Amazon's 2nd-Qtr. Losses Widen

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 7/27/2000

SEATTLE -- Amazon.com reported a second-quarter pro forma net loss of $115.7 million, representing a 32 percent increase in losses over the comparable period last year.

Although the shortfall was less than analysts had predicted -- and sales were up a whopping 84 percent to $578 million for the quarter -- Wall Street punished Amazon for not hitting the company's internal revenue target of 90 percent growth, nor analysts' sales projections of $585 million.

Shares fell 13 percent in early trading this morning to $31.43, abetted by downgrades by several brokerage houses and the defection earlier this week of its president, Joseph Galli, to VerticalNet.

Chairman Jeff Bezos said Amazon enjoyed profits from its domestic book, music and video businesses, and saw "unusual growth in our electronics store."

Analysts were also concerned by Amazon's share of losses from Internet companies in which it maintains major stakes, which amounted to $110 million for the quarter. Factoring that into its earnings, along with $80 million in acquisition-related charges and $8 million in employee stock options, Amazon's second-quarter loss swells to $317 million.