Could Jeff Bezos pull a Bob Iger? Speculation on Wall Street that Amazon founder could return to rescue tech giant after its stock fell 50% last year - just like ex-Disney CEO staging comeback
- Wall Street analyst Michael Batnick predicts Bezos will 'pull a Bob Iger' in 2023
- Batnick thinks Bezos will return and replace his hand-picked CEO Andy Jassy
- In November, Iger pulled a similar move and replaced his successor Bob Chapek
- Amazon stock suffered its worse decline in 2022 since the Dot Com crash
A Wall Street analyst has speculated that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could return to lead the company in 2023, after its shares fell by more than half last year.
Michael Batnick, director of research at Ritholtz Wealth Management, issued the prediction on Monday in a note listing his market forecasts for the coming year.
'Jeff Bezos spent 27 years at Amazon and has been gone for less than two. In 2023 he pulls a Bob Iger and returns to steady the ship,' wrote Batnick.
In November, former longtime Disney CEO Iger returned to helm the company in a shock move, replacing his hand-picked successor Bob Chapek after Disney shares lost a third of their value under his two-year tenure.
![Amazon founder Jeff Bezos](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/01/04/17/66196839-11599223-image-m-13_1672853978755.jpg)
![Bob Iger](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/01/04/17/66196837-11599223-image-a-14_1672853988086.jpg)
A Wall Street analyst has speculated that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (left) could return to lead the company in 2023, similar to Bob Iger's (right) return to Disney in November
![Amazon's stock performance is seen over the past year. Shares lost 51% over 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/01/04/17/66196833-11599223-image-a-15_1672854042353.jpg)
Amazon's stock performance is seen over the past year. Shares lost 51% over 2022
Now, Batnick believes a similar shakeup could be in store at Amazon, which saw its stock price drop 51 percent in 2022 - the company's worst year since the Dot Com crash of the late 90s.
Batnick argued that in relative terms, Amazon's performance last year was even worse than the larger percentage decline it posted in 2000.
'Yes, Amazon has seen worse drawdowns, but when it peaked during the dot com bubble on its way to a 90%+ decline, it had a market cap of $36 billion,' he wrote.
'It lost more than $30 billion on multiple days in 2022 and shed $840 billion this year alone. It’s hard to compare this company to what it was back then,' added Batnick.
An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Wednesday morning.
Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994, stepped down as CEO in January 2021 and was replaced by his longtime lieutenant Jassy, who previously served as the top boss of cloud business Amazon Web Services.
![Andy Jassy (above) took over as Amazon CEO when Bezos stepped down in January 2021](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/01/04/17/66197879-11599223-image-a-16_1672854095556.jpg)
Andy Jassy (above) took over as Amazon CEO when Bezos stepped down in January 2021
The company's stock, which soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as the world turned to online shopping during lockdowns, suffered last year as life returned to normal.
Amazon was also hit by a broader sell-off in technology stocks, which were especially vulnerable to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes to battle inflation.
Higher rates boosted the yields of US Treasury notes, making growth stocks that rarely pay dividends look comparatively less attractive.
In late November, Amazon began making one of the largest corporate staff cuts in its 28-year history, axing as many as 10,000 corporate employees - or 3 percent of the company's office workforce.
The slowing growth reportedly caused some senior staffers to instruct employees in underperforming divisions to look for jobs elsewhere - after being notified the teams they were working on were being suspended or nixed altogether.
![In November, Amazon began making one of the largest corporate staff cuts in its 28-year history, axing as many as 10,000 corporate employees (file photo)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/10/20/64419677-11413913-image-a-26_1668110473056.jpg)
In November, Amazon began making one of the largest corporate staff cuts in its 28-year history, axing as many as 10,000 corporate employees (file photo)
Once the world's richest man, Bezos, whose wealth is largely tied to his stake in Amazon, has seen his fortune fall by more than $66 billion amid the recent woes hitting the tech sector.
Batnick in his 2023 predictions also forecast that the US economy would avoid recession in the coming year, and stock markets would gain by double digits.
'With peak inflation hopefully behind us, a consumer that is still in good shape, and an investor class that is negative across the board, it wouldn’t take much in the way of an upside surprise for stocks to take off,' he wrote.
However, even Batnick admitted that 'market predictions are silly' and often wrong.
'But that doesn’t mean they’re completely worthless,' he noted. 'Even though forecasts are almost always wrong, they can be entertaining and educational.'
Most watched News videos
- Ukrainian sniper fires at two Russian soldiers with grenade launchers
- MPs in Commons react to plan to means test winter fuel payments
- Moscow woman reports live: 'Where are we supposed to run to?'
- Knife-wielding break-in suspect chases local after being confronted
- Germany implements temporary border controls to combat migration
- Tory MP Robert Jenrick dodges Tory leadership 'dirty tricks' query
- Moment 'drunk' Brit and his wife are hauled off Ryanair flight
- Hairbrush and women's clothes found in tunnel where hostages died
- Audi fails to stop after hitting a pensioner in Keighley, Yorkshire
- Moment of 'Ukrainian kamikaze drone attack' on Moscow building
- Princess Kate mirrors the late Queen driving in candid recovery video
- Princess Sofia shows baby bump at Parliament State Opening