Posted on 11/20/2016 11:05:21 PM PST by Cronos
Amazon will almost certainly enjoy its biggest ever day on Black Friday next week.
The discount shopping event will help the American online retailer to continue its run of 22 years of unbroken and dramatic sales growth since it was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It is now valued at more than $375bn (£304bn), making it one of the biggest companies in the world.
However, despite the predicted spending spree on Black Friday, the rise of Amazon and Bezos now face arguably their biggest challenge yet - Donald Trump.
... The battle started last December with a series of seemingly unprompted tweets from Trump. “The Washington Post, which loses a fortune, is owned by Jeff Bezos for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no-profit company, Amazon,” Trump wrote. “If Amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The Washington Post scam is saving it!”
The Washington Post is owned through Bezos’s personal investment firm, rather than Amazon, and Trump did not provide any explanation for his allegation. Amazon’s tax policy is controversial and is already well-known around the world, including in Europe, where it agreed favourable tax arrangements with Luxembourg. Its profit margins are also notoriously thin. In 2015, Amazon recorded sales of $107bn but net profits of just $596m, a margin of barely 0.5%.
...The Republican presidential candidate then told Fox News that Amazon is “getting away with murder tax-wise” and has a “huge antitrust problem because he’s [Bezos] controlling so much”.
...Shares in Amazon dropped by almost 10% in the five days after Trump’s election, more than other technology companies such as Google and Apple
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Yes. Why am I still up at this hour? That's more of a question, sure, but still valid.
Also, I love Amazon. Bezos can suck it, but I'm not sure I can break up with Amazon at this point. It's been so good to me!
yeah their profit margin SUCKS!!! wow.
like most retail stores but i thought they would do better
lol.
I dont have much in life, and it dont look good for the future either :), so I’m keeping my amazon prime and my 2000 B horror movies!!
The stock was dropping before the election and seems to have rebounded some since.
The stock performance just cannot be tied to the election.
That hasn't prevented the author of this article from trying to do just that.
““Believe me, if I become president, oh do they have problems, they are going to have such problems,” Trump said of Amazon and Bezos.”
Stick it to him!
Bezos tried and tried via Amazon and his ownership of the Washington Post to stick it to Donald Trump and Conservatives and now it is time for soon to be President Trump to return the favor.
Make Amazon and Bezos have problems, big problems, anti-trust, RICO, investigations into the Washington Post and withdraw their White House press credentials.
A way of reaping Amazon profits to pump the Washington Post propaganda machine without paying usual taxes on the Amazon profits — by lumping the two into one enterprise?
Just curious, are there situations like this on the right wing too? That’s the first thing I’d ask when wanting to eliminate something like this.
I’m also curious why the very fact that Amazon is pumping Washington Post, wasn’t well mentioned on FR in the past.
Speaking of Amazon-the centipedes over on reddit ordered a ton of salt from them and had it shipped to the NYT.
If true that’s priceless!
I love Amazon Prime. Name brand goods of all sorts, quick service, and I’ve had only one shipping issue out of the last 70+ orders.
I can’t afford to drive to town compared to these results.
As far as Bezos is concerned...let him take his lumps. If that changes the business model, I’ll perhaps have to reassess my purchasing model. Until then, I’ll continue to use Amazon for a whole host of goods, from hobby supplies to shop supplies to hard-to-find groceries to hand tools, hardware, and electronics.
” 2015, Amazon recorded sales of $107bn but net profits of just $596m, a margin of barely 0.5%”
But one of the reasons is the millions upon millions (if not billions at this point) of dollars Amazon has and continues to spend on distribution infrastructure.
I agree. I like Amazon - think Bezos sucks. You couple Amazon Prime (free shipping) with Amazon Fire TV and it’s like an access point to the rest of cheaper than cable streaming (Netflix, Hulu, Starz, Showtime, etc.).
There is a sizeable component of Amazon that is mom/pop-like vendors selling through Amazon. I guess some of that profit goes to them, too.
I get emails from vendors (filtered through Amazon for protection) like these asking me to review them, their shipping, packaging and customer service. As a courtesy I respond and rate them because I want more individual vendors taking part in that “big on-line.” If it happens to be Amazon that facilitates that, then that’s just the way it is.
I also love Prime.
However, the real prices on Amazon are not always the lowest and the quality is not always the best. The best Prime perk is, of course free 2-day shipping. This is because shipping has become outrageously expensive even while fuel costs have dropped.
I would like to see an analysis of shipping costs. How much goes for pensions and salaries in the big shipping companies and in the USPS? Why do these costs keep climbing?
A lot of non-Prime items offer their own free shipping, as do many sellers across the web. Others go to lengths to keep these costs reasonable. I find myself choosing other retailers more and more.
Shame that the NYT isn’t over a large sinkhole leading to a salt mine. That’s about how much salt one might really need ;)
Totally BOYCOTT Amazon
It us soooo easy to shop Amazon , yet you finance this schmuck Bezos .
For me , when he ordered all Confederate flags items completely OFF AMAZON , that was the last day I ever bought anything thru Amazon and I shall never patronize his s#it-eating business again . Ever ..
For book & music : Barnes and Noble .
Screw Bezos , I hope Trump nukes his ass
Trump made those comments because the Washington Post is no more than a lobbyist for progressive forces. They were very unfair to him.
Trump via policy can do a lot of damage to Amazon now. But it may no longer be necessary for Bezos to retain ownership of the rag known as the Washington Post because Trump’s plan to lower the corporate tax rate will give them better options.
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