Jeff Bezos is what I call a “project entrepreneur”: he uses profits from earlier projects to fund new projects.
(p. B12) When it comes to investment, Amazon.com no longer has to stop to take a breath. And that is making it an even more formidable rival to bricks-and-mortar retailers.
The e-commerce giant has reported minimal profits in its 19-year history as a public company as it has pursued a pattern of near-endless investment. Amazon has plowed money into expanding its warehouse and delivery infrastructure and branching into new markets such as grocery, music, online video and, most recently, apparel.
In the past, Amazon has occasionally chosen to take a quarter here and there to press pause on that investment. That had the effect of reassuring the market that it could immediately be profitable if it ever chose to stop.
. . .
The protective shield of the cloud seems to be giving Amazon cover to plunge into new projects at an even more rapid clip than it has in the past.
For the full story, see:
MIRIAM GOTTFRIED. “Amazon Cloud Profit Sparks Retail Storm.” The Wall Street Journal (Sat., May 21, 2016): B12.
(Note: ellipsis added.)
(Note: the online version of the story has the date May 20, 2016, and has the title “Amazon’s Cloud Cover Makes It a Bigger Threat.”)