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Is there any reason why Amazon would suddenly "waste" money on profit? Could this be an indication of a change in strategy or is this just a temporary thing?

by DasIch 11y ago

r00fus 11y ago
Bezos will hold a press conference "We are sorry we did not realize we would make as much money as we did - consequently our spending just could not keep up" while AMZN tanks.
- mabbo 11y ago
  Bezos's goal seems only to be Amazon's growth and efficiency. I'm really starting to believe that being one of the 10 richest people on the planet was just a happy side-effect that only distracts him from his goal.
laxatives 11y ago
There should eventually be some time when Amazon does finally cash out, presumably on some timeline as a function of Bezos's mortality. Its unrealistic to be around forever. How many companies last hundreds of years? How many tech companies last decades?
- serge2k 11y ago
  > How many tech companies last decades? Amazon is at 2 decades and going strong. Any reason to think they won't last a long time?
  - discodave 11y ago
    My prediction is AWS will split after Jeff dies (or is otherwise not involved in the company). Then Amazon retail will split from Amazon logistics, and so on.
- ycombobreaker 11y ago
  Microsoft is 40 years old. IBM is 100. Some other old companies might not be considered "tech" anymore, but only because their market/product are better defined (e.g. Ford is an auto maker, but the assembly line and the concept of an automobile itself place Ford as the "tech" darling of 110 years ago, IMHO). I think if you don't see old tech companies today, it's because over time their public appearance has quietly lost the "how" (new technology, automation) and only left the "what" (search, ipods, advertising, rockets). But that doesn't mean old tech companies die.
  - laxatives 11y ago
    Survivorship bias. The vast majority of companies die. The vast majority of tech companies die.
adventured 11y ago
Allowing AWS to print money, resulted in adding nearly $150 billion to Amazon's market capitalization. Investors have placed an immense value on AWS in the last year plus, since it was revealed how much operating income it was spitting off. Bezos had been looking for a higher level cash machine (AWS has seven times the margins of retail) for a long, long time that he could utilize to step up to another level of financial capabilities and competition. Something that might sustain his ability to fight with Google and Apple. Fire Phone was meant to be that for example, which is why they attempted to charge premium prices; they thought they could slice off some iPhone type profit out of it.

Is there any reason why Amazon would suddenly "waste" money on profit? Could this be an indication of a change in strategy or is this just a temporary thing?

by DasIch 11y ago

Is there any reason why Amazon would suddenly "waste" money on profit? Could this be an indication of a change in strategy or is this just a temporary thing?

r00fus 11y ago

Bezos will hold a press conference "We are sorry we did not realize we would make as much money as we did - consequently our spending just could not keep up" while AMZN tanks.

mabbo 11y ago
Bezos's goal seems only to be Amazon's growth and efficiency. I'm really starting to believe that being one of the 10 richest people on the planet was just a happy side-effect that only distracts him from his goal.

laxatives 11y ago

There should eventually be some time when Amazon does finally cash out, presumably on some timeline as a function of Bezos's mortality. Its unrealistic to be around forever. How many companies last hundreds of years? How many tech companies last decades?

serge2k 11y ago
> How many tech companies last decades? Amazon is at 2 decades and going strong. Any reason to think they won't last a long time?
- discodave 11y ago
  My prediction is AWS will split after Jeff dies (or is otherwise not involved in the company). Then Amazon retail will split from Amazon logistics, and so on.
ycombobreaker 11y ago
Microsoft is 40 years old. IBM is 100. Some other old companies might not be considered "tech" anymore, but only because their market/product are better defined (e.g. Ford is an auto maker, but the assembly line and the concept of an automobile itself place Ford as the "tech" darling of 110 years ago, IMHO). I think if you don't see old tech companies today, it's because over time their public appearance has quietly lost the "how" (new technology, automation) and only left the "what" (search, ipods, advertising, rockets). But that doesn't mean old tech companies die.
- laxatives 11y ago
  Survivorship bias. The vast majority of companies die. The vast majority of tech companies die.

adventured 11y ago

Allowing AWS to print money, resulted in adding nearly $150 billion to Amazon's market capitalization. Investors have placed an immense value on AWS in the last year plus, since it was revealed how much operating income it was spitting off. Bezos had been looking for a higher level cash machine (AWS has seven times the margins of retail) for a long, long time that he could utilize to step up to another level of financial capabilities and competition. Something that might sustain his ability to fight with Google and Apple. Fire Phone was meant to be that for example, which is why they attempted to charge premium prices; they thought they could slice off some iPhone type profit out of it.