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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Sara who wrote (64937)	6/28/1999 3:49:00 AM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Comparing Amazon to Microsoft: 1. Microsoft has been profitable every single year (from pre-IPO on)- and its profits have grown each year. 2. Microsoft has no debt - has never had any debt. 3. I had the opportunity to attend several annual Microsoft earnings announcements and analysts meetings during the early and mid nineties. Microsoft's style is to under promise and over deliver - that is, ever year, Gates would tell analysts that revenues and profits could not continue to grow at a 30%-50% rate, and that things would level off in the 15%-20% range - however, every year, Microsoft would grow revenues and profits at 30%-50%. Amazon's style, however, seems to be to say "trust us - profits aren't important now - we will eventually prove ourselves and become profitable." They've been saying this for five years. I don't believe that such an approach is prudent, nor is it indicative of a CEO who feels a strong responsibility to his shareholders. I can't speak to DELL or ORCL as I did not follow those stocks in their early days. However, there is a big difference between Microsoft's early years and what we are seeing with Amazon today. Thanks, -Eric Wells