Amazon founder Jeff Bezos joined the chorus of people who said they were touched by the life and work of Dolly Parton as he shared his condolences after the passing of the entertainment legend.

Parton, the rags-to-riches country music star whose hits included “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and “Coat of Many Colors,” died in Nashville on Tuesday at age 80.

“Dolly spent her whole life showing us what it means to lead with love,” Bezos wrote in an Instagram post. “Lauren and I are so grateful to have known her. She lifted everyone with her music, her generosity, and her joy. Sending our sincere condolences to her family and everyone she touched.”

Parton was a prolific giver. Her philanthropic endeavors included Imagination Library, which distributed more than 200 million books to young children. She gave back to her home county in Tennessee, through awards and scholarships for high school graduates. She helped raise millions after wildfires in the state, and gave millions more to hospitals.

I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money ❤️ Thank you @JeffBezos #LaurenSanchez https://t.co/8RHh51z3jT

— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) November 13, 2022

In November 2022, Parton received $100 million to give away as she chose as a recipient of Bezos’ “Courage and Civility” award.

The award was established in 2021, with the prize to be distributed within 10 years. Past winners have included include Jose Andres, chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen nonprofit organization, Van Jones, host of “The Van Jones Show” and founder of Dream.org; Eva Longoria, actress, producer, and founder of the Eva Longoria Foundation; Richard Rusczyk, founder of Art of Problem Solving; and others.

“She gives with her heart,” Bezos said when presenting Parton with the award, as seen in a video he posted on Twitter at the time. “What she’s done for kids, and literacy, and so many other things, is just incredible.”

“Did you say $100 million?!” Parton exclaimed as she took the stage. “When people are in a position to help, you should help. I’ve always said, ‘I try to put my money where my heart is,’ and I think you do the same thing,” she added, tapping Bezos on the chest.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon’s delivery drones are going national, nearly 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled them on 60 Minutes. We listen back and discuss what’s next.

Plus: We go inside Anduril’s unmarked Bellevue office as the defense company builds toward 1,000 Seattle-area engineers; a reporter hides an AirTag in a rare book and tracks it to a secret Amazon book-scanning facility in Las Vegas; and an Anduril-themed trivia challenge.

Audio editing and production by Curt Milton.

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Mentioned at the top

• Want to know what Jeff Bezos brings to Liverpool FC? Study Amazon’s Leadership Principles

Amazon drone delivery

• Amazon drone delivery set to expand nationally, reaching nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns this year
• Amazon’s big surprise: Working on autonomous flying delivery drones — GeekWire, December 2013
• Jeff Bezos unveils the Prime Air prototype on 60 Minutes — YouTube
• Amazon Prime Air drone delivery expansion — Amazon
• Andy Jassy’s 2025 letter to shareholders — Amazon
• Walmart, Wing expand drone delivery coverage — Supply Chain Dive

The AirTag and the book-scanning facility

• How an AirTag planted by a reporter led to a secret Amazon site where old books are cut apart and scanned
• We tracked a shipment of rare books. It ended at an Amazon AI training facility — 404 Media
• AI companies are buying tons of old books because they’re free of AI slop — 404 Media
• Trash Transparency Project — Basel Action Network
• America’s e-waste: a GPS tracker tells all — PBS NewsHour
• Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5B to settle lawsuit with book authors — Associated Press

Anduril in the Seattle region

• Inside Anduril’s AI warfighting buildup: Defense giant sees a path to 1,000 Seattle-area engineers
• Anduril exits Seattle shipyard following canceled Navy program and omission from new warship list
• Defense tech giant Anduril eyes new funding at $100B valuation as Seattle expansion draws protests — GeekWire, July 2026
• AI weapons under scrutiny as activists plan weekend protest at Anduril’s Seattle office — GeekWire, July 2026
• Anduril lands $5B as defense giant builds autonomous warship operation in Seattle — GeekWire, May 2026
• Defense giant Anduril is quietly building autonomous warships on Seattle’s historic ship canal — GeekWire, April 2026
• Military tech giant Anduril lands in Bellevue, doubling footprint in Seattle region — GeekWire, July 2025

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What does Jeff Bezos’ new ownership stake in English Premier League powerhouse Liverpool FC mean for the storied soccer club?

I was invited by Dan Clubbe of the Liverpool fan site The Redmen TV to talk about the Amazon founder’s recent investment, Bezos’ first real foray into sports ownership.

Across the 45-minute discussion, I shared thoughts about Bezos’ transformation from the nerdy, khaki-wearing entrepreneur of his early career to the higher-profile “Buff Bezos” of the past decade.

On the surface, it appears as if Bezos will, for now, take an arm’s-length approach to Liverpool. He’s investing through a consortium, 1892 Holdings, that owns about a 38% interest in the team and an option to buy it outright.

One point I made: Bezos leads a very busy life. The sci-fi nerd’s true passion is his space company, Blue Origin, and he is also spending considerable time as the co-CEO at newly formed AI startup Prometheus. And with a new wife (Lauren Sanchez Bezos, who seems to be the true sports fan between them) there may not be enough hours in the day for the Miami resident to worry much about the inner workings at Anfield.

But Bezos does bring enormous capital and business acumen to the team.

To better understand what this might mean for Liverpool, I suggested Clubbe and his mighty team of reporters take a closer look at Amazon’s famous Leadership Principles.

Some of the most relevant Leadership Principles include “Ownership,” which asks leaders to think long term and not trade lasting value for a quick result; “Customer Obsession,” which means starting with what the customer wants and working backward; and “Insist on the Highest Standards,” setting the bar higher than most people think reasonable.

That said, the Amazon principle of “Frugality” doesn’t really play well these days on the world soccer stage.

We talked about the changing nature of global soccer, driven by big personalities and big money, and the balancing act it takes to build a soccer club while respecting the community of fans. I noted how this tightrope was a hard one for Bezos to walk in terms of his relationship to Amazon’s hometown of Seattle, something that might give Liverpool fans pause.

Watch highlights from the discussion above, and subscribe to The Redmen TV for our full discussion. Listen to a much shorter analysis on last week’s GeekWire podcast.

Amazon’s drones are finally going national.

The company’s autonomous aerial vehicles are set to deliver packages to nearly 500 cities and towns across the country by the end of this year, zipping items through the air to drop them in backyards and driveways as quickly as 30 minutes after ordering.

Amazon announced the plan Wednesday, describing it as a sixfold increase in its Prime Air footprint, reaching communities collectively representing tens of millions of customers.

It’s a milestone nearly 13 years in the making. Jeff Bezos unveiled Prime Air on 60 Minutes in December 2013, showing off a prototype to an astonished Charlie Rose and a skeptical public.

“I know this looks like science fiction — it’s not,” the Amazon founder said at the time.

Bezos acknowledged that it would take at least four or five years, optimistically, and that convincing the FAA the drones were safe would be one of the biggest hurdles. Amazon’s FAQ that night said it hoped the agency would have rules in place “as early as sometime in 2015.”

Both the technology and the regulations took far longer than the company expected.

Amazon said Wednesday morning that Prime Air will launch soon in the Chicago, Syracuse, Cleveland, Atlanta and Boise metro areas, with more communities to come later this year. The drones fly primarily over suburban areas, which allows them to avoid the tall buildings and crowded airspace that complicate flights over dense urban areas.

There’s no word yet on when or whether drone delivery will come to the Seattle area.

Amazon said the drones launch from two types of facilities: smaller same-day delivery sites and its larger robotic fulfillment centers. The mix is what lets Prime Air offer anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of items depending on the location, according to the company.

Nearly any item weighing 5 pounds or less and small enough to fit in a large shoebox is eligible for drone delivery. That translates into millions of products, as noted by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in his annual letter to shareholders earlier this year. He wrote that Prime Air would carry “a much larger selection of items inside a half hour” than Amazon’s other fast-delivery options.

Drone delivery will be free for Prime members on orders of $50 or more. Prime orders below that carry a $2.99 fee, and customers without a membership pay $4.99.

Amazon’s reference to expanding to 500 cities and towns does not reflect the number of planned Amazon drone launch locations, but rather the number of municipalities that fall within delivery range of the planned hubs, each of which covers roughly 175 square miles.

The 30-minute delivery scenario is a best case. Most orders arrive around 60 minutes after checkout, Amazon said in its announcement.

Amazon isn’t the only company betting on drones. Amazon retail rival Walmart and Google parent Alphabet’s Wing have been building what they call the largest drone delivery network in the U.S., adding seven new markets in June including Phoenix, Philadelphia and the Bay Area. They plan to reach 270 stores and more than 40 million people by next year.

Local approvals remain a hurdle for delivery drones. Noise has been a recurring concern for residents near drone operations. Amazon says its drones are quieter than an idling delivery truck during drop-off and comparable to a window fan while in flight. A proposed federal rule that would more broadly allow flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight has not been finalized.

The Associated Press first reported on the expansion Tuesday afternoon in what appears to have been an inadvertent break of a news embargo, to which GeekWire had not agreed. Post updated Wednesday morning with details from the official announcement.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: What should Liverpool FC fans expect from Jeff Bezos as a member of the storied English Premier League club’s new minority ownership group? We consult the Amazon leadership principles for the answer.

Plus, a tip and an SEC filing lead to a scoop on a former Meta AI director’s new startup, the GeekWire Editorial Board convenes to decide whether Dave Clark’s Auger stays on the GeekWire 200 after moving its HQ to Dallas, and Microsoft quietly semi-retires its AI blob.

Related Stories and Links

Bezos and Liverpool FC

• Group including Jeff Bezos buys minority stake in Liverpool FC, with option to become controlling owner — CNBC
• Liverpool: FSG sell minority stake to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos-backed consortium led by Amit Bhatia — Sky Sports
• Bezos, Bhatia buy a stake in Liverpool: What does it mean for the club and FSG? — ESPN
• Bezos, Bhatia, Saverin buy Liverpool stake at $7 billion valuation — Sportico
• The Redmen TV — independent Liverpool FC fan channel

Noosphere and the Form D

• Ex-Meta AI research director raises $10.25M from Trilogy and Madrona for stealth physical AI startup
• Kevin T. Carlberg — founder’s research site

Auger and the GeekWire 200

• This former Amazon exec is moving his startup’s HQ to Texas, and he has a few notes for Seattle
• Dave and Leigh Anne Clark move Auger headquarters to Dallas — D Magazine
• GeekWire 200
• Seattle Engineering Centers
• New map traces Washington state’s tech ‘universe’ to a few key hubs, and shows what’s at risk
• ‘We can’t become callous’: KIRO hosts debate what a startup’s departure to Texas says about Seattle’s business climate — MyNorthwest

Microsoft and Mico

• Farewell, Mico: Microsoft’s cute little AI blob is going the way of Bob
• Microsoft starts merging its Copilot consumer and business apps in advance of ‘Super App’ rollout

Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

This week on the GeekWire podcast: Microsoft and Amazon both reported quarterly numbers, and both stocks rose on cloud results that beat expectations. Is all that AI spending paying off? And in related news, Microsoft sees a rare annual headcount decline, hitting product R&D hardest. 

Plus: Satya Nadella builds a Power BI dashboard out of an analyst’s research report, and touts it on the earnings call to make a bigger point. Jeff Bezos names Amazon’s chips business as the long-awaited fourth pillar. And AI House managing director Jacob Colker delivers a much-needed pep talk for Seattle tech, calling on the region to recognize and build on its strengths. 

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Microsoft and Amazon earnings

• Microsoft Azure tops $100B in annual revenue as record AI spending cuts into cash flow
• AWS is ‘booming,’ but Amazon’s free cash flow turns negative on record AI spending
• Microsoft R&D jobs drop for second straight year as total headcount falls for first time in a decade
• Which Microsoft businesses are growing and shrinking, according to obscure table in regulatory filing

Amazon’s fourth pillar

• Jeff Bezos says this business is becoming Amazon’s next ‘pillar’

A rallying cry for Seattle tech

• Watch: A venture capitalist’s passionate speech, a rallying cry, really, about Seattle
• Seattle’s AI2 Incubator rebrands as AI House, and adds key investor as managing director
• ‘I’m tired of that narrative’: Seattle VC pushes back on tech exodus talk

The Washington tech ecosystem

• New map traces Washington state’s tech ‘universe’ to a few key hubs, and shows what’s at risk
• After hiring AWS exec and raising $107M seed round, Virginia startup plants flag in Seattle area
• GeekWire’s Seattle engineering centers list

Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.