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Executive chairman of Amazon Jeff Bezos was recently spotted partying with singer Usher despite Amazon workers being on strike against the company. The billionaire was celebrating the 55th birthday of his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla.
A video clip of Jeff Bezos partying went viral online, where the Amazon founder was seen enjoying the music while Usher performed at the concert. The rapper also personally met the couple and shared a high-five with Bezos. Multiple other A-listers, including Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Camila Cabello, and Scooter Braun, also attended the gala.
Fans took to X to react to the clips of Jeff Bezos partying despite Amazon workers being on strike against the company. One X user pointed out that Bezos is no longer the CEO of Amazon and may not have much to do with the workers apart from being a part of the board. They wrote:
"Jeff aint even the CEO anymore.. Don't think he has anything to do with Amazon aside from being on the board."
"Bezos doesn't run Amazon, and he probably would say, he doesn't care what the unions demand," another user wrote.
"Why should he be under fire? Did he not create a company that benefits consumers and employs millions? If you’re not happy with your current situation at a certain job, find another one," a netizen opined.
"Did they forget that he’s no longer the CEO of Amazon?," another fan added.
Meanwhile, some users criticized Bezos for partying while Amazon workers were protesting:
"The fact that he'd rather party with Usher over Amazon workers is the concern," a fan remarked.
"Jeff Bezos could change the world with the amount of wealth that he has.. But all he seems to do recently is party. What a waste of a life," another user commented.
"Amazon doesn’t give a dam about their employees. Never have, never will. The worst place to work," an X user chimed in.
Members of the Teamster union have announced strikes across eight Amazon facilities across four states over demands for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. However, the company does not consider the Teamster union members as their employees per their official statement.
Jeff Bezos stepped down as the CEO of Amazon in 2021 and was named executive chairman
In July 2021, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, stepped down as the company's CEO and president. The billionaire was then named the executive chairman of the company and holds the position today. Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy succeeded Bezos as the CEO of Amazon. The billionaire still owns a little less than 10% of the company, per Forbes.
Bezos had originally founded Amazon in the mid-1990s while on a road trip from New York to Seattle. He originally began the company as an online bookstore before expanding into various other e-commerce sectors such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and audio-video streaming. Amazon soon became the world's largest cloud computing and e-commerce company. It is also the world's largest online sales company in terms of revenue.
According to Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Jeff Bezos is the second-richest man in the world, with a reported net worth of $242.3 billion. He is surpassed only by the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk.
In 2000, Jeff Bezos founded the aerospace manufacturing company Blue Origin, which briefly flew into space in 2021. The Amazon founder also owns the prestigious newspaper The Washington Post, which he purchased in 2013.
Despite stepping down as CEO after 27 years of founding Amazon, Jeff Bezos and his company have often been under fire for alleged poor working hours, wages, and benefits for employees.
Why are Amazon workers on strike against the company?
Less than a week before Christmas, a section of Amazon workers, a.k.a. members of the Teamster union, went on strike in eight facilities across four states in the US. As reported by CNN, the union workers are demanding better working conditions, wage hours, and facilities.
While Teamsters claim to represent 7000 Amazon workers across the nation, it accounts for less than 1% of the company's workforce in the United States. The General President of Teamsters, Sean O'Brien, addressed the ongoing strike in a statement on X:
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
However, a spokesperson for Amazon, Kelly Nantel, claimed that members of the Teamster union are not a part of the Jeff Bezos-founded company's workforce. She added that the "entire narrative" is a PR play and called the Teamsters' conduct in the last year and this week "illegal."
