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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="20132233" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="goldman" source="keywords">Goldman</keyword> Sachs is gearing up to name a new class of partners.</li><li>The process is rigorous, but those who make the cut get access to special perks and privileges.</li></ul>As soon as next week, several dozen <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-ceo-hiring-personality-traits-job-candidates-applications-2024-8">Goldman Sachs</a> employees will receive the honor of a lifetime: Being named a partner of the prestigious Wall Street bank. Every two years, usually in the first week of November, Goldman promotes its top traders, investment bankers, and wealth managers, as well as employees in tech and compliance, to its vaunted partnership. The competition is intense. Making the cut requires years of hard work and months of internal lobbying. Just a fraction of Goldman's roughly 45,000 employees make it in the exclusive club, which has been getting smaller under CEO <keyword id="23774164" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="david-solomon" source="keywords">David Solomon</keyword>. While the total size of the partnership has fluctuated over the years, it has ranged between <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-is-about-to-promote-another-round-of-partners-2022-10">roughly 400 and 450 partners</a> since 2020, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/12/goldman-sachs-just-named-the-smallest-most-diverse-class-of-partners-since-its-ipo-.html">according to reports</a>. "It's the pinnacle of your career," <keyword id="23774163" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="paul-argenti" source="keywords">Paul Argenti</keyword>, a former advisor to Goldman who now serves on the faculty of Dartmouth College, told Business Insider. "That's where you want to be — that's the top of the ziggurat," he added. "Everybody's trying to get there." Goldman's partnership dates back to a time when its leaders contributed their own capital to help run the firm. The company is now publicly traded, but <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">its partnership still carries influence</a>. The perks alone make it enough to salivate over — such as a base salary of about $1 million per year, which can swell by multiples when factoring in year-end bonus comp. Over the coming months, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and more will also announce the newest members of their top ranks, who usually carry the title of managing director. BI spoke to Argenti and a former partner at Goldman to get a look inside the partnership promotion process, from what it takes to make the grade to the perks and privileges that come with the title. They also shed light on what this year's class might look like and what its makeup could say about the priorities of the 150-year-old bank. "Making partner at Goldman Sachs is a rigorous and competitive process," Goldman spokesperson <keyword id="23774161" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tony-fratto" source="keywords">Tony Fratto</keyword> said in a statement. "No one outside of our firm or the partnership has any insight into what decisions will be made. If you've heard anything, it's nothing but pure speculation." <h2>Inside the process</h2>The process — known internally as "cross-ruffing" — can take months of vetting. Partners are assigned to interview numerous people around the firm to understand what a nominee is like. They talk to people who know and have worked with the nominees to learn about their personalities and track record. Partners are assigned to nominees from divisions other than their own to minimize the potential for bias. The former partner recalled a senior official later explaining it this way: "I know more about you than you know about you. I've talked to 25 people about you for 50 hours." Candidates who garner the most support are passed on to the partnership committee, which conducts another round of reviews. "There's always a battle over the last handful of people," the former partner said. "There's a bunch of people who are seemingly deserving and qualified that don't make it." <h2>The perks and gravitas</h2>Goldman partners carry a lot of influence internally and can even shift the CEO's position on important directional matters. "Their ability to set policy and weigh in on strategy and influence the decision-making of the CEO is pretty profound," Argenti explained. "It would be pretty hard for the CEO to operate without the consent of the partners." Goldman's partners sit on influential leadership committees and run teams that are worth millions or billions of dollars to the bank's bottom line. They get access to special perks, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-is-about-to-promote-another-round-of-partners-2022-10">a partners-only bonus pool</a> and opportunities to invest fee-free in the bank's investment funds. In the past, they've received one-time bonuses that have added millions to their already generous annual incentive comp. They can also help direct the bank's philanthropic spending through Goldman Sachs Gives, which the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/community-impact/goldman-sachs-gives">company says</a> has granted $2.5 billion to more than 10,000 nonprofits. Plus, there's a special wealth-management desk dedicated to helping them keep track of their money. One of the most notable perks, though, might just be the doors that can open for Goldman partners. "Random people will infer characteristics about you — integrity, commercial acumen, intelligence, teamwork — simply based on the fact that you are, or were, a Goldman partner," said a former member of the group who was quoted in the British publication <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/goldman-sachs-partners-20201111">Financial News in 2020</a>. Partners who leave become members of the bank's alumni network, and may jockey to be invited to annual dinners in New York and London, the ex-partner told BI. "People would lobby" to be there, this person said adding that "sometimes people who left not on good terms wouldn't be invited." This was a point of contention under previous administrations, but Solomon has sought to change that by opening the dinners up more broadly, the person said. <h2>Reading the tea leaves</h2>The makeup of a class can say a lot about the firm's ambitions and objectives. This year, industry insiders predict an outsized number of promotions from the investment-banking division. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-3q-results-dealmaking-trading-resurgence-david-solomon-2024-10">Last quarter</a>, dealmaking helped drive a 45% jump in profits. IB fees, specifically, were up 24% over last year. "You tend to reward the people who are performing," Argenti said, adding that promotions can say a lot about "where the bank's energy is going." Since Solomon took over as CEO in 2018, he has also been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-partners-who-have-left-under-david-solomon">shrinking the size of the partnership</a> in a bid to make it more exclusive. In the last round of partnership promotions, the partner class <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-partner-class-2020-banking-wall-street-2020-11">saw just 80 new admits</a>, which was slightly up from 60 in 2020. The former investment banker and partner expects to see something in between the two this year, citing what appears to be "a reasonably <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-2q-earnings-david-solomon-investment-banking-forecast-2024-7">big backlog of business</a>" at the firm. One area to watch will be the number of partners from underrepresented groups as Solomon has made diversity a priority. Earlier this year, Goldman's leaders vowed to do better after a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/goldman-sachs-women-big-jobs-leaving-09112f6a">Wall Street Journal report</a> raised questions about whether the firm's top brass had done enough to help advance female partners. "Progress has been slow and we realize we need to do more to accelerate positive change," the bank's chief of staff <keyword id="23774162" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="russell-horwitz" source="keywords">Russell Horwitz</keyword> wrote in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-internal-memo-women-leaders-russell-horwitz-2024-3">a memo obtained by BI</a>. "We will continue to focus on our talent development, retention and advancement initiatives." People have described becoming a partner at Goldman as an incomparable rush — but the former banker warned that the honor also comes with heightened expectations. "It's this amazing accomplishment for a second and then you exhale and you realize, 'Holy shit. It's just the starting line,'" this person said. "That's where your career really starts." Are you a Goldman Sachs insider? Get in touch with this reporter. <keyword id="23582993" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reed-alexander" source="keywords">Reed Alexander</keyword> can be reached via email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ralexander@businessinsider.com">ralexander@businessinsider.com</a>, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758. Correction: November 1, 2024 — An earlier version of this article inaccurately described the vetting process for potential partners, which involves interviews with people who have worked with nominees, not the nominees themselves.

Dozens of Goldman Sachs executives are about the get the call of a lifetime

<ul class="summary-list"><li>CEOs must tread a fine line when commenting on the Israel-Hamas war.</li><li>Execs' statements are being closely and publicly analyzed for whom they seem to side with.</li></ul>The recent fate of Web Summit's CEO might, perhaps, send chills down the spine of any business leader.On October 13, six days after Hamas' terrorist attacks in Israel, the technology conference's leader, Paddy Cosgrave, posted his views on the ensuing conflict on X. In his first post on the subject, Cosgrave seemed to accuse Israel of war crimes. "I'm shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders &amp; governments, with the exception in particular of Ireland's government, who for once are doing the right thing,"<a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/1712790539844612553"> he wrote</a>. "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are."After a week of backlash that saw attendees and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-siemens-pull-out-cancel-sponsors-web-summit-ceo-israel-2023-10">major commercial partners including Intel</a> pulling out of Web Summit, due to take place in Lisbon in November, Cosgrave <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/web-summit-founder-paddy-cosgrave-apologized-for-remarks-on-israel-2023-10">apologized</a> and eventually <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/web-summit-ceo-paddy-cosgrave-steps-down-over-israel-comments-2023-10">resigned</a> as CEO.The saga mirrors flare-ups on US college campuses, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-harvard-columbia-law-students-lost-job-offers-israel-statements-2023-10">companies rescinding job offers</a> to students over student groups' statements on the war.Cosgrave's departure illustrates the stakes for corporate executives when deciding whether or how to comment on any politically fraught subject. While students answer primarily to their school and any future employers, an executive's audience is more likely to include some combination of employees, shareholders, investors, and customers, often from multiple countries — all of whose views may differ.<h2>Understand your audience</h2>Cosgrave, who is Irish, may not have accounted for a culture clash. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/09/joint-statement-on-israel/#:~:text=Our%20countries%20will%20support%20Israel,these%20attacks%20to%20seek%20advantage.">The US, the UK, and many European countries</a> count Israel as a staunch ally. Ireland's government has condemned Hamas' terrorist attacks, but it was reported on October 7 that it had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/10/07/micheal-martin-indicates-israeli-response-to-appalling-hamas-attack-has-not-been-proportionate/#:~:text=Mr%20Martin%20said%20Israel%20had,the%20situation%20at%20this%20stage.">more explicitly</a> urged a "proportionate" military response.Ireland also has a long history of pro-Palestinian sentiment, much of it rooted in the country's relationship to the UK."The grassroots and the political elite are more pro-Palestinian than they are in the US," Bill Kissane, a politics professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science, told Insider. "This is for a number of factors. One is that historically the Irish regard themselves as having been a minority struggling against Britain, so they're more sympathetic to other anti-colonial or independent struggles — depending on what you regard the Palestinian cause to be."Ireland was the first Western nation to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" in 1980, and in 2021 the Irish parliament accused Israel of the "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/26/ireland-israel-de-facto-annexation-palestinian-land#:~:text=Ireland's%20parliament%20has%20voted,excoriated%20Israel's%20treatment%20of%20Palestinians.">de facto annexation</a>" of Palestinian land. Palestinian flags and murals also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/10/23/news/ireland_s_support_for_palestine_an_explainer-3720414/">frequent republican neighborhoods</a> in Northern Ireland.While Web Summit began in Ireland, its audience, speakers, attendees, and commercial sponsors are now international. Current and former commercial sponsors include Google, Microsoft, and Siemens, per its website. And American CEOs — including Google's — have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-condemn-hamas-express-support-israel-messages-employees-2023-10">mostly explicitly condemned Hamas and expressed support</a> for Israel.Cosgrave possibly "didn't really realize how big a deal it was given the diversity of his audience," said Paul Argenti, a corporate communications professor at Tuck School of Business.For Cosgrave's critics, including VCs and founders, his comments lacked <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/gdibner/status/1713598569867878624">"moral clarity"</a> by failing to explicitly condemn Hamas in the first instance, while also suggesting the potential for Israeli war crimes. (Cosgrave later did<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/1713879938229493838"> condemn Hamas</a>.) But some of Cosgrave's Irish followers, including entrepreneurs and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1715786502079135945">academics</a>, supported his remarks or took similar stances on X.Cosgrave did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment."He might have been getting a lot of 'You're absolutely right' in Ireland," Argenti added. "But there's a push to be more pro-Israel in the US. No question about that."Cosgrave may have also erred in U-turning, itself indicative that he didn't fully think through the consequences of taking a public position.<h2>Proceed with caution</h2>Many of the high-profile CEOs who have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-condemn-hamas-express-support-israel-messages-employees-2023-10">commented on the conflict so far</a> have explicitly condemned Hamas and supported Israel.Those who have yet to express an opinion may be mindful of previous blowback against corporate stances on topics such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bud-light-lost-beer-sales-crown-modelo-lgbtq-backlash-report-2023-6">LGBTQ+ rights</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-floyd-protests-nike-facebook-real-corporate-leadership-2020-6">racial justice</a>.Argenti said it was important to remember that companies are not political entities and that the expectation for them to comment on issues outside their core business is a relatively new idea.CEOs should consider whether commenting on a political topic issues is strategic, whether they can do anything practical to address the issues, and how much retaliation they might face either way, he added."If you have no connection to Israel, what is the point in mouthing off about political issues now?" he said. "Do we really want companies to become political entities is maybe an even better question.""My main advice for companies is to be really careful," he continued. "Have a plan for how you want to deal with issues before they come up — not when somebody's pressuring you to say something — and then stick to your guns."

A CEO resigned after making remarks on Israel. He's a case study in failing to read the room.

Welcome back. <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a> checking in from NYC. For those who celebrated Christmas, hope you avoided getting coal.Seeing as this week should be a quiet one, we decided to take a trip down memory lane. We're highlighting profiles we've done of some of the most powerful people on Wall Street. They are, as you will see, largely white males — a telling reminder of who still wields the power throughout most of Wall Street. But before we get into it, I'd also like flag <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rising-stars-wall-street-investing-trading-dealmaking-2022">our most recent class of Wall Street's rising stars</a>. While these folks might not be quite at the level of the people profiled below, they might get there soon. P.S. — Which powerful people would you like to see covered in 2023? Drop me a line at <a href="mailto:ddefrancesco@insider.com">ddefrancesco@insider.com</a>.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-on-wall-street">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gregg-lemkau-michael-dell-msd-partners-goldman-sachs-trott-bdt-2022-10"></a>1. From a potential heir to the Goldman throne to blazing his own path. Gregg Lemkau was considered a future CEO candidate at Goldman Sachs before he shocked Wall Street <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gregg-lemkau-departing-goldman-sachs-banking-michael-dell-msd-partners-2020-11">by leaving for Michael Dell's investment firm in 2020</a>. In less than two years, he helped orchestrate a merger with billionaire advisory BDT, which positions him at the top of a hybrid investment bank catering to the world's wealthiest people. Oh, and he's got a great head of hair. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gregg-lemkau-michael-dell-msd-partners-goldman-sachs-trott-bdt-2022-10">More on Lemkau's big bet on himself</a>.2. Jonathan D. Schiller helped build Boies Schiller Flexner into the powerhouse law fim it is today, but he also played a key role <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-a-messy-transition-at-elite-law-firm-boies-schiller-2020-5">in the exodus of partners the firm has endured</a>. Insiders pointed to Schiller's temperamental management style, an unfair comp system, and preferential treatment towards his own son. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boies-schiller-flexner-llp-nepotism-bullying-allegations-2022-1">Read more here</a>.3. Don't bet against Julian Salisbury. Soft-spoken types can sometimes get bulldozed on Wall Street, where so-called alphas often reign supreme. But Goldman Sach's Salisbury, a Brit who came out of the unheralded middle office, has proven <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/profile-of-julian-salisbury-goldman-sachs-2022-2">you don't need to be the loudest in the room to be successful</a>. 4. Meet the team behind what was one of the most profitable trading strategies on the Street. Index-rebalance trading isn't the sexiest topic, but during the pandemic it helped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennium-hedge-funds-glen-scheinberg-index-rebalance-tesla-2022-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hedge funds reap billions in returns</a>. And no one did it better than Millennium's Glen Scheinberg and his team. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennium-trader-glen-scheinberg-srbl-team-index-rebalancing-puerto-rico-2022-1">Here's an inside look at how they did it</a>.5. Musk's money man. Jared Birchall is one of Elon Musk's top deputies, having run his family office for the past six years. But while Musk entrusts a lot to Birchall, the two men could not be more different. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-jared-birchall-elon-musk-family-office">Inside the life of the straight-laced, low-key banker handling Musk's money</a>. 6. Brad Karp weighs his next step. The chairman of the powerful law firm Paul Weiss won big-name clients like Citibank, the NFL, and Apollo. But the man whose client relationships generate some $500 million in fees a year for the firm isn't sure how much longer he wants to stay in the game. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brad-karp-head-of-the-paul-weiss-law-firm-2022-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More on Karp's future here</a>. 7. Bringing Big Tech to Wall Street. Plenty of banks talk about transforming their firm into a technology company, but few have pursued that strategy as aggressively as Goldman Sachs. Marco Argenti, a former AWS exec and the bank's chief information officer, is the mastermind behind it all. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marco-argenti-to-transform-goldman-sachs-tech-division-like-aws-2022-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside his strategy for turning Goldman into the Amazon of Wall Street</a>.8. Tough times for the leader of a top investment team at Morgan Stanley. Dennis Lynch could do no wrong running Counterpoint Global, which posted triple-digit gains in 2020 and was described as the "crown jewel" of Morgan Stanley Investment Management. But the 28-year Morgan Stanley vet has faced much harder sledding this year, and insiders have started questioning the culture on his team. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dennis-lynch-morgan-stanley-counterpoint-global-fund-performance-2022-3?r=dennislynch-teaser">More on the troubles for Morgan Stanley's rock star portfolio manager</a>. 9. The lawyer repping everyone from Jay-Z to Elon Musk. Alex Spiro is no stranger to the spotlight. The Quinn Emanuel partner has defended a plethora of high-profile clients, playing a key role in Musk's fight to break out of his Twitter deal and most recently <a href="https://www.insider.com/megan-thee-stallion-bodyguard-missing-tory-lanez-trial-assault-charges-2022-12">serving as counsel for Megan Thee Stallion</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alex-spiro-attorney-elon-musk-jay-z-bobby-shmurda-2022-06">Here's more on how Spiro rose to power</a>.10. What it takes to get to the top of one of the most competitive PE firms on the Street. Aaron Sobel, Reed Rayman, and Robert Kalsow-Ramos all were named partners at Apollo Global Management before they turned 40. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apollo-global-rising-stars-dealmakers-private-equity-leadership-2022-10">Here's how they rose to the top of an investing firm known for being an intense workplace</a>. Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:ddefrancesco@insider.com">ddefrancesco@insider.com</a>, tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">@dandefrancesco</a>, or <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63a37637507e5b6f7a70eed4&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fdan-defrancesco-29b12449%2F">connect on LinkedIn</a>. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_cane">@jeffrey_cane</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Inside the lives of some of the most powerful people on Wall Street

ReutersAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos published his annual shareholder letter on Thursday.</li><li>Bezos's letter has become a must-read among business leaders for its ingenuity and thought-provoking advice.</li><li>This year's letter, however, mostly focused on Amazon's work in helping its employees and other businesses amid COVID-19 - a departure from previous years' letters that were full of inspiring anecdotes and business guidance.</li><li>Some people say Bezos' annual shareholder letter is losing its luster as the company is more cautious about what it says publicly in light of increased regulatory and press scrutiny.</li><li>Do you work at Amazon? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 415 926 2066) or email (ekim@businessinsider.com).</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Jeff Bezos' annual shareholder letter was once considered a must-read in business circles for the unparalleled insights it gave into the Amazon CEO's leadership principles and long-term thinking.Not so anymore.The highly regarded Amazon shareholder letter, published every year since it went public in 1997, seems to have lost its luster, now primarily being used to promote the company's work, carefully worded to minimize the growing regulatory scrutiny on Amazon, business leaders say.For example, this year's letter, <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2019-letter-to-shareholders?utm_source=incom&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=amznIR2020&amp;utm_content=2019letter">published on Thursday</a>, reads more like a giant press release, with Bezos listing what Amazon has done so far to help its employees and other businesses amid COVID-19. Last year's letter was <a href="https://ir.aboutamazon.com/files/doc_financials/annual/2018-Letter-to-Shareholders.pdf">similarly defensive</a>, mostly covering Amazon's role in growing small business owners on its marketplace.The change is a departure from previous letters that were full of genuine anecdotes and thought-provoking business advice."It's a really boring letter," said Paul Argenti, who teaches corporate communications at Dartmouth College, referring to this year's shareholder letter. "It shows Bezos has a bigger fish to fry."Argenti said the change is a natural progression for Amazon, which has become one of the most powerful companies in the world, run by the richest man in the world. Only a handful of high-profile CEOs, like Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, still manage to write insightful shareholder letters, which shows the difficulty in keeping it as a distinctive part of company culture. <h2>'Good' company</h2>But more importantly, it's likely a reflection of Amazon's desire to stay out of unwanted press and regulatory scrutiny. The letter comes at a time when Amazon is facing an onslaught of challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic. Supply-chain lockdowns have caused massive shipment delays, while groups of employees and lawmakers are criticizing the company's weak safety measures for warehouse and delivery workers. On top of that, Amazon was already dealing with unprecedented regulatory pressure over its growing market power.Anand Sanwal, CEO of financial research firm CB Insights, who <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/bezos-amazon-shareholder-letters/">wrote an analysis</a> of every Amazon shareholder letter last year, said the watered-down language could help avoid unnecessary attention to its business practices, especially at a time when the company's every move is being scrutinized.For example, Bezos wrote in 1998 about the importance of being "terrified" of customers to underscore the importance of providing good customer service, one of his key leadership principles. If he wrote the term "terrified of customers" today, the nuance behind it would be lost, instead leading to "inaccurate agenda-driven soundbite," Sanwal said."Why bother writing something of business value, which will be received positively by a small minority of business and tech nerds, just to invite scrutiny and have 99.9% of the response be negative?" Anand told Business Insider.The change in tone of the letter is particularly interesting, according to Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research. If prior letters had focused on Amazon's business acumen, this year's letter is more focused on its corporate benevolence, emphasizing the good things it's doing for the broader economy. That's likely because of the growing chorus of criticism over Amazon's treatment of workers and claims of antitrust, she said."The tone now is 'we are a company that does good' versus 'we are doing well as a company," Kodali said.<h2>'Optimistic' outlook</h2>While this year's letter is disappointing compared to the previous ones, it still provides some interesting updates to Amazon's business, according to Andrew Murphy, an analyst at Loup Ventures.Bezos said in the letter that he plans to eventually offer regular COVID-19 testing for all Amazon employees. He added his own time and thinking "continues to be focused on COVID-19 and how Amazon can help."Murphy said the letter also confirms that coronavirus-related shopping demand remains high for Amazon, as Bezos compared it to the holiday season. More broadly, it shows Amazon has become an essential part of mainstream America, touching everyday lives not just through shopping, but also job creation and renewable energy, Murphy said.It's not the first time Bezos has used the letter to defend specific aspects of Amazon's business, according to Andrea Leigh, a former Amazon manager who's now VP of strategy at Ideoclick. In 2005, Bezos explained Amazon's push to offer lower prices at the expense of lower profits. The 2010 letter was used to defend Amazon's increased investment in its cloud business. Given the broadened shareholder-base, it only makes sense for Bezos to address specific issues through the annual letter, she said."Amazon's obviously become much more high-profile in recent years, so it would make sense that the letter is written with more PR value in mind," Leigh said.Still, not all readers were disappointed by Bezos's letter. Parsa Saljoughian, a partner at venture investment firm IVP, said while this year's letter clearly reads "differently" than previous ones, it's the most meaningful of them all because it gives a look into Amazon's impact on the broader world. Saljoughian, who previously <a href="https://medium.com/parsa-vc/what-i-learned-from-jeff-bezos-after-reading-every-amazon-shareholder-letter-172d92f38a41">wrote a blog post</a> about reading every Amazon shareholder letter, said he was particularly impressed by the way Bezos ended his letter this year.Bezos asked shareholders to reflect on Theodor Seuss Geisel's quote, "When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.""I am very optimistic about which of these civilization is going to choose," Bezos wrote.<a href="https://store.businessinsider.com/collections/pro/products/payments-commerce-briefing-subscription?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=ecommerce&amp;itm_campaign=payments-commerce-briefing-subscription-2"></a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-covid-19-social-distancing-looks-from-maxar-satellite-2020-3">How social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic looks from a satellite</a></h3>

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' annual shareholder letter, once an insightful must-read, has turned cautious and promotional as the company faces more scrutiny

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">AP</div></div>With the massive popularity of social media, now when a company messes up it doesn't only have to deal with shouted questions from reporters, but also the collective disapproval of an entire customer base.
That makes a company's reaction to a mistake more important then ever. A hamfisted response to a crisis only intensifies the backlash. 
<a href="http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/paul-a-argenti">Paul Argenti</a>, a corporate communications expert and professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business puts together an annual list of the biggest communication blunders of the year, which he shared with us. 
It includes everything from social media screwups to misguided ads and massive CEO flubs. Here are the top 5. 
1. JP Morgan/Chase: #AskJPM
JP Morgan's major 2013 blunder had it all: terrible timing, badly misreading the public, and a complete and utter misunderstanding of social media.
"JPM's marketing wizards decided to set up a Q&amp;A on Twitter with superstar banker Jimmy Lee at the same time the bank was being hit with a $13 billion fine for its transgressions during the financial crisis," Argenti says. "After 24,000 tweets - arguably one of the fastest and most negative reactions to any major global brand on Twitter - they pulled the campaign and realized that maybe their reputation wasn't what it once was."
The lesson learned: "Listen to your communications experts."
2. Lululemon: Shifting the blame
When asked on Bloomberg TV about quality control problems leading to excessive sheerness on its new yoga pants, Lululemon founder and chairman Chip Wilson suggested that it was due to heavy women rubbing their thighs together because the pants were too tight for them. 
"How much more insensitive can a person be when faced with a relatively minor issue?" Argenti asks.
The lesson learned: "Don't blame customers for your mistakes, and know when to shut up!"
3. Chick-fil-A: Being unauthentic
Last year was pretty bad for Chick-fil-A after Dan Cathy's comments on gay marriage. But this year, it didn't do much better, Argenti argues.
"Companies can certainly have opinions about gay marriage or any other subject, but they should try to stick to their guns and remain true to their beliefs," Argenti says. "Instead, CEO Dan Cathy, who clearly supports the most traditional definition of marriage, decided to put the entire controversy back on the front burner by befriending Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. This only served to remind us of Chick-fil-A's false Facebook accounts, its lies about the termination of the relationship with Jim Henson Co., and the entire Twitter controversy. It also called into question the veracity of Cathy's beliefs."
The lesson learned: "Stick to your guns, and know when to fold your cards."
4. Carnival: Hiding at the top
Carnival already had a disaster last year with the Costa Concordia. But when a ship lost power in February, CEO Micky Arison wasn't available. It had a lower-ranked CEO of the cruise line come out instead.
"One of the most basic rules of crisis communications is that your top person needs to be on hand when things hit the fan," Argenti says. "Arison seems more concerned with tweeting about his Miami Heat rather than trying to figure out how to fix systemic problems with the company's fleet."
The lesson learned: "Put your CEO front and center when you are in a crisis and under attack."
5. Obamacare: Inappropriate ads
"Trying to draw young people to a non-working website with online ads that are, at best, in bad taste ranks up there with the dumbest communications acts of the year," Argenti says. "Depending upon which state you were in, you were subjected to sexually suggestive ads that were degrading to women or spots that encouraged reckless behavior with young men standing on top of kegs."
It was the wrong message to send, he argues, inspired even worse fake ads from opponents of the law, and ended up drawing more focus on something that was already going badly. 
The lesson learned: "Keep your communications classy, and you won't have to worry about being attacked by fakers."

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