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

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (57139)	5/17/1999 5:31:00 PM
From: Sonny Blue	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Bill, is it right that Amazon owns 40% of Etoys? Etoys is going IPO this week? Amazon may be now traded like CMGI?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (57139)	5/17/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>>AMZN has to yet to proved they can do so. Glenn! What the hell are you talking about??!!!! At the end of Q1 Amazon had a billion-dollar run rate business that had spent a total $30 million on capital improvements and carried $30 million in inventory. That is unparalleled. Compare that to B&N. William, Please! Run-rate is an immaterial number when used in a business that is seasonal and is not stagnant. Secondly, Amazon has leased all their distribution centers. Those leases, as you so well stated are debt. They also can be placed into capital expenditures. Barnes and Nobles owns almost all their stores so almost no leasing. Let's also be clear on the capital improvement number spent by Amazon. The number used was the cash expended. The acquisitions of exisiting online book stores, including their inventory and servers, was made via stock. Amazon removes the payment of stock to make acquisitions from their financial statements. Amazon's financial statements are so intentionally skewed as to make them meaningless. Even the "run-rate" number is meaningless. According to my calculations, Amazon's capital expenditures when the stock used for acquisitions is counted as it should be, is $425 million. That is much higher than $30 million and we still have all leased capital products servers excluded. The Leasehold improvements are not even placed in their income and balance sheets. They throw that into fulfillment???? Quite impressive wouldn't you say??? Glenn