Amazon

[specuvestor]

The ESPN comment sounds corny but actually pretty apt

^^ if u notice, teens do watch replays of online games. It is almost lIke ESPN.

[orangetea]

Engineering to no profit is pretty interesting but i wonder if it can stand to gain foot hold amids other online players


Sellers on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) sold more than two billion items last year.

That number is staggering, but it begs one question: where are the profits that should coincide with such an achievement?

"They carefully manage to never make any money," Dan Miller, senior analyst and founder of Opus Research, told Benzinga. "[CEO Jeff] Bezos is conditioning [investors] to be patient. He's still making pledges on five different fronts. That's a lot of wars to fight."

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, thinks that might be one war too many.

"The only way he is going to be able to survive the number of battles he's got is if he keeps moving the company as fast as possible," Enderle told Benzinga. "If he pivots and starts focusing on the financial analysts and raising profits and shifting resources from competition, these big [competitors] will probably eat him up and he knows that. I think he's going to find it very difficult to pivot to profit."

Related Link: Amazon Break-Up Hype Continues, But Analysts Don't Buy It

No Profits By Design
Some investors might complain about Amazon's earnings, but Enderle thinks it might be a strategic decision.

"That's by design," he said. "One of the things you learn when running a company is once you make a profit, people expect you to increase that profit over time. If you're at breakeven and you stay at breakeven, folks kind of leave you alone for a while."

Amazon doesn't always break even, however.

"[Jeff Bezos] been investing back into the firm every single cent that it makes," Enderle added. "He recognizes there are threats coming. Remember, they're competing with IBM on one hand and Alibaba and eBay. They've got an impressive number of competitors. He's got that company running as fast as it can possibly go."

If Amazon were to transform into a company that focused on building profit and offering dividends, "then suddenly his ability to move that company very rapidly is going to go away and the number of competitors is probably going to eclipse him," Enderle said.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.

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© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Why Is Amazon Still Unable To Post Big Profits?


Benzinga By Louis Bedigian12 hours ago

[CityFarmer]

Quite a restrictive test, but a necessary with public safety...

US regulators give Amazon go-ahead for drone tests

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has won approval from US federal regulators to test a delivery drone outdoors, as the e-commerce company pursues its goal of sending packages to customers by air, even as it faces public concern about safety and privacy.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said yesterday (March 19) it issued an experimental airworthiness certificate to an Amazon business unit and its prototype drone, allowing test flights over private, rural land in Washington state.

The FAA also granted Amazon an exemption from other flight restrictions so the experimental drone can conduct those flights.

The approval is a win for Seattle-based Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the United States, and advances plans by the company and others to deliver packages using small, self-piloted aircraft.

There are limitations, however. The experimental certificate applies to a particular drone and Amazon must obtain a new certification if it modifies the aircraft or flies a different version, making it difficult to adapt the model quickly in the field. Amazon’s petition for permission indicated it was testing several iterations of a drone at an indoor facility in Seattle.

Amazon must keep flights below 120m and keep the drone in sight, according to the FAA.

The company had asked for permission to fly at altitudes up to 150m.

The drone operators must have a private pilot licences and current medical certification. Amazon must supply monthly data to the regulators.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/us-regul...rone-tests

[CityFarmer]

The war has started between Alibaba and Amazon, on American turf, i.e. ShopRunner vs Amazon, or cost saving vs convenience/experience... I reckon the American retailers are the only sure beneficial...

(not vested on both Alibaba and Amazon)

Alibaba-backed ShopRunner gains momentum, eyes China

San Mateo (CALIFORNIA) — ShopRunner, the e-commerce start-up that styles itself as the anti-Amazon, more than doubled its users over the past year and hopes to do so again this year, CEO Scott Thompson said yesterday.

The gains at the five-year-old online retailer, which is backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, may allow it to win over more customers who prize convenience and experience over cost savings. It is also riding on its Alibaba relationship to help American retailers sell to China’s growing middle class.

ShopRunner borrows some of Amazon’s innovations. It charges an annual fee of US$79 (S$107) for two-day shipping, compared with Amazon’s US$99. And it has an express checkout akin to its larger rival’s one-click buying feature.

However, Mr Thompson said ShopRunner aims to be more like an online shopping mall that showcases brands than an Amazon or eBay marketplace, where the focus is on the lowest price.

It also gives partners, such as Cole Haan, Under Armour and Neiman Marcus, ownership of customer data and relationships.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/alibaba-...eyes-china

[CityFarmer]

Interesting charging model, same as blogging? Technology has done a miracle on how things are done...

Amazon to pay self-published authors based on pages read

BENGALURU — It could soon pay more to write lengthier books, if you are an author self-publishing on Amazon’s Kindle ebook platform.

Starting next month, the e-commerce giant will pay independent authors based on the number of pages read, rather than the number of times their book has been borrowed.

The move is aimed at authors enrolled in Kindle Direct Publishing platform – which lets authors set list prices, decide rights and edit the book at any time – and is applicable to ebooks made available via the Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library programmes.

Self-publishing has transformed what it means to be an author. Simply uploading a document and adding a cover layout to it can turn anyone into a published writer on ebook platforms such as Kindle and Smashwords.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/amazon-p...pages-read

[CityFarmer]

Credit to seller, is a service initiated by Alibaba, IIRC. Amazon is behaving very nimble lately, and remains very competitive.

For the e-commerce, I particularly interested on credit-scoring service, by Alibaba, and JD.com now. It is a service badly needed, and not available in China. Even China banks don't have the info... Will Amazon starts the same in China?

(not vested)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/2...Q620150626

Exclusive: Amazon looks to offer loans to sellers in China, seven other countries

CHICAGO - Amazon.com Inc will start a business loan program for small sellers in the United Kingdom on Tuesday and is looking to launch it this year in seven more countries including China.

Until now, the e-retailer has offered the service only in the United States and Japan. Amazon Lending, founded in 2012, plans to offer short-term working capital loans in other countries where it operates a third-party, seller-run marketplace business, the head of Amazon Marketplace, Peter Faricy, told Reuters.

The countries are Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain and China, where credit is becoming a key factor in competing for new vendors and grabbing market share.

The service is on an invite-only basis and is not open to all sellers on Amazon's platform.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/excl...-countries

[LionFlyer]

I just read Erisman Porter's (ex VP Alibaba from startup days to 2008) on their growth, how they kicked Yahoo! and later eBay out of China.

Now the situation is reversed, will they make the same mistakes at eBay in China did?

[kikababoo]

I just read Erisman Porter's (ex VP Alibaba from startup days to 2008) on their growth, how they kicked Yahoo! and later eBay out of China.

Now the situation is reversed, will they make the same mistakes at eBay in China did?

Hi LionFlyer, could you share article URL? (i presume it's an article)

[LionFlyer]

No. It is an eBook.

[CityFarmer]

Will the corp culture work? I really doubt so. I have seen similar one in a Taiwanese company, and treated everyone as slave, but paid very well. The company is gone now, IIRC...

Amazon’s bruising, thrilling workplace

SEATTLE — On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.

They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learnt at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall”, others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.

At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards the company boasts are “unreasonably high”. The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/amazons-...-workplace