Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos vowed to hire 25,000 veterans and spouses of active-duty military personnel over the next five years, joining a 5-year-old White House program to support military families and furthering the tech giant’s steps into the civic spotlight.
Veterans returning from America’s recent military forays have been made a cause c?l?bre by other corporate leaders, including Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who co-wrote a book about them with former Washington Post editor Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Amazon has also made an effort at hiring veterans in the past — about 10,000 since 2011.
But Bezos’ very public announcement, made at the White House on Thursday, seems to indicate a changing step for a company that’s been criticized in the past for standoffishness when it comes to public involvement.
It underscores how, as Amazon’s business soars, its public profile rises as well — as does the standard it’s held to.