Key Takeaways
- Amazon shareholders are advocating for at least 5% of company assets to be allocated to Bitcoin.
- The proposal points out that Bitcoin has outperformed other assets such as corporate bonds in recent years.
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A group of Amazon shareholders is pushing for the company to allocate a minimum of 5% of its assets to Bitcoin, through a proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a free-market principles advocacy think tank.
The proposal, shared by Tim Kotzman, recommends Bitcoin addition to Amazon’s treasury as a hedge against inflation and asset diversification strategy. It cites Bitcoin’s superior performance compared to traditional assets like corporate bonds, while pointing to existing Bitcoin investments by companies such as MicroStrategy and Tesla.
“MicroStrategy, which holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, has had its stock outperform Amazon stock by 537% in the previous year. And they’re not alone. Institutional and corporate Bitcoin adoption is becoming more commonplace: more public companies such as Tesla and Block have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, Amazon’s second and fourth largest institutional shareholders—BlackRock and Fidelity, respectively—offer their clients a Bitcoin ETF, and the US government may form a Bitcoin strategic reserve in 2025,” the letter wrote.
The proposal calls for Amazon’s board to evaluate whether Bitcoin treasury allocation serves shareholders’ long-term interests.
Amazon has not issued a public response to the proposal, though the company has previously demonstrated interest in blockchain technology, particularly in supply chain management.
The NCPPR’s proposal is part of a broad institutional push toward Bitcoin adoption. In October, the think tank sent a similar letter to Microsoft urging Bitcoin investment consideration.
Microsoft’s board has advised shareholders to vote against their proposal, stating they already consider “a wide range of investable assets,” including Bitcoin.
If Microsoft opts against Bitcoin investments and the digital asset’s value subsequently increases, the NCPPR warns it may end up in shareholder litigation.
Microsoft shareholders are set to vote on their Bitcoin consideration proposal on December 10.
What happens next to the NCPPR shareholder proposal?
Once a shareholder proposal is filed, Amazon’s board of directors will review it and decide whether to include it in Amazon’s proxy statement for the upcoming annual shareholders meeting.
If the proposal is added to the proxy statement, shareholders will vote on it at the annual meeting, scheduled for April 2025. The outcome of the vote will depend on the number of votes in favor of and against the proposal.
Similar to Microsoft, the Amazon board of directors typically provides a recommendation on how shareholders should vote regarding each proposal.
Top Amazon shareholders include major financial institutions like Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity Management & Research, Geode Capital Management, and JPMorgan.
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