Amazon Worker Sends Email, Leaps From Company Building

An Amazon employee emailed hundreds of fellow Amazonians—including CEO Jeff Bezos—before leaping from a building at company headquarters in Seattle Monday morning. The man survived the jump, which police believe was a suicide attempt. A source tells Bloomberg that the man, one of 20,000 workers in multiple buildings at the Amazon campus, had asked to be transferred to a different department but had instead been placed on an employee improvement plan, which the source says tends to be a first step toward firing. The man, whose role with the company has not been disclosed, made it clear that he was unhappy with the company's handling of the transfer request and hinted that he would harm himself, the source says.

A police spokesman tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the man jumped from a pedestal four stories up on the 12-story building, but he fell just 20 feet to a balcony. "Our thoughts are with our colleague as he continues to recover," Amazon said in a statement to Business Insider. "He's receiving some of the best care possible and we will be there to support him throughout the recovery process." (After an unflattering New York Times article last year, Bezos denied that he had created a "soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard.")