Amazon post the largest quarterly loss in 14 years

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I see that I wasn't disappointed.

Plowing money back into the company is a good strategy for a growing company, but Amazon is a mature company now. Eventually, you have to show a profit. If you don't, then people stop investing in you. That's one reason that stock prices dropped.

Hey, I've just been agreeing with you!
You tell 'em! Clearly you are an authority on running billion dollar companies! Maybe they'll wise up and listen!

ApK

(What can I say. It's near lunchtime. The bait looks tasty.)

[kennyc]

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/24/inve...n-bezos-stock/

[pwalker8]

Not real surprising that people fall back on the standard rhetorical device of trying to mock when the facts aren't in their favor.

It was hardly baiting. It's a major story and could have some major ramifications. My second to last sentence was simply my prediction that certain posters would go into full spin mode in defense of Amazon. That, of course, was the closest thing to a sure bet that one can find.

The WSJ's more lengthy article

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazo...oss-1414095239

goes into some of the positives and negatives on Amazon's financials.

From the article -
"
“Clearly, they’ve been spending money everywhere,” said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst. “They’ve been releasing these new products—the phone, the set-top box, streaming originals—but it’s not clear how that leads to sales.”
"
It could simply be that Amazon's business model is a very costly business model that requires more and more money to maintain the infrastructure. Or it could be that Amazon just has made a few bad bets on products they are putting out (i.e. the Amazon phone) and companies they are purchasing. Of course, both Apple and Google also put a lot on money back into the business, that's the nature of the beast.

[ApK]

Do you have a point?

[DiapDealer]

Not real (really?) surprising that people fall back on the rhetorical device of regurgitating meaningless or irrelevant "facts" supporting--well God knows what they're actually supposed to support at this point, really--when they have no appreciable mocking skills.

[kennyc]

I understand the investment (not really a loss in my mind) -- look at all the new and improved products they brought out this year, the expanded warehouses and delivery and everything else in the infrastructure.

I think they/Bezos is doing all the right things and the customers are so happy they are pissing themselves.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Not real (really?) surprising that people fall back on the rhetorical device of regurgitating meaningless or irrelevant "facts" supporting--well God knows what they're actually supposed to support at this point, really--when they have no appreciable mocking skills.

[DiapDealer]

"See! I told you? Large losses!"
"Yes?"
"Losses. Large ones."
"And...?"
"Did I say large?"
"Yes you did. Now what does it mean?"
"Means they're big! Dang big! And Hachette something something. Go ahead, say something about what I said now."

[QuantumIguana]

Gloom and doom is spin too.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Gloom and doom is spin too.

Wish there was a bit more of it. If the darn stock would drop another $100 or so, maybe I could afford to buy some.

[ApK]

Oh, BTW, I do actually have one sincere comment about the matter:
It does indeed appear, as one of those articles said, that Amazon spent the last year "throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks."
"Everything from phones to drones" as I think they put it.

I wonder if we'll see them pull back a bit in 2015 and be more focused, or if we'll see more of the same, just letting it ride and hoping one idea will hit big.

Either way, do you think the decision will be driven significantly by this loss report?
Or will Bezos just say "I have x much money, and x number ideas, and Wall Street will just have to trust me to do the best thing for Amazon."

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Plowing money back into the company is a good strategy for a growing company, but Amazon is a mature company now.

I'm kind of wondering how a company's revenue can jump 20% but still not be considered a "growing company."

[conan50]

The phone thing didn't help them. If they had instead launched a less expensive phone, fewer bells and whistles, and not sold at an iPhone price, it would have been a better for them IMHO.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by conan50

The phone thing didn't help them. If they had instead launched a less expensive phone, fewer bells and whistles, and not sold at an iPhone price, it would have been a better for them IMHO.

Amazon doesn't tend to do "me too" products, and I'm OK with that. Not every gamble can pay off. It's not like they bet the company on it. Michael Jordan can afford to blow a $50,000 putt.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm kind of wondering how a company's revenue can jump 20% but still not be considered a "growing company."

When it's been around for 20 years, thus the mature company comment. Eventually investors want a little return on investment or they stop investing in it.