The founder of trillion-dollar company Amazon has predicted its demise.
Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man and sits at the helm of a company that dominates most retail markets and recently announced record quarterly profits of close to $3 billion.
However in a meeting with staff recently he had a stark warning.
“Amazon is not too big to fail,” he said in a recording that was obtained by CNBC. “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.”
Bezos was answering a question about former retail giant Sears, which filed for bankruptcy in October.
Bezos told staff that Amazon should “obsess over customers” to avoid suffering a similar fate.
“If we start to focus on ourselves instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end,” he said. “We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible.”
Last month Amazon revealed plans to create more than 1,000 new highly skilled roles across three UK cities.