Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos once offered up one of his rockets to shoot Donald Trump out into space. Over the past week, Bezos could be wishing that had actually happened—because tweets by President Trump bashing Amazon appear to be costing Bezos billions of dollars.
Bezos is the world’s richest man, with a net worth estimated over $100 billion since the start of the year. Bezos’s wealth is based largely on the price of Amazon stock, and as shares soared in early 2018 his fortune grew by more than $30 billion. As of Monday, March 26, Jeff Bezos’s net worth stood at nearly $130 billion, according to both Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Yet one week—and four Amazon-related Trump tweets later — Bezos’s net worth is down to $114 billion, Forbes estimates. In a dismal day for stocks in general, Amazon shares dropped an especially steep 6% on Monday. Over the past week, Amazon’s stock price has dropped by around 10%, subtracting roughly $16 billion away from Bezos.
While it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact reason any individual stock or the broader stock market rises and falls, recent social media messages directed at Amazon by the “Tweeter in Chief” seem to be a factor. In a string of tweets, President Donald Trump has attacked Amazon and Bezos over the past week for paying too little in taxes and taking advantage of the postal service, among other things.
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018
While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars. The Failing N.Y. Times reports that “the size of the company’s lobbying staff has ballooned,” and that…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018
…does not include the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a “lobbyist” and should so REGISTER. If the P.O. “increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.” This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018
Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country…not a level playing field!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
Long before Trump became president, he was highly critical of the coverage he received by the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, and claimed that Amazon was using the Post as a lobbyist to help the company lower its taxes. In December 2015, Trump trashed Amazon and the Washington Post in one Twitter message.
If @amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @washingtonpost scam is saving it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
Bezos responded on his personal Twitter account by saying that he would reserve Trump a seat on a rocket bound for space.
Finally trashed by @realDonaldTrump. Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #sendDonaldtospace https://t.co/9OypFoxZk3
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 7, 2015
On the day after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Amazon’s stock price dropped significantly, presumably due to Trump’s stance against Bezos and the companies he owns. As president, Trump has periodically criticized and threatened Amazon on Twitter, saying that the company kills jobs and doesn’t pay taxes.
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