Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and then CEO of Amazon Web Services, speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, October 25, 2016.Mike Blake | ReutersThroughout its first 25 years as a public company, Amazon has operated under a singular mantra, often to the chagrin of Wall Street: growth is more important than profits.Founder Jeff Bezos laid out that strategy in his first investor letter in 1997.”We will continue to make investment decisions in light of long-term market leadership considerations rather than short-term profitability considerations or short-term Wall Street reactions,” Bezos wrote.But with three-quarters of 2022 in the books, it’s clear that the tone has changed. Andy Jassy, who took over as CEO in July 2021, has been in cost-cutting mode to preserve cash as Amazon confronts slowing sales and a gloomy global economy. The stock is down 33% for the year, more than the 25% drop in the S&P 500 and is on pace for its worst year since 2008.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsAmazon’s 2022 slumpCNBCThe wave of frugality is unfamiliar to Amazon investors and an employee base that swelled to 1.6 million last year from under 650,000 in 2018. In recent months, Amazon has shut down its telehealth service, discontinued a quirky, video-calling projector for kids, closed all but one of its U.S. call centers, axed its roving delivery robot, shuttered underperforming brick-and-mortar chains, and is closing, canceling or delaying some new warehouse locations. Amazon has also considered dra …
