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

To: Mike M who wrote (7868)	6/27/1998 11:31:00 PM
From: Mike M	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164687

jawd- Another problem, unique to AMZN, is that they have competitors just as able as they are to use the internet...and their deep pockets give them greater ability to finance the significant investment required....If a price war were to ensue, my guess is that it would hurt Barnes & Noble and Borders, but it would kill AMZN!.......... Mike

To: Mike M who wrote (7868)	6/28/1998 6:58:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164687

I think AMZN has done a fantastic job convincing folks that it has a bright future...and perhaps in the long run they are right. The problem is, they will be experiencing significant growth pains in the intermediate future and I don't think anyone will be able to levitate this stock for the next year..... My guess is that YHOO and AOL and other companies have differing degrees of capital shortfall and do not necessarily have to suffer from the same fate, but may very well..... I could be wrong but I think the high wire act is near an end! Mike, You pretty much summed up my position. The only difference is I strongly believe AMZN doe not have a bright future or one at all. The internet will have a lot of etailing but the existing retailers with their experienced marketing expertise, will rule this medium too without going deeply in debt. Glenn

To: Mike M who wrote (7868)	6/28/1998 2:03:00 PM
From: JimieA	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164687

Mike you said: "The problem is that AMZN is not capitalized to go in many directions at the same time...They are being constrained by that lack of working capital right now w/ the 2 businesses they are in..." AMZN has no problem with working capital. That is the beauty of their business. They have no receivables. All sales are for cash and go right into bank. Inventory is a very low $12M. Turning once every two weeks. Property is a negligible $10M. They do not need bricks & mortar investment to sell on the internet. And they finance all this with accounts payable. Bottom line is that AMZN lets its vendors finance its working capital. Their biggest use of cash has been to finance deficits'. $43M accumulated and $9M in last quarter. With about $117M in bank plus a net of about $250M raised with recent bond offering, it looks to me if AMZN can enter plenty more etail businesses. But of course, I could be wrong.