Amazon Loss Widens, CEO Alarms Investors With Spending Pace

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Bloomberg

By Adam Satariano

Jeff Bezos is testing the patience of investors after Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) missed analysts’ estimates for a second straight quarter, sending shares tumbling 11 percent.

The world’s largest online retailer yesterday reported a second-quarter loss of $126 million, more than double what was predicted, even as sales climbed 23 percent to $19.3 billion. Expenses jumped 24 percent to $19.4 billion.

Amazon remains one of the most highly valued companies in the U.S., yet the business is losing some of its sheen as profits are dragged down by investments that Bezos, the co-founder and chief executive officer, is making in cloud computing, warehouses and gadgets such as the new Fire smartphone. While shareholders have been patient, they’re increasingly seeking signs that the long-term strategy will work.

“All of us understand making investments, and then there’s a point where investors don’t know what the payoff is,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles, who predicted that Amazon would report a quarterly loss. “What if they get to $200 billion in revenue and still don’t have profit?”

FULL story and video at link.

This replaces an earlier story with more details.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-25/amazon-loss-widens-as-ceo-alarms-investors-with-spending.html

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The Colbert boycott hurting them?

Stephen Colbert takes on Amazon: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-colbert-tirade-boycott-against-amazon-com/

[valerief]

1. However it turns out, I'm sure the Amazon employees will be the ones to take the hit ultimately. nt

[leftyohiolib]

4. like the flush rush campaign - it chased away advertisers it didnt stop rush but it

killed progressive talk radio. the kock brother types and corp-america support rush now -
clear channel has an enormous debt load now and maybe that will cause them to dump lots of stations and mabybe progressive talk can maybe pick up stations cheaply and, if they can get advertisers, get back on the air, but the ones who didnt deserve it got caught in the blowback

[Chan790]

30. Progressive talk radio killed progressive talk radio.

The ratings across the board have pretty much ranged from poor to non-existent with few exceptions...those exceptions generally parlayed their radio careers into other media careers ASAP. Rush, with his ratings down and nearly non-existent advertiser-pool, still outdraws most progressive talk radio shows.

If we're going to hand out blame, let us hand it to the people that deserve it.

[leftyohiolib]

32. stephanie miller was #1 in the l.a. market and they pulled her show for glennn beck

so im not sure this statement "The ratings across the board have pretty much ranged from poor to non-existent with few exceptions" is entirely accurate

[Joe Bacon]

2. That's what he gets for buying the Washington Post!

[onehandle]

3. Bezos pictures himself as Steve Jobs, but he's more of a Steve Ballmer. nt

[Omaha Steve]

5. That was uncalled for

Take the Steve part out of Steve Ballmer please?

[onehandle]

11. In my personal experience, most Steves are not this angry...

...or sweaty...

[IMG][/IMG]

[MissNostalgia]

6. Website needs better organizings

I quit shopping with Amazon because the website design is so dysfunctional to me. If Im shopping on Amazon for a new item I want to buy from Amazon, not a second party.

Used goods on the other hand should be strictly confined to that warehouse deals website.

Overall searching for a new item sold and shipped by Amazon is so muddled to find, it should be the first results of a search, not an item "Fulfilled by Amazon". Yet maybe they've fixed this since the last time Ive shopped there.

[BuelahWitch]

10. Don't rent textbooks from them!

One of their third party sellers sent me a *very* used book for fall semester class last year. One of the people before me had highlighted the entire thing, and it was a mess. When I sent it back in December, that third party seller turned around and charged me full price for the book, as if it were a new book! I called Amazon and got it settled (I was a long time customer), but I won't take that chance again.

[Corgigal]

12. Same thing happened to me

and it takes month's to get refunded. I was lucky that I was a long time customer too.

[marions ghost]

13. I've had nothing but good experiences ordering used books from Amazon

and I have ordered a lot of them. Usually the price reflects the degree of usage. Lower the price is, more dog-eared and written in it's likely to be. But you can find books you wouldn't easily find elsewhere. I've gotten some good deals from these third party sellers. Never have I not received what I ordered and in some cases have received discount coupons and warm wishes along with the book. Many of these vendors are good--look for their ratings. And look for the vendors that describe the condition of the book.

no problem here

[BuelahWitch]

27. It's not the used books, per se, but the textbook rentals

I order used books from third party sellers too with almost no problem. It was the company renting the text books that shafted me.

[marions ghost]

29. OK I see

that's no good

[Owl]

28. Same here. I've also had nothing but very good experiences with Amazon.

[tammywammy]

31. Same here

Never rented a textbook, but I've bought plenty of used textbooks.

I had a package not show up for the first time ever a few weeks ago. Amazon customer service immediately issued a refund.

[cbdo2007]

18. agree, I've slowed down my Amazon buying for this same reason

Like when you search for an item and hit "sort" by price....instead of actually sorting Amazon's items by price, they sort by third party seller's prices, which they'll make $.01 somehow and you can't actually ever just look at Amazon products. It's very annoying to have to double and triple check that you are buying from Amazon and not a third party who will charge you for shipping.

[MissNostalgia]

23. I forgot about this!

Yes I'm remembering this being a nuisance too. Oh my gosh, cant believe how crappy they've become. I have been a customer since the CDNow website purchase, damn I miss those days.

[Historic NY]

7. Yet they want drones...

[rocktivity]

8. They're getting too big for their britches

Last edited Sat Aug 2, 2014, 12:25 PM - Edit history (1)

and a market whose discretionary income is too small.


rocktivity

[freshwest]

9. OTOH, my postal carrier said they are now delivering for Amazon on Sundays. And no cuts in service.

I'd wondered why I was seeing post office trucks around and about on Sundays.

Take that, Darrell Issa and Charles Koch!

[emsimon33]

20. I didn't know about the Sunday deliveries until I received an Amazon Book

last Sunday

[CountAllVotes]

14. Gee, not surprised at all

Was going to buy an item from them and it was not available I found out after I made the purchase. Hence, I attempted to cancel the order and gee, for some reason the site was down and not working (of course).

After multiple attempts to cancel this order (getting the same convenient message over and over again -- site down, try again in a few minutes ... ), I finally managed to some how contact "them" and managed to cancel said order that could not be filled.

It was a huge nightmare of a hassle and no, I have not purchased anything from them since that costs over more than about $20.00 tops.

Pain in the butt they are and I see that many of the items they sell are being sold by the same people/companies that sell on eBay, the auction site (which has crummy policies in place for needing a refund).

All said, I am no longer buying things online much as I really do not have the money for it and if I end up with a damaged item, etc. well good luck getting your money back any time soon!

Amazon.com is reaping what they have sown IMO. Greed rarely pays off I've noted.

[jakeXT]

15. Did the cheque from the CIA not clear ?

The intelligence community is about to get the equivalent of an adrenaline shot to the chest. This summer, a $600 million computing cloud developed by Amazon Web Services for the Central Intelligence Agency over the past year will begin servicing all 17 agencies that make up the intelligence community. If the technology plays out as officials envision, it will usher in a new era of cooperation and coordination, allowing agencies to share information and services much more easily and avoid the kind of intelligence gaps that preceded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

For the first time, agencies within the IC will be able to order a variety of on-demand computing and analytic services from the CIA and National Security Agency. What’s more, they’ll only pay for what they use.

The vision was first outlined in the IC Information Technology Enterprise plan championed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and IC Chief Information Officer Al Tarasiuk almost three years ago. Cloud computing is one of the core components of the strategy to help the IC discover, access and share critical information in an era of seemingly infinite data.

For the risk-averse intelligence community, the decision to go with a commercial cloud vendor is a radical departure from business as usual.

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/07/how-cia-partnered-amazon-and-changed-intelligence/88555/

[Godhumor]

16. Nothing to do with a boycott and everything to do with being in an investment cycle

Amazon is spending a lot of money to expand services and physical products (cellphone, Fire TV, Kindle Unlimited, Music Prime, etc).

Drop in stock has to do with Amazon telling investors that the company will be deeper in the red this current quarter due to investment activities.

Oddly enough, Amazon has never returned a huge profit to shareholders (Stock price is so high due to an ungodly valuation of almost 60x earnings). The company had consistently put the vast majority of earning straight back into the company, which is something I appreciate.

[dbackjon]

24. The Financial VAmpires (Analysts) only look at short-term stock price

They are on the top 10 list of things ruining America - focus on short-term profits/stock price versus long-term strategy.

[candelista]

17. Cloud computing and warehouses = smart.

Another smartphone, not so much,

[americannightmare]

19. Keep the pressure up!

Exploitative companies need to be taken down! Go to Powells.com for your books! Independent and progressive!

[whatthehey]

21. Sales were up 23%. Pressure to make Bezos invest?

This is not a topline problem. It's a question of whether very expensive investments will pay off.

[flying rabbit]

22. Powells is Union as well!

Coolest bookstore I have ever seen.

[americannightmare]

25. Thanks for the union reminder, flying rabbit

I live about 10 blocks, or 5 streetcar stops, from Powell's...I feel spoiled.

[Godhumor]

33. Customer pressure had nothing to do with the stock price drop. Zero.

It isn't even a blip on the radar.

Everything to do with investors wanting a faster payoff on Amazon's investments.

[americannightmare]

34. Doesn't change the fact that if we purchase from them...

we enable them. The whims and vagaries of the stock market have very little impact on the average american, except in a negative direction, particularly since the meltdown 6 years ago. Very few people I know can afford to contribute to a 401k, let alone play the market, and considering the vast majority lost at least 35-40% at that time, they would be crazy to get in on it again, particularly when we consider that absolutely no regulations have been imposed on these pigs since 2008. Nothing has changed in terms of financial shenanigans. But us peons do have the power to vote with our dollars, in fact it's the only power we have left.

[Sognefjord]

26. You can get books also from ABE and Biblio albeit ABE is owned by Amazon.

[Enrique]

35. they will be profitable eventually

when every other store in the country has gone out of business because of them.