Voting Machine Versus Weighing Machine

Source: AMZN Letter to shareholders Published: April 2013

Source: AMZN Letter to shareholders
Published: April 2013

Voting Machine Versus Weighing Machine

Circulated: March 30, 2020

As I write this, our recent stock performance has been positive, but we constantly remind ourselves of an important point — as I frequently quote famed investor Benjamin Graham in our employee all-hands meetings — “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”

We don’t celebrate a 10% increase in the stock price like we celebrate excellent customer experience. We aren’t 10% smarter when that happens and conversely aren’t 10% dumber when the stock goes the other way.

We want to be weighed, and we’re always working to build a heavier company.