What Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual letter to shareholders didn’t say

To Kaziukėnas, the omission is “striking” because Amazon has historically used the annual letter to reinforce how central third-party sellers are to its retail strategy and overall business. The 2025 letter, by contrast, “doesn’t mention sellers, it doesn’t mention brands, it doesn’t mention the marketplace. It doesn’t discuss [it] in any capacity,” Kaziukėnas said.

Amazon shocked Wall Street in February when it announced plans to spend $200 billion on capital expenditures this year, much of it dedicated to building out AI infrastructure. The announcement triggered a stock selloff that wiped out more than $450 billion in market value. Amazon has spent recent earnings calls and interviews defending its spending spree, so it was not surprising that Jassy used the shareholder letter to again try to convince Wall Street that the company’s AI investments will pay off.

“We’re not investing approximately $200 billion in capex in 2026 on a hunch,” Jassy wrote. “AI is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the current growth is unprecedented and the future growth even bigger.”

Amazon said for the first time that AI revenue in its cloud computing division has reached a $15 billion annual run rate.

“It’s a sign of the times,” Kaziukėnas said. The letter “really only focuses on AI.”

This year’s letter spans just over 5,000 words, most of it focused on artificial intelligence and how the technology is a defining opportunity for Amazon’s future. It also highlights fulfillment expansion, logistics improvements and the company’s evolving grocery business. But beyond those areas, the company’s core online retail marketplace receives no direct attention.

An analysis of shareholder letters going back to 2016, conducted by Modern Retail, revealed that Thursday’s letter was the first to include no mention of the word “seller.” In past years, Amazon’s letters often included statistics about seller growth, the share of goods sold by third-party merchants and examples of how small businesses were succeeding on the platform. Historically, the company has pointed out that independent sellers account for more than 60% of items sold on Amazon. The 2017 shareholder letter, in particular, includes a dedicated “Marketplace” section alongside other business areas such as AWS, Prime and Alexa.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tended to give sellers more attention in his shareholder letters than Jassy has. Earlier letters regularly highlighted the growth of Amazon’s third-party marketplace and the role small businesses played in expanding the company’s selection. Since taking over as CEO in 2021, Jassy has focused more heavily on businesses like cloud computing, advertising and artificial intelligence, underscoring how Amazon has grown and diversified since its early beginnings as an online bookseller.

Still, the lack of seller discussion comes at a time when some merchants say their relationship with Amazon is becoming more strained. Recent policy changes — including new fees, changes to advertising payments and shifts in how quickly sellers receive their money — are creating financial pressure for some businesses, Modern Retail reported. At the same time, rising fulfillment costs and a new fuel and logistics surcharge are forcing some sellers to raise prices, delay product launches or rethink how much they rely on Amazon.

“There are so many things happening around the marketplace that may not be notable to investors — which is mostly who this letter is for — but there are still concerns from sellers and brands, as well as successes Amazon could be highlighting,” Kaziukėnas said. “The absence of all that is notable.”

Missed opportunities

The letter avoids mentioning some newer retail initiatives Amazon has publicly promoted elsewhere.

While Jassy discussed how AI could reshape retail and the customer experience broadly, he did not mention Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, even though the company has frequently pointed to it as an example of how AI could change how people shop. Amazon has previously said customers who engage with Rufus during their shopping journey are 60% more likely to complete a purchase compared to those who don’t. Amazon has also said that Rufus is on track to generate an additional $10 billion in annualized sales for the company.

Kaziukėnas said that may reflect how Amazon is prioritizing the biggest financial opportunities tied to AI rather than consumer-facing tools.

“The pie is so much bigger for Amazon as a company,” he said, referring to the company’s cloud and infrastructure AI bets. “Rufus is something that is promising but, as a business, is not yet so important.”

It is also perhaps unsurprising that Jassy wrote AI “will reshape every customer experience we offer and unlock entirely new ones.” But he did not address recent controversies related to the rollout of Amazon’s AI-powered “Buy for Me” and “Shop Direct” features, which earlier this year drew complaints from brands that said their products appeared on Amazon without permission. Despite the backlash, Amazon announced last month it was expanding those tools.

The change in emphasis reflects what Amazon wants investors to focus on. The company is investing heavily in AI infrastructure and positioning those efforts as its next major growth driver. At the same time, Amazon’s fastest-growing and highest-margin businesses increasingly sit outside traditional retail, including cloud computing and advertising. While retail still drives the largest share of Amazon’s sales, it accounted for about 38% of the company’s total revenue in 2025, according to company filings. That’s down from roughly 43% in 2024. In other words, Amazon is increasingly relying on higher-margin services like seller fees, advertising and cloud computing for growth.

Kaziukėnas said earlier letters often used the document to showcase the scale of Amazon’s retail ecosystem.

“It was always like an opportunity for Amazon to be like, ‘Oh, by the way, this is actually working really well for so many of these small businesses,’” he said.

Shareholder letters are designed to highlight long-term priorities and are not meant to cover every part of the business. But the change in emphasis reflects how Amazon is now viewed as both a technology and AI giant, not just an online retailer.

“Amazon is by most definitions a retail company,” Kaziukėnas said. “Not mentioning any of that … it’s just odd.”