The Amzn pr machine is in full swing. Let the long shares run free (for today).
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Seattle, Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the No. 1 online bookseller, said fourth-quarter sales more than tripled, pushing annual sales to $1 billion for the first time since it opened on the Internet in July 1995.
The higher sales won't reduce Amazon.com's loss for the quarter, though, said Joy Covey, chief financial officer. The company is expected to lose 54 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. It lost 7 cents in last year's fourth quarter.
''Significant sales of video and music lowered gross margins, as did aggressive product pricing,'' Covey said. Customer service costs also rose, she said.
Amazon.com shares, which closed yesterday at 118 5/16, fell as low as 105 in early trading.
Fourth-quarter sales rose to about $250 million from $66 million in the year-ago period, Seattle-based Amazon.com said. It drew more than 1 million new customers between Nov. 17, when it launched its video and gift stores, and the year's end.
Amazon.com said new online stores in the U.K. and Germany also had strong sales in the holiday period, when it shipped more than 7.5 million items, more than in all of 1997.
Yesterday, America Online Inc., the No. 1 online service, said subscribers bought $1.2 billion in goods and services from Internet retailers through AOL.
09:19:14 01/05/1999<< |
