the size of your failures isn’t growing, you’re not going to be inventing at a size that can actually move the needle,” Bezos said. “The good news for shareholders is that a single big winning bet can more than cover the cost of many losers.”
Amazon shares were flat Thursday morning.
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