Amazon's Jeff Bezos received $1.7 million to cover security costs last year

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos received the same annual salary last year as he has for the past decade, taking home $81,840, the Internet retailer disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

As usual, security costs made up the bulk of Bezos' 2009 compensation package.

Bezos, 46, who owns about 21 percent of Amazon's stock, received $1.7 million to cover security costs. That was up from the $1.2 million Amazon spent in 2008 to keep Bezos out of harm's way.

Spokeswoman Mary Osako would not elaborate on the increased security costs. Amazon's filing says only that "all company-incurred security costs are reasonable and necessary and for the company's benefit."

In a letter to shareholders included in the regulatory filing, Bezos talked up Amazon's commitment to customer service, its overseas expansion and efforts to improve online shopping for apparel and shoes.

He cited the company's purchase in November of Zappos, a Nevada-based Internet shoe and apparel retailer, and the launch of a new online denim shop.

Bezos briefly mentioned the company's Kindle e-reader, noting it has been shipped to more than 120 countries. Also, he said, the U.S. Kindle store now carries more than 460,000 books, up from 250,000 last year.

Bezos was more effusive about the Kindle a year ago, announcing then in his letter that sales had exceeded "our most optimistic expectations."

Some analysts recently downgraded their Kindle sales predictions after the April 3 release of Apple's competing iPad. Apple said Wednesday it's postponing the iPad's international launch by a month because of "surprisingly strong" U.S. demand for its new tablet computer.

Amazon does not disclose Kindle sales.

Seattle-based Amazon posted a 2009 profit of $902 million, up from $645 million in 2008, as total sales rose 28 percent to $24.5 billion.

Those results "reflect the cumulative effect of 15 years of customer experience improvements," Bezos said in Wednesday's letter. "We are proud of our low prices, our reliable delivery and our in-stock position on even obscure and hard-to-find items."

He said the company benefited from growth of its Amazon Prime shipping program, cloud-computing services and third-party sellers, which represented nearly a third of items sold on its sites in 2009.

Additionally, Amazon set May 25 as the date for its annual shareholders meeting, which will be at the Seattle Art Museum.

The company plans to reduce the size of its board of directors to seven members from eight after last month's announcement that venture capitalist John Doerr, a longtime director, will not stand for re-election.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com