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There was some of that... generally, skepticism that internet startups would become large enough to challenge businesses like Walmart, ever. https://www.forbe

There was some of that... generally, skepticism that internet startups would become large enough to challenge businesses like Walmart, ever. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2015/09/24/revisiting-amazon-dot-bomb-16-years-later/#6b40b816b08f https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2015/09/24/revisiti... And also people saying things like tiny businesses of people with bookstores in their spare time will make Amazon obsolete... https://mobile.nytimes.com/1999/02/26/opinion/foreign-affairs-amazonyou.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/1999/02/26/opinion/foreign-affair... Ah, Thomas Friedman. Thanks for the advice to not buy amazon stock in 1999.

imron 9y ago
Out of curiosity, I went to have a look at AMZN's stock price at the date the article was published, to see how the stock price during the heady heights of the dotcom bubble compared to today. Interestingly, if you view the entire stock history price chart, the dotcom bubble is barely a blip.
- sokoloff 9y ago
  IMO, the right way to look at long-term performance of an investment is on a semi-log chart. (Day or week charts, I prefer linear; anything 3 month or longer, I prefer semi-log.) Semi-log (where constant percentage changes are constant-sized), it's more than a blip. Linear (where constant dollar changes are constant-sized) charting hides past market moves if the overall bias has been up and exaggerates past market moves if the overall bias has been down. This can lead investors to improperly discount the pain/gain cycle that happened over that time period. Linear charting: http://bit.ly/2tk5Ulj http://bit.ly/2tk5Ulj Semi log: http://bit.ly/2sJs7ec http://bit.ly/2sJs7ec
- code_duck 9y ago
  Now that I also actually take a look, while his theory has not panned out the way he thought, it is true that Amazon would have been a poor investment for most of the decade following 2000.

imron 9y ago

Out of curiosity, I went to have a look at AMZN's stock price at the date the article was published, to see how the stock price during the heady heights of the dotcom bubble compared to today. Interestingly, if you view the entire stock history price chart, the dotcom bubble is barely a blip.

sokoloff 9y ago
IMO, the right way to look at long-term performance of an investment is on a semi-log chart. (Day or week charts, I prefer linear; anything 3 month or longer, I prefer semi-log.) Semi-log (where constant percentage changes are constant-sized), it's more than a blip. Linear (where constant dollar changes are constant-sized) charting hides past market moves if the overall bias has been up and exaggerates past market moves if the overall bias has been down. This can lead investors to improperly discount the pain/gain cycle that happened over that time period. Linear charting: http://bit.ly/2tk5Ulj http://bit.ly/2tk5Ulj Semi log: http://bit.ly/2sJs7ec http://bit.ly/2sJs7ec
code_duck 9y ago
Now that I also actually take a look, while his theory has not panned out the way he thought, it is true that Amazon would have been a poor investment for most of the decade following 2000.