A group of Amazon shareholders is pushing for the company to allocate at least 5% of its assets to Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, in a proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a think tank advocating free market principles.
Cryptocurrency proposal for Amazon
The proposal, shared by Tim Kotzman, suggests adding Bitcoin to Amazon’s treasury as an inflation hedge and asset diversification strategy. It points to the existing Bitcoin investments of companies such as MicroStrategy and Tesla, citing Bitcoin’s superior performance compared to traditional assets such as corporate bonds. The proposal includes the following statements:
MicroStrategy, which holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, saw its stock outperform Amazon stock by 537% in the previous year. And they are not alone. Institutional and corporate adoption of Bitcoin is growing: More public companies like Tesla and Block have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, Amazon’s second- and fourth-largest institutional shareholders – BlackRock and Fidelity, respectively – are offering a Bitcoin ETF to their clients, and the US government may create a Bitcoin strategic reserve in 2025.
No response from Amazon
The proposal calls on Amazon’s board of directors to consider whether the Bitcoin treasury allocation serves the long-term interests of shareholders. Amazon has not publicly responded to the proposal, but the company has previously shown interest in Blockchain technology, particularly in supply chain management. NCPPR’s proposal is part of a broad corporate effort to drive Bitcoin adoption. In October, the think tank sent a similar letter to Microsoft, asking it to consider investing in Bitcoin. Microsoft’s board of directors advised shareholders to vote against their proposal, noting that they were already evaluating “a wide range of investable assets,” including Bitcoin.
The NCPPR warns that if Microsoft opposes Bitcoin investments and the value of the crypto asset subsequently increases, shareholders could sue. Microsoft shareholders are set to vote on the proposal to evaluate Bitcoin on December 10th.
What’s next?
Once a shareholder proposal is made, Amazon’s board of directors will review the proposal and decide whether to include it in Amazon’s proxy statement for the upcoming annual shareholder meeting. If the proposal is included in the proxy statement, shareholders will vote on the proposal at the annual meeting scheduled for April 2025. The outcome of the vote will depend on the number of votes cast for and against the proposal. Similar to Microsoft, Amazon’s board of directors typically makes a recommendation on how shareholders should vote on each proposal. Amazon’s largest shareholders include major financial institutions such as Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity Management & Research, Geode Capital Management and JPMorgan.
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