Amazon Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bezos has criticized the New York Times for what he claims is an inaccurate description of the company's workplace environment.
The article at hand, "Inside Amazon: Wresting Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace," claimed that workers at the company are held to standards that are "unreasonably high" and that they often receive e-mails and text messages past midnight. Bezos claims the piece made a portrait of Amazon that made it seem like a "soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard," the New York Times reports in its follow-up article.
He later told his employees: "I don't recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don't, either."
Earlier this year, Amazon officials sued four websites connected with allegedly misleading customers with fake, positive reviews, Reuters reports.
Company representatives filed an official complaint at the King County Superior Court in Washington, claiming the four websites were negatively affecting the online retailer's review process.
"While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon's brand," the complaint said, according to the site.
One of the websites, buyamazonreviews.com, allows manufacturers to purchase unlimited four and five-star reviews written by "skilled writers" who analyze a variety of products. The alleged owner of the site, California resident Jay Gentile, is expected to appear in court over the controversy. Other unnamed defendants include those who run the buyreviewsnow.com and bayreviews.net sites.
The complaint filed by Amazon officials also claim the websites used a "slow drip" method, which produces doctored reviews at a slow pace so as to avoid being detected by the site's monitoring mechanisms.
The ongoing case is Amazon's first-ever lawsuit.
