Hara Andrés Martinez
Original link: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/11/amazon_shareholders_are_tired_of_losing_money.html
(Translator Note: This article is a sharp style, the wording is fierce, some of Amazon's criticism of the personal feeling a little exaggerated, please read carefully.) ）
June 18, 2014, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle to showcase the company's first smartphone--fire phone.
Amazon recently announced a huge loss of $437 million in the third quarter, the latest in the release of a mobile phone Fire phone that caused the company to lose $170 million. The cause of huge business losses is the same as usual: Amazon has been making consumers happy with over-spending and discounting.
Traditionally, it's sad to let listed companies discuss performance with outside observers and shareholders, such as Amazon CFO Thomas Szkutak is doing his best to show remorse, like imitating a naughty middle school student being called into the headmaster's office to make sure he won't do it again. His repentance has been repeated with the "selective" and "prudent" investment in new business.
Investors were not buying it. In an era of generous investment in Internet equities, Amazon shares have risen by only 10% this year compared with 20% growth last year. Over the same period, Apple grew 45%,facebook last year by 54%.
Jeff Bezos, as the energetic founder of Ceo,amazon's biggest shareholder, could not help himself to stop his own CFO's contrite tone. In a press release announcing the quarterly results, Bezos excitedly mentioned that in the coming holiday season, consumers would profit from hundreds of "flash trades" and a plan to donate part of the consumer's purchase price to charity.
As many Amazon investors see it, these look like superfluous gimmicks. As Matt Yglesias writes, Amazon is like a "charitable organization that operates as an investment community that serves the interests of consumers." As an initial Amazon member, I have also counted myself as one of the most grateful beneficiaries of this charitable cause.
Amazon is very willing to spend money to boost market share, delight consumers, do cool things, get short-term excitement, and confuse competitors and analysts-but essentially doing everything to keep up the benefits-a famous anecdote in Brad Stone's book describing the company is the best description. Once Bezos was asked by his aides how much money he was willing to spend to make Kindle e-books successful in the market, Bezos asks, "How much can we make?" ”
There are many reasons why Amazon continues to be the most attractive "new economy" (and the one that is still to be discussed) with Google, which uses an initial Amazon vocabulary. After Steve Jobs left Apple and the world, no company was remembered for its CEO's unique will and ingenuity, and no company was so easily swayed by the definition of its core business, and no company was "king or hardware in the digital age." The long-term debate has been so invisible that no company is always hard to say in the face of new ideas and speculation. Amazon's business includes: cloud computing, media manufacturing and distribution, parcel delivery, cell phone and tablet manufacturing, book publishing, oh yes, don't forget, retail!
There is a feeling that there is hardly any hasty planning (or a good idea – which is always on the line) that is proposed at the Amazon staff meeting. No company will be so confused about its goals when it grows up.
Recent reports on Amazon have been more about the challenge of traditional business models in the book publishing industry. Here, Amazon is portrayed as a ruthless, omnipotent monopolist common in caricatures. But Franklin Foer, in New Republic magazine, mentions that if a monopoly is involved, Amazon is a monopoly on the diversity of the internet era, "this company confuses us with the traditional mindset of corporate concentration and makes it elusive for those who consider antitrust issues." ”
The word obfuscation is a good feeling for a competitor, shareholder, or even a grateful consumer of Amazon. Amazon makes us uncomfortable because it doesn't follow the rules of the game as other companies do, while desperately craving chatty to do everything for everyone.
But the monopoly accusation is a bit exaggerated. Yes, Amazon has an absolute market share in the book sales market, especially e-books, but its own behavior (advancing the E-book Revolution) has lowered the market entry threshold. Selling books is one of the best businesses Amazon has done since its inception, and that's why it has 40% of new book sales in the United States. But even so, it is only one step away from being hunted by other rivals, and some of the rivals ' wallets are deeper: Apple,google, Barnes&noble, and publishers who have been infringed on.
Aside from this scuffle, Amazon's creation of media groups to produce television content also touches NETFLX's interests; cloud computing business competes with technology giants such as Sun,oracle and IBM's own business; hardware manufacturing competes with similarly ambitious companies such as Samsung While Amazon dominates e-commerce, traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target may one day unite to sell their goods online.
Of course, Amazon is not the only Internet company to burn money for growth, and the company is unique in that it has been burning for 20 years. This is Bezos's most surprising ability to play with other people's money (shareholders and Amazon over-the-top bond issue buyers) to be able to play for so long. Investors maintain a state of pause animation, looking forward to a moment in the future, Amazon can touch the switch to become a "normal company"-priority to make money for customers. But what does Bezos want? Is he being prescribed to do so? Wouldn't that be, okay, too boring for him?
This is not the first time for Wall Street analysts and others to question whether Amazon can afford to stick to its whimsical path. Still, Bezos used to give himself more time to show that he could do it by making some profitable quarters, or to hype up some of the innovative investments that would change the world.
But in the end, Bezos's time will always run out, he wants to build an essential platform for connecting people and information, goods and entertainment, but now it's the most powerful and scary company in the two century: Apple and Google, the ambition to get even bigger.
The bad news for Bezos is that Apple or Google, if they want to get ahead of each other, is an obvious way to buy Amazon. If the suspicion against Amazon continues and its share price continues to fall, such a takeover would be very relaxing for either of the two companies, and Amazon's shareholders and employees will be cheered.
Note: The original author Andrés Martinez is the editorial director of Zócalo Public and a visiting professor at Arizona State University's Cronkite journalism school.
What will Amazon look like later? Shareholders have been impatient about losing money.
