While other CEOs chased performance bonuses and stock grants, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said he took a different route—and made it official. 

At the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit, Jeff Bezos said that for his entire tenure as the company's CEO, he asked the company's compensation committee to cap his salary at $80,000 a year.

"I asked the comp committee of the board not to give me any comp," he said. "I just didn't feel good about taking more."

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He didn't need a reason beyond that, but he gave one anyway. Bezos, who built Amazon from scratch and remains its largest shareholder, said his massive equity stake already aligned his incentives.

"How could I possibly need more incentive?" he said. "It's already—the comp that I cared about was making Amazon more valuable."

It Was About Principles, Not PR

He wasn't interested in the optics or public pressure. He said his decision to reject extra pay wasn't about appearing modest—it was personal.

"I just would have felt icky about it," Bezos said. "I'm actually very proud of that decision."

That "icky" factor stuck with him. He only said it once in the transcript, but it hit hard—and summed up his entire pay philosophy.

Bezos used the moment to explain why founder compensation looks different from hired CEOs. As a major shareholder, he already had all the motivation he needed to build value—for himself and others.

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"Founders tend to own big chunks of the company," he said at the summit. "They don't really need more incentive. They just want to make the equity they have more valuable."

He added that Amazon's total market cap was about $2.3 trillion—and roughly $200 billion of that was his. "So I created $2.1 trillion for other people," he said. "And that's great."

He's No Longer CEO, But ‘Always There To Help'

Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, but still remains involved as chairman. He described his current role as something like a parent whose kid just left for college—still close and invested but no longer making the day-to-day decisions.

"I want Amazon to go off without me," he said. "But I'll always be there to help."

And yes, like any parent, sometimes he still sends money.

"I've got kids in college and just out of college," Bezos added. "And I still have to Venmo them money every once in a while."

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Turning Equity into Motivation—Even Without Billions

Bezos' approach to pay was simple: he already had ownership, so he didn't need extra incentives. Most people won't be handed a multibillion-dollar stake in a global company, but the idea of turning equity into motivation still applies.

That's part of the pitch behind Arrived—a platform Bezos has backed that lets individuals invest in fractional shares of rental properties, starting with as little as $100. Investors earn passive income through rent and property appreciation, while Arrived handles the landlord responsibilities. It's a way to build long-term wealth gradually—using small stakes to build equity, just like Bezos emphasized.

Whether it's real estate or public markets, ownership changes the equation. And as Bezos made clear, sometimes the right incentives don't need to come from a boardroom. They just need to come from having skin in the game.

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