TL;DR: Jeff Bezos's last shareholder letter revealed the ultimate truth of a great enterprise: the total value you create for your entire ecosystem (customers, employees, partners) must vastly exceed the profit you capture for yourself. This "Value > Cost" model is not just a philosophy; it is a core business strategy. At Mercury, this principle is our operational reality. We engineer our services not as expenses, but as investments that build durable "Answer Assets" and "Trust Layers" for our clients, ensuring their value return is a multiple of their cost. This, combined with a relentless, energy-intensive effort to resist the pull of mediocrity, is the only way to build an enduring moat.
I am James, CEO of Mercury Technology Solutions. Hong Kong - October 28, 2025
I recently revisited Jeff Bezos's final shareholder letter. Prompted by a mention from Alex Hormozi, I found it to be far more than a dry corporate filing. It is a timeless strategic blueprint, a masterclass in first-principles thinking about what makes a business truly great and enduring.
One core concept, in particular, perfectly articulates the philosophy that is the very foundation of Mercury Technology Solutions.
The Only Metric That Matters: Value Created > Value Consumed
Bezos opens with a powerful and universal law: "If you want to be successful in business (in life, actually), you have to create more than you consume."
He posits that any company that fails to create net positive value for every entity it touches is, regardless of its apparent success, already on the path to obsolescence. He then did something few CEOs ever do: he quantified the total value Amazon created for its entire ecosystem in a single year (2020).
The results are a stunning lesson in non-zero-sum thinking:
- For Shareholders: $21 Billion (Net Profit)
- For Employees: $91 Billion (Wages & Benefits)
- For 3P Sellers: $25 Billion (Estimated Profits for SMBs on the platform)
- For Customers: $164 Billion
The customer value figure is the most revolutionary. How did he calculate it? Not by revenue, but by the value of time saved. By conservatively estimating that Amazon purchases saved customers time, and valuing that time at a mere $10/hour, he demonstrated that the value created for customers was nearly eight times the profit captured by shareholders.
This isn't about shifting money from one pocket to another. This, Bezos argues, is the true meaning of invention and the fundamental reason a company deserves to exist.
The Mercury Mandate: How We Engineer "Value > Cost"
This philosophy is the operational core of Mercury Technology Solutions. We do not view our client relationships as transactional. Our GAIO and SEVO services are not designed to be a cost center on a client's P&L. They are designed to be a high-yield investment.
Our entire methodology is engineered to ensure the value we create for our clients is a multiple of the cost they incur. How do we achieve this?
We don't just "do SEO." We help our clients architect and build durable digital assets.
- When we create an "Answer Asset," we are building a piece of foundational, source-worthy content that will serve as an authority beacon for years, not just for a single campaign.
- When we construct a "Trust Layer," we are engineering a resilient, cross-platform reputation that provides a lasting competitive moat.
These are not ephemeral services; they are capital improvements to a brand's digital presence. Our mandate is to ensure that the long-term value of these assets—in terms of authority, lead generation, and brand equity—dwarfs the cost of our engagement. If we are not creating more value than we consume, we have failed.
The Constant Battle: Resisting the Gravitational Pull of "Normal"
In the letter's conclusion, Bezos shares what he believes is the most important lesson of all, citing biologist Richard Dawkins. Life is a constant, energy-intensive struggle against the universe's tendency toward equilibrium. A living organism is distinct from its environment. Once it dies, it returns to a state of balance, its distinctiveness gone.
Bezos translates this to the business world:
"The world will pull you in a thousand ways, trying to make you 'normal'... How much energy do you have to expend to maintain your distinctiveness?"
This is a profound insight. In business, becoming "normal"—becoming just like your competitors—is a slow death. Maintaining your unique edge, your "weirdness," requires immense and continuous effort.
At Mercury, we are acutely aware of this gravitational pull towards mediocrity. The "normal" thing to do would be to follow standard SEO "best practices," use the same tools as everyone else, and produce generic, high-volume content.
We actively resist this. We expend enormous energy to maintain our distinctiveness by:
- Innovating on Frameworks: We don't just use checklists; we architect proprietary frameworks like The 4 Pillars, F.I.N.D.S., and A.C.I.D. that force a first-principles approach.
- Building Our Own Technology: We invest in building tools like our Mercury ContentFlow AI Suite to solve problems in a unique and more effective way.
- Prioritizing Strategic Intelligence: We dedicate significant resources to analysis and insight, ensuring our strategies are based on a unique worldview, not on copying what others are doing.
The fairytale version of "being yourself," as Bezos notes, is that it's easy. It's not. It is a deliberate, daily, and resource-intensive choice.
Conclusion: A Leader's True North
Bezos's final letter is a masterclass in strategic leadership. It provides three core takeaways that every leader should internalize:
- Value > Profit: Re-evaluate your business. Is the total value you create for your ecosystem an order of magnitude greater than the profit you capture? If not, you are vulnerable.
- Your Distinctiveness is Your Moat: What makes your company truly unique? Are you actively investing energy every single day to amplify that uniqueness, or are you slowly being "normalized" by the market?
- It Remains Day 1: The humility to admit you "need to do better" and the relentless energy to fight against mediocrity are the hallmarks of a great leader. It is the only way to build an organization that creates more than it consumes, and that deserves to endure.
Mercury Technology Solutions. Accelerate Digitality.
