Amazon Just Can't Win

from the don't-even-try dept

Sometimes it seems like Jeff Bezos just can't win. While he's done quite well for himself, Wall Street always finds something to complain about. Early on, during the boom years, Wall Street kept complaining that he wasn't growing the company fast enough. So, he grew it faster. Then, when the bubble burst, suddenly, everyone on Wall Street started screaming that Amazon was dead because it didn't show any profits... so, Amazon started showing profits. Once that happened, people started complaining that, even with the profits, Amazon was no Walmart. Yet now, just a few years later, suddenly analysts are worried that Amazon is too much like Walmart. They're complaining that, unlike other internet companies, Amazon has fairly tight margins, and thus shouldn't be compared to the Googles, the Yahoos and eBays of the world. This whole discussion, of course, is completely ridiculous. Of course their businesses and margins look different. They're in different businesses. Admittedly, Amazon is moving more towards some more traditional internet style businesses with their A9 search engine, but all of the other businesses are middlemen internet businesses -- connecting things. Amazon is a retailer business -- selling things. Anyone (including analysts) suddenly realizing the companies are in different businesses, probably has no business investing.

1 Comments | Leave a Comment..