> Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people

All those creating the value. Many of them having poor working conditions and living off social welfare programs. One guy at the top skimming everything. Is he really worth all those billions? Could he survive on a little less and share with those doing the work? Or is his contribution really more than all those million combined..?

Although I know what you mean, in Amazon's case the people making the "value" are paid very well. Its blunt but true, Amazon prints money from AWS not selling lightbulbs.

Similarly, the idea that if you put 1.3 Million warehouse staff in a big room Amazon will come out the other side is really really stupid.

The downvotes must mean that, as always, welfare is missing the point.

They had about 35,000 employees at the beginning of 2011. We struggle to hire a handful of developers per year :D

Would be interesting to know how they are split by geography and function

Function should be obvious - the vast majority in fulfillment centers and logistics and customer service.

And pay. With the discussion in other threads about whether corporations should be able to compete with nations, is Amazon's wealth-distribution better or worse than various nations?