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

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (82154)	10/27/1999 9:04:00 PM
From: KeepItSimple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>The business model for AMZN was to avoid these problems. Incorrect. There never was a business model, other than to get rich through selling stock. Just like practically all other internut companies outside of cisco/intel/msft. cheers

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (82154)	10/28/1999 2:44:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

<<The conference call is talking about inventory write downs after the holidays. >> Glenn, do you think there is a chance that Bezos paid all his vendors in stock, rather than $cash? Just like he did for books at the beginning. What was the name of the publisher that gave him books in exchange for $500mil of his stock, then promptly sold it?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (82154)	10/28/1999 4:07:00 AM
From: JBL	Respond to of 164684

Wednesday October 27, 10:29 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-Amazon.com warns of deeper losses in Q4 (Recasts lead and updates throughout with details, comments from conference call) By Martin Wolk SEATTLE, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMZN - news) posted results that were slightly better than expected on Wednesday but warned losses would deepen this quarter as it spends heavily to lure holiday shoppers. Excluding costs from mergers and other items, Amazon.com suffered a net operating loss of $86 million, or 26 cents per share, up from a loss of $24 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenues for the quarter rose to $356 million from $154 million a year earlier. On the surface the results appeared positive, as analysts had expected a loss of 28 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Amazon.com stock, which fell 5-5/16 on Nasdaq to close at 75-15/16 before the report was issued, rose 5/16 to 76-1/4 in after-hours activity, traders said. But in a conference call broadcast on the Internet, analysts grilled executives over their latest plans to boost spending, including a projection that marketing expenses will triple in the current quarter from the third quarter. ``I think there's a mounting frustration related to the sort of inconsistent guidance from quarter to quarter,' said analyst Derek Brown of Volpe Brown Whelan. ``My gut feeling is the market will react negatively, because the inconsistency raises questions and clouds visibility into future earnings.' Amazon.com executives led by Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos did little to assuage investor concerns, saying they were managing the business to seize the ``insurmountable opportunity' of the Internet and not on a quarter-to-quarter basis. ``The further we go into this the more we find new things to do, and we think it's OK to update our plans as we go,' Bezos said. ``In fact we think it would be really foolish to slavishly commit to plans that we made in the past when we're in an environment that's so rapidly changing.' Amazon.com stock tumbled after its last financial report in July, when it disclosed plans to spend up to $300 million on a network of distribution warehouses. But since then it has recovered with a vengeance, more than doubling from a low of 41 in August to a recent peak of over 89. The Seattle-based company did provide some benchmarks of progress, including the prediction that its flagship U.S. book business would turn profitable this quarter. The company does not currently break out book sales, but Bezos said revenues from its many new businesses including toys, electronics, music and auctions could account for nearly 50 percent of the total this quarter. He said the company was likely to begin breaking out some segment operating data next year. Bezos also said he was ``very optimistic' about the holiday season although the company is spending heavily on promotions, advertising and fulfillment to ensure it stands out from the rising din of its ``dot com' competitors. ``We don't even know if we need to triple our spending' on marketing, Bezos said. ``We don't know if it's necessary, but we don't want to take the chance that it's not.' Analysts have said they expect that toys and electronics could boost total sales to about $461 million in this quarter, although executives cautioned that operating losses as a percent of sales could rise from the 24 percent recorded in the third quarter. Including $111 million in merger, acquisition and other charges, Amazon.com reported a third-quarter net loss of $197 million, or 59 cents a share, vs. a year-ago loss of $45.2 million, or 15 cents a share. The company said it added a record 2.4 million customers in the quarter, bringing its cumulative total to 13.1 million as of Sept. 30, up 190 percent from a year earlier.