Amazon grows while profits shrink
The online retailer Amazon is showing enormous growth. But profits are shrinking at the same rate. That's because Amazon is tempting customers with low prices.
In the first quarter, sales of the U.S. group soared by 38 percent to 9.9 billion dollars. At the same time, the retailer is putting a lot of money into advertising, new products, expanding its logistics centers and improving IT. This left $201 million at the beginning of the year - a third less than in the same period last year.
They have never been more enthusiastic about the long-term possibilities, founder and company CEO Jeff Bezos said Tuesday, according to SDA. He said he was trying to win investors over to his sometimes painful growth path. The stock was slightly down in after-hours trading.
The online retailer no longer just sells books, electronic goods or fashion. The group operates web hosting, offers movies for online rental and sells apps for the booming Android smartphones. Recently, Amazon also launched a cloud music service and brought its payment service and e-book business to Germany.
