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

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10111)	7/12/1998 5:14:00 PM
From: Everett W.Owens	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

O.K. AMZN has the site (so does barnes & noble) There are already cigar, toy and other sites that sell merchandise over the internet. AMZN is a very good site BUT not the only site that has appeal. In other words there will be COMPETITION for all that AMZN sells. At current valuations this stock is overbought (IMHO). Just look at Presteck, Zitel and other skyrocketing "new paradidm" products. They ALL fell after a spectacular run up. Patience on the puts is needed.Possible rally on Monday ,if low vol.below 101-103 look for a fall on Tues.

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10111)	7/12/1998 6:06:00 PM
From: PblcSrvnt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

LP, It seems to me that rubber boots would be an essential part of such an online vendor's commodities. No! Snowshoe-like rubber boots--so you can stay above it all...Hmmm...A strong deodorizer...AH! Oxygen masks which would fortuitously serve a dual purpose in such an environment and at such an altitude. And, of course, wine glasses enscribed with the Amazon OmniOfferingVinoVenderHavanaHawkerCdDealerSnowshoeSeller DeodorizerDumperPeriodicalPusherLiteratureLeaser SoftwareSupplierToyTenderVideosForOneAndAllAnd Don'tForgetTheDryCleaningHoney Logo, which I'm sure could be delivered safely to your door step at a mere 200% of what they normally cost. Got Milk? Hell, with Amazon you eliminate the need to ever leave home again. Ommmmmmmm....Ommmmmmmm...Ommmmmmmm <Pensive man with thumb and forefinger lightly pinching chin, sitting in arm chair staring at turned off computer> "And it seemed to be just an ordinary day," said Pensive Man. "Yes, that was 17 years ago...Huh(pensive smile, glistening eyes)It really seems as if it were...yes, just like yesterday. Are there many people out there? I mean...have things changed much?" <Pensive Man reaches into cigar box, pulls out large cigar and a flip top aluminum lighter, both bearing the Amazon logo. Lights cigar. Corner of mouth. Closes lighter and stares at logo while polishing it with a forfinger> "I...I...(eyes begin to water, jaw trembling)" <As he breaks into a cry> "I love Amazon...ehe.ehe(snifle, snifle)" <Pulls cigar from corner of mouth and wipes tears from eyes with the back of his bathrobe sleeve> "I'm happy. I really am. I just wonder sometimes what it would have been like...you know...life. I mean...If I hadn't found the Amazon hot button squishing the message board that day." <Pensive Man, with ten-thousand mile stare, looks out window; Pensive> I'm not lonely...Really. I mean I thought about children, but...Well Amazon doesn't allow that. I mean.. well, you know, my lifestyle doesn't allow that. I...I just can't talk to anybody anymore. No need to. God I love Amazon. <Sudden sparkle in Pensive Man's eyes. He jumps up from his chair, tosses the cigar on the hardwood floor and smashes it with his rubber snowshoe. Runs to computer, slides across floor and gracefully slides right into his Amazon recliner. Leans forward, closes eyes, praying hands before him> "Oh great and good Amazon, provider of all earthly necessities, please allow me to enter your domain." <Computer instantaneously comes on, completely booted, with a swirling pinwheel pattern and some audio sounds that seem to be some foreign language> <Pensive Man turns to interviewer> "That's Amaspeak. They are asking why you are here." To be continued Lee

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10111)	7/12/1998 7:05:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Respond to of 164684

Agree, an open discussion of Amazon's prospects is worthwhile. The move into the other items is untride at best. Wine, toys, cigars and videos do not currently sell that well as mainstream products on the internet. Computer hardware, sex sites, software, travel, flower service and books are the biggest categories. Cigars and wine should bring healthier margins but would appeal to a smaller group. Most people who buy fine wines will get it from a wine shop and not from the net. The shipping cost for wine makes cheap wines not cheap and adds significantly to less than case buys of medium to mid priced wines. I don't know much about cigar sales but think it would lend itself better to sales over the web & UPS type delivery. I don't see much of a way that these items will add enough to Amazon's sales to dig them out of the losses they are experiencing. They do have a significant advantage over books however; it won't be nearly as easy to shop around to compare pricing for a select bottle of wine or an expensive cigar as it is for books and CDs. They should be able to get 30% to 50% average gross margins on some of the stuff. Popular toys and software are competitively priced and will face stiff competition from well positioned companies. I don't see them as saving Amazon's butt either.

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10111)	7/12/1998 7:26:00 PM
From: Jan Crawley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

4. Cigars 5. Wine Ty for the humor; I cannot help but LOL! How many Cigar smokers are frequent net users. In fact, how many people do we know that smoke cigars?? Wine, to pack in wooden crater, then fedex them in mass quantity....How stupid a idea!! Directly from wineries all over the world?? Toys, unthinkable!! Kids go to toy stores!! that's why they are kids. Toys are in different shapes and sizes, a nightmare for individual packing and shipping!! I can see some cigar/wine companies cater percentages of their business via direct mail/net orders to a segment of their regular customers...but that has nothing to do with Amzn..

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10111)	7/13/1998 10:53:00 AM
From: umbro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

If AMZN goes into misc. retail, they may see competition from Value America. ( valueamerica.com - plans to go IPO soon ) The Daily Progress Charlottesville, Virginia Saturday July 11, 1998 $25 Million Invested in Value America Microsoft C0-founder Allen Among New Partners of Online Retailer By BRIAN ROOT Daily Progress staff writer An investment group led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has put almost $15 million into Value America - the Albemarle County-based online retailer that is enjoying exponential growth. Value America, which sells brand-name goods strictly through its Internet site, began operating in March 1997 with a handful of employees. Now, the firm employs about 160 people and is valued at close to $300 million, according to Craig Winn, founder and chief executive officer. Earlier this year, when Allen first expressed interest in buying part of the company, Winn said he journeyed to Allen's Washington state home to meet the one of the nation's richest men. "It was amazing to meet him. He is very much a developer - always interested in the next big thing in bringing people and products together," Winn said, smiling at the memory. "He told me that when he and Bill Gates started Microsoft, they envisioned companies that do exactly the kind of thing Value America is doing now." Winn envisoned a business like Value America more than 20 years ago, when he wrote a corporate strategy that called for selling goods via an as-yet-unknown method of transmitting sound and pictures. He put the plan aside - to wait for technology to catch up to his imagination - and worked in conventional areas of retail. He and his family moved to the area from California in 1996 and got the store off the ground. Allen's Vulcan Ventures Inc. bought a 5 percent interest in the company - for slightly less than $15 million. Other investors, including former Democratic National Committee chairman Charles Manatt, bought an additional 3 percent of the company. In all, Winn said, the private equity transfer brought about $25 million to the company, all of which will be spent on advertising. William Savoy, president of Vulcan Ventures, called Value America a company "that isn't just spinning its wheels [but] already has traction." A prepared statement released Friday quotes Allen as having a desire to make Value America "the Microsoft of [electronic] commerce." "Value America has created the most effective online experience I have seen," the statement quotes Allen as saying. Savoy also invested $500,000 of his own money and now sits on the Value America board of directors. In just more than five months, the company has spent a dizzying $100 million on advertising alone - including a slew of full-page ads in major newspapers and magazines and spots on cable television networks. Winn called the private equity transfer - unlike a public stock offering in that the company has the option of selecting who can buy a stake in the company - a success, but only the first step in the process of raising enough capital to keep the company growing. The next step is a public stock offering. On July 2, Winn said, the company notified the federal Securities and Exchange Commission that it intends to go public. Federal regulations prohibit Winn from saying much about the stock offering, but he said he expects to begin pitching the company to financial experts in the fall, as a precursor to the stock offering. "Going public is really the only way to raise the kind of capital we need," Winn said. The Value America site on the World Wide Web now pitches more than 100,000 products from more than 500 brands, according to spokeswoman Susan McCulley. Winn said he envisions one day offering more than one million products - including Value America-brand computers that could be ordered, built and shipped to customers in a matter of days. Winn estimated the company now sells about $1 million worth of goods every three days. The market for electronic commerce, according to recent studies, is considerable and is getting bigger. The federal Department of Commerce has estimated that consumers worldwide will spend as much as $34 billion per year by 2005. To take advantage of that market, the company is close to completing a deal with Proctor & Gamble to sell the myriad products offered by the conglomerate - everything from diapers to toothpaste - Winn said. Also in the works, he added, is a deal with Yahoo! to offer links from the popular Web browser home page to the Value America site. "It's a pretty amazing time for us," Winn said, smiling. "There's a lot for me to keep track of." The company's growth over the last several months has taken a toll on office space. The firm, which has long since outgrown its 9,000-square foot building on Commonwealth Drive, has rented five office buildings in the Hollymead Office Park, McCulley said. The search will continue for a permanent home, she added.