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Article: Amazon's Special Talent Could Be Its Ticket to Profitability
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 3, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Amazon.com is not only a new-economy company, it's also a new-
English and new-math company -- a place where words and numbers have
unconventional meanings.
Two hard truths are at the heart of Amazon's problems. First, like
most Internet outfits, Amazon shouldn't have become a public company
before it had a profitable business. Second, I think it overexpanded
into a hodgepodge of new businesses ranging from lawn furniture to
faucets because the buzz phrase in 1999 was "top-line growth." That
means sales -- but not necessarily profits. Amazon wanted to grow,
the money was there, Amazon took it. Things got out of control,
leading to last year's $1.4 billion loss. Now that the Internet
bubble ...