As the holiday season looms in the western world, so does a recession. This is the time when Americans and Europeans splurge their yearly bonuses on big-ticket purchases such as travel and consumer goods. But, now is not the time to do so, advised Jeff Bezos, the owner of the world’s largest e-commerce platform Amazon, his fellow Americans. A recession is looming, he warned, and therefore people must conserve some cash.
In an interview to CNN, the world’s richest man advised consumers to avoid unnecessary spending in the coming months. He said American families should avoid big-ticket purchases such as cars and televisions as the economy is staring at a recession.
“If you are an individual and you are thinking about buying a large-screen TV, maybe slow that down, keep that cash, and see what happens. Same thing with a refrigerator, a new car, whatever. Just take some risk off the table,” Bezos said.
He advised small business owners to put off scheduled expenditure investments in new equipment and build cash reserves to ride out the recession.
“Take as much risk off the table as you can,” he said. “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” Bezos made the comments in a CNN interview that aired this week.
In the same interview, Bezos committed to giving away the majority of $124-billion worth of fortune to fight climate change and support people working to unite humanity at a time of deep social and political divisions in the society.
Bezos is the executive president of Amazon; he stepped down from the position of CEO earlier last year.
