Amazon reporter Eugene Kim shares how he gets inside one of the most powerful — and feared — companies in the world
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Got an Amazon tip? Eugene is the guy for the job. You're an Amazon reporter whose expertise lies in Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, e-commerce, and cloud computing. How did you end up covering arguably the most important company in the world?
I started out as an enterprise-tech reporter in 2014 covering business software like Salesforce, Oracle, and Dropbox. We didn't have a full-time reporter covering Amazon at the time because it wasn't as big. But Amazon was growing fast and had a charismatic CEO in Jeff Bezos, so my editor at the time told me to switch over to the Amazon beat. It was the right call: Amazon roughly quadrupled in size since then and has become one of the most influential companies in the world, making my job that much more important.
You've followed Amazon's newest CEO, Andy Jassy, from his first day on the job to his testimony during the Federal Trade Commission investigation on Amazon Prime. How do you keep your finger on Jassy's moves?
It's not easy because Amazon has one of the most secretive corporate cultures in the world. But at the same time, Amazon has over 1.5 million employees — second largest in the US — and a ton of external partners. That means there are a lot of people who work closely with Jassy and his team. I try to make sure I reach out to as many people as possible and maximize my chances of speaking to one of those people.
What are the biggest Amazon trends you're following right now at the company?
Given Amazon's massive size, it's hard to narrow it down to a few things. But if I had to choose three main topics: one, the CEO transition from Bezos to Jassy and how that's changing the corporate culture and overall business; two, the impact of the slowing economic climate and how Amazon is dealing with it; and three, the changing employee sentiment across corporate and front-end warehouse workers as the company matures.
Rehash what a day of reporting is like for you.
As my previous editor liked to say, I try to wake up thinking about Amazon and go to bed thinking about Amazon. That level of obsession is important for any beat reporter.
On a normal day, the first thing is to read the news. Amazon has a wide-ranging business across many different sectors, so it's important for me to stay up-to-date on both macro and microeconomic issues. I also try to learn from other reporters by reading their stories.
The other thing that's part of my daily routine is source outreach. I'm almost paranoid about losing sources and obsessed with adding new ones. The only way to grow that source list is to connect with new people every day.
Because of your reporting, we've learned that Amazon has a cutthroat performance-review system and an environment insiders describe as penny-pinching and empathy-lacking. How and why has Amazon nurtured this type of workplace? Is it doing them more harm than good?
Both of those things have been integral to Amazon's corporate culture for a very long time, so it's fair to say they are key parts to the company's success. In theory, the aggressive performance-management system is intended to filter out underperformers, while improving the quality of its workforce every year. The goal of the frugal culture is to be more cost-efficient.
That said, good intentions can have bad consequences if not managed well. The fallout of the hostile performance system is that it could be weaponized in different ways and could result in unnecessary stress for the employees, especially if there's not enough oversight. Saving money is important, but it could often lead to silly decisions that are not really beneficial to a big company like Amazon. There's even a word for that: frupidity, a combination of "frugal" and "stupidity."
How has your coverage of Amazon influenced your own Amazon-consumption habits? Are you big on Amazon Prime Day?
I'm pretty old-school, so I still prefer physical stores to e-commerce. Especially for grocery shopping, I like to touch and see the product before buying. Maybe that explains why Amazon's grocery business hasn't grown super fast. But I do like the convenience of online shopping and have been an Amazon Prime member for some time now.
You can read some of Kim's stories here:
Amazon's new unit aims to ease engineers' frustrations with these 6 guiding principles