Amazon

[cyclone]

Bezos Sells $1 Billion a Year in Amazon Stock for Space Projec

by Spencer Soper
April 6, 2017, 7:34 AM GMT+8 Updated on April 6, 2017, 8:35 AM GMT+8

Internet billionaire and aspiring rocket man Jeff Bezos said he sells $1 billion a year in Amazon.com Inc. stock to fund Blue Origin LLC, the company fueling his dream of sending people into space.

“My business model right now for Blue Origin is I sell about a billion a year of Amazon stock and I use it to fund Blue Origin,” Bezos said Wednesday at the Space Symposium, an annual industry conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “So the business model for Blue Origin is very robust.”

Bezos, the world’s second-wealthiest man behind Bill Gates, has said before that he has been reinvesting money he made at e-commerce giant Amazon since he started his space exploration company more than a decade ago. On Wednesday, he unveiled what he thinks is just the thing to entice people to pay about $300,000 for a quick flight to suborbital space: big windows.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...sm-a-boost

[Wildreamz]

Why Amazon doesn't make a profit, and why Alexa will destroy brands.

[specuvestor]

Break even and loss is not the same thing.

I've heard the same tune that losses doesn't matter more than 17 years ago

Amazon actually started making money since 2003 and in past 10 years were profitable 8/10 years

[cyclone]

Even Before It Arrives, Amazon Is Hurting Australian Rivals

by Angus Whitley
May 17, 2017, 11:57 AM GMT+8

Even before Amazon sets up shop in Australia, the online giant is hurting its biggest rivals.

Wesfarmers Ltd., the supermarkets-to-hardware conglomerate that’s Australia’s biggest private employer, on Wednesday scrapped a A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) initial public offering of its office-supplies business. With analysts almost halving profit forecasts for some local retailers before Amazon.com Inc.’s arrival, Wesfarmers could’t get the price it wanted for Officeworks.

Amazon has become Australia’s most anticipated new entrant of the internet era. The Seattle-based company ended months of speculation in April when it unveiled plans to launch retail operations in Australia, appealing to small suppliers to sell their goods online alongside Amazon products. Amazon didn’t say when it would start up.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-pulls-ipo

[weijian]

It seems like Amazon is getting more and more invincible...
Even Warren Buffett has recently praised Jeff Bezos and admitted he "blew it" by not investing in it

Why Amazon is eating the world

I co-founded a software startup in December. Each month, I send out an update to our investors to keep them updated on our progress. But the past month was a bit different — our industry (retail) is going through a transformation.

Instead of just writing about our “internal” news, I wrote about the impending apocalypse in the broader world of retail. More specifically, I included some thoughts on Amazon and why their commanding lead is only going to get larger. Amazon is the most impressive company on earth, and I think it is one of the least understood. A few people suggested that I post this publicly, so here goes.

My first company, an auto parts manufacturer, sold to Amazon both as a vendor (where Amazon issues purchase orders for bulk product) and as a “Marketplace seller” (where Amazon takes a cut of a third-party sellers’ products sold on Amazon.com) — so I have some insight into Amazon’s internal operations and initiatives that aren’t often publicly discussed.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/14/why-am...the-world/

[cyclone]

Amazon to buy upmarket grocer Whole Foods for $13.7 billion

Reuters
Fri Jun 16, 2017 | 9:55am EDT

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it would buy Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) in a deal valued at about $13.7 billion, including debt.

The $42 per share offer represents a premium of 27 percent to the upmarket grocery chain's Thursday close.

Whole Foods shares were halted at $32.77 in premarket trading, while Amazon's shares were up 0.5 percent at $969.

Excluding debt, the deal is valued at $13.39 billion, based on 318.9 million diluted shares outstanding as of April 9.

More details in http://www.reuters.com/article/us-whole-...SKBN1971QJ

[Wildreamz]

Is Amazon a creator or destroyer of value? The food retail industry is a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, but given how razor thin the margin is in groceries (Costco has net margin of 2%) how much efficiency can Amazon add to this process?

How to value Amazon?

So many questions.

(not vested)

[weijian]

Amazon wants to become Walmart before Walmart can become Amazon

https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/16/amazon...me-amazon/

[corydorus]

Is Amazon a creator or destroyer of value? The food retail industry is a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, but given how razor thin the margin is in groceries (Costco has net margin of 2%) how much efficiency can Amazon add to this process?

How to value Amazon?

So many questions.

(not vested)

Remember Dell Computer who wanted to stamp out the middleman for cost. So much hype.
See what happen today. HP Inc get stronger instead.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/11/pc-market...3-idc.html


Cory

[YMPL]

Amazon to buy upmarket grocer Whole Foods for $13.7 billion

Reuters
Fri Jun 16, 2017 | 9:55am EDT

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it would buy Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) in a deal valued at about $13.7 billion, including debt.

The $42 per share offer represents a premium of 27 percent to the upmarket grocery chain's Thursday close.

Whole Foods shares were halted at $32.77 in premarket trading, while Amazon's shares were up 0.5 percent at $969.

Excluding debt, the deal is valued at $13.39 billion, based on 318.9 million diluted shares outstanding as of April 9.

More details in http://www.reuters.com/article/us-whole-...SKBN1971QJ

Bloomberg version on the acquisition.

http://www.theedgemarkets.com.sg/enterpr...ocery-cart

Key points of the acquisition, are the followings, IMHO. Hundreds of "matured" physical stores, and skill to achieve 2/3 sales on fresh products.

The Whole Foods purchase gives Amazon hundreds of physical stores, the footprint the company knows it needs. More than that, Whole Foods has mastered fresh food: The company gets two-thirds of its sales from perishables like fruits, vegetables and meats, while most supermarkets get only about 25% of sales from those categories, according to Kurt Jetta, CEO of consumer products research firm TABS Analytics. And the Whole Foods deal gives Amazon strong industry knowledge, something it knows it’s lacking, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.