Amazon's Jeff Bezos named world's best-performing CEO

Daniel McGinn, HBR's senior editor who profiled Bezos, said people have bet against Bezos over the years, and historically they have been wrong

The November issue of the Harvard Business Review revealed that Amazon's Jeff Bezos is the best-performing CEO in the world. Despite the latest bad news, the venerable magazine stands by that assessment.

The Harvard Business Review compiled its list of top CEOs by comparing shareholder returns for SandP Global 1200 companies from each executive's first day in office until April 30 of this year. Bezos won by a wide margin.

However, on Thursday the e-commerce giant reported its biggest quarterly loss in 14 years, driven by the anemic sales of its Fire Phone, the company's first smartphone. The losses were seen as proof of Bezos' reckless obsession with prioritizing growth over profitability.

Daniel McGinn, the senior editor who profiled Bezos, said that people have bet against Bezos over the years, and historically they have been wrong.

He added that Bezos definitely has a set of shareholders who have faith in him because of his ability to deliver despite a lot of doubt over the last 20 years.