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

To: Satellite Mike who wrote (28615)	12/1/1998 6:07:00 AM
From: OtherChap	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Venture capital and internut stocks.. People who are new to the market and especially new to startup companies simply don't understand. If amazon doesn't expect to make money until 2003 or whenever, any investment in the company now should be considered VENTURE CAPITAL. In a sane world, this turd wouldn't even be public. But of course we have the brokerage houses and keiretsu's of the world who stand to make a killing if it does, so it did. In my reasonably long history in silicon valley, I can tell you that I've never heard of a money losing startup getting 13 billion in venture capital- but that is essentially what Amazon has done. And if I were somehow crazy enough to GIVE amazon that 13 billion in venture capital, and the execs started writing checks from the company account to the tune of 130 million dollars that they deposited into their own bank accounts, BEFORE the company itself ever made a dime in profit, I would assume that the execs are frauds and shysters and they would very likely be arrested for embezzlement. But this is exactly what has happened with Amazon and many other publicly traded internut companies. If these retail folks want to invest in internet startups, why dont they just go to silicon valley and find any one of a hundred small internet companies that ARENT public and invest cash? Oh, we dont want to do that, you say- we can't double our money in 2 days like we can in the stock market. Reality check- venture capitalists end up writing off as a tax loss 9 out of 10 investments they make, and it's that 10th "home-run" that keeps them coming back for more. As the retail crowd is about to find out, 10 out of 10 startups do NOT become winners. And I have absolutely no pity for the people who will discover this sobering fact over the next few weeks. They will lose everything, period. Hell, they even had a chance to sell at a profit in companies that are going to lose, unlike venture capitalists. Cramer said recently that the internut frenzy was 10 times worse than the biotech frenzy, which also collapsed. Welcome to financial ruin, folks. Don't answer the phone when E-trade calls. :)