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

To: 16yearcycle who wrote (59182)	5/29/1999 4:28:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Will the stock drop? Almost for sure, but there is nothing about other nets. I would suppose the article is so poorly done that it will be forgotten within a week. Gene, Amazon is so controversial most everything written about it is always forgotten in a week. It is amazing how many stories come up when I search on Amazon in financial publications. Lucent has about the same number of stories. Glenn

To: 16yearcycle who wrote (59182)	5/29/1999 10:54:00 PM
From: Tom Kearney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Gene - What was amazing to me was how completely sure the writers were that they could just claim Amazon will fail. This is journalism? There's no point in my commenting on the story; it's all been said here before. I think Barrons should agree to a public tar and feathering in the lobby of Amazon headquarters, the next time Amazon hits a new high. To be broadcast live on the web! Then Barrons puts Carl Icann, corporate raider (scavenger) on the cover saying the market is in trouble. I don't care what you think of Icann, he's not a stock picker. That's not what he does. He's a rag man. Who cares what he thinks? His grand idea? Buy a couple of bankrupt oil companies, wasn't it? The established Wall Street folks are scared, because 20% of trades are on the internet, and demand is forcing the markets to have longer hours, and they are losing their very comfortable monopoly on the claim to financial prowiss (which is why I like the Motley's, whether one agrees w/ them or not). It's a world where really bright gearheads can create wealth far beyond anything Wall Street imagined. A hundred years ago Ebenizer Scrooge could keep Bob Crachet under control; now Crachet has direct access to capital, and oh by the way, he knows the business better than Scrooge and he's smarter to boot. Worth magazine has a story that Schwab is gonna be in big trouble because Merril is going into on-line trading ('Stocks to Avoid.') Yeah. They've done a great job competing w/ Schwab. That's why they're running to get Chase to hug their butt. Well, at least Worth was even handed, having a positive Schwab story...and a negative Gabelli story, which I really love! JMHO. ;-> BTW, I'm looking at MSFT calls for Tuesday morning purchase.

To: 16yearcycle who wrote (59182)	5/30/1999 10:26:00 AM
From: Olu Emuleomo	Respond to of 164684

Funny how little the "experts" actually know. There is less than nothing new. It's all really old news. Yup! These are the same experts 80% of whom underperform the S&P on a regular basis and who regard 20% up in a yr as pretty good. --Olu E.

To: 16yearcycle who wrote (59182)	5/30/1999 12:48:00 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 164684

Gene, I'm new to this thread, but after reading the BARRON'S article, could not ignore it. I'm an investment advisor and run the oldest online investment service (started in 1981). First, the leverage on the common stock, noted by BARRON'S, is indeed worrisome, for it puts a great drain on any near term earnings. What the article completely and totally neglected, however, were the unique services offered by AMZN to its customers, including searching, reviews of books and recordings, lists of items that might interest the customer, based on other customer interests, extreme care not to overcharge on postage and handling, etc. These services are better than those available in many traditional bookstores, and are better than those offered by online competitors. AMZN is clearly building loyal customers. As far as what the customer pays, consider that for many people, going out to a retail store, even one that discounts, would be considerably more expensive and time consuming, assuming one could find the right merchandise. Though I judge investments on fundamentals (not on the basis of technical analysis), factors such as customer service are important in creating a difference between stores that sell essentially the same products. To keep this edge, AMZN recently bought a software firm, just to obtain services of the kinds of experts that have given AMZN the edge in online selling. I would not be surprised to see AMZN fall on Tuesday, perhaps as much as 20 percent, but having said that, I don't believe that the BARRON'S article fairly analyzes the stock, the management, or the potential. Art Bechhoefer