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

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (48179)	3/30/1999 7:25:00 PM
From: James A. Shankland	Respond to of 164684

Very astute comments by both you and Dave Mansfield, IMHO. Amazon has indeed built up a powerful brand -- more powerful than many ever thought possible. I was recently in a room with a half dozen legacy networking gear resellers, and asked them if they had ever bought anything on the Internet. About half said yes. I then asked what they had bought. All said, "books from Amazon." On the other hand, the valuation seems completely out of control to me. I see no sign of so much as a penny of profit on the horizon. I just reread the January Credit Suisse/First Boston analyst report on AMZN. They gushed over the company and gave it a "buy" rating, while raising their estimate of FY2000 operating losses from $2.17 million to $62.5 million. At the moment, none of that matters. Some day, it will. When it does, look out below.

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (48179)	3/30/1999 8:45:00 PM
From: Dave Mansfield	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 164684

Part of Amazon's success is due to their ability to make a name for themselves. Your definition of success is different than mine. The fact they have yet to earn a single penny conducting their business is a big failure in my mind. The fact that they have been so good at touting their stock in the face of growing losses may be considered successful to some, but in the long run, if you don't make money, your stock price will plummet. And when does anybody expect AMZN to earn their first profit? Three years? Four years? Maybe five years hence? Hmmm? Is Amazon's site better than Barnes and Noble's? To be honest, I don't know, I do know that Barnes and Noble has twice as many books and ordering them is a snap. So that's the only place I shop. And they have found a way of actually making money doing it.