How tech won the pandemic and now may never lose SECTIONS Last Updated: Jul 24, 2021, 10:15 AM IST Share Synopsis After stepping aside as chief executive early this month, Bezos flew to suborbital space for 10 minutes this week. Upon returning, he expressed gratitude to those who had fulfilled this lifelong dream. “I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, ’cause you guys paid for all this,” he said. Reuters In April 2020, with 2,000 Americans dying every day of COVID-19, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive and the world’s richest man, announced he was focusing on people rather than profits. Amazon would spend about $4 billion in the next few months “providing for customers and protecting employees,” he said, wiping out the profit the retailer would have made without the virus.