---
title: "Jeff Bezos: “One Day, Amazon Will Fail”"
description: "During an all-hands meeting last week in Seattle, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicted that the company would one day go bankrupt."
date: "2018-11-16"
modified: "2018-11-16"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-one-day-amazon-will-fail"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
  - "Jeff Bezos"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "Amazon"
  - "hq2"
  - "jeff bezos"
  - "the digest"
---

# Jeff Bezos: “One Day, Amazon Will Fail”

![During an all-hands meeting last week in Seattle, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicted that the company would one day go bankrupt.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/jeff-bezos-one-day-amazon-will-fail.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Tag Hartman-Simkins/Seattle City Council\</em\>*

## King of Kings

During an all-hands meeting last week in Seattle, AmazonCEO Jeff Bezos reportedly predicted that the company would one day go bankrupt.

"Amazon is not too big to fail," he said, [according to ](<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/bezos-tells-employees-one-day-amazon-will-fail-and-to-stay-hungry.html>)*[CNBC](<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/bezos-tells-employees-one-day-amazon-will-fail-and-to-stay-hungry.html>)*, which reviewed audio from the meeting. "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."

## Boundless and Bare

Bezos's admission is striking because Amazon was on top of the world this week, riding the high after [announcing that](<https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/11/amazon-hq2-nyc-dc-headquarters-jeff-bezos-announcement/561236/>) its much-hyped HQ2 will be split between New York and D.C.

In the light of that success, Bezos turned his attention to the company's longterm future — and advised the retail giant's workers not to become complacent, lest it follow in the footsteps of Sears, which [filed for bankruptcy](<https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/11/08/sears-aiming-emerge-smaller-company-closing-40-more-stores/1933732002/>) last month.

"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."

**READ MORE:** [Jeff Bezos to Employees: 'One Day, Amazon Will Fail' but Our Job Is to Delay It as Long as Possible](<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/bezos-tells-employees-one-day-amazon-will-fail-and-to-stay-hungry.html>) \[***CNBC***\]

***More on Amazon: [Experts Warn of Amazon's Accent-Detecting Technology](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/experts-warn-of-potential-government-interest-in-accent-detecting-tech>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)