Jeff Bezos defends Amazon's corporate culture in letter

Founder and chief executive of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, sent a letter to shareholders overnight on Tuesday, finally responding to a critical report on the online retailer’s corporate culture published in the New York Times.

In 2015, Amazon was the focus of a lengthy investigation by the NYT, which alleged the company had a damaging culture that saw employees constantly evaluated by managers and colleagues, with those receiving poor reports squeezed out.

At the time, the report was rebutted in a public letter written by the company’s top spokesman Jay Carney, which revealed information about former employees quoted in the story.

Tuesday’s letter was the first major response from the man seen as the driving influence behind Amazon’s success.

"The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another,” wrote Bezos.

He also pointed out the success of some of the company’s recent gambles, such as Amazon Web Services and its membership service Prime.

Details of Prime’s membership are not disclosed by Amazon, though analysts believe it has more than 40m US customers.

"Used well, our scale enables us to build services for customers that we could otherwise never even contemplate."

Bezos also highlighted the speed it launches new services with, such as the two-hour Prime Now delivery service, telling shareholders there were more bold investments to come.