Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Shares of Amazon fell by more than 7% on Wednesday following reports that President Trump wants to curtail the power that the company enjoys by imposing new regulations. Following the reports that first appeared on the Axios website, Amazon lost about $52 billion of its market value. The news website wrote that the President is “obsessed” with Amazon – the largest online retailer in the world – and wants to tame its growing power.
According to Axios, the President has discussed changing the tax treatment that Amazon gets, because he is concerned that the company is putting brick-and-mortar retailers and shopping malls out of business. The online retail giant has had a superb performance since the start of the year, until Wednesday’s slump.
AMZN Earnings & Outlook
Amazon’s growth expectations in the near future remain high, and it will keep on attracting investors. However, in the event that the President does decide to go after the company with new tax regulations, the tech giant is likely to lose billions of dollars. During its recent Q4 earnings report, Amazon’s total revenue stood at $60.5 billion surpassing the $59.83 analysts’ estimate.
The revenue, which included Whole Foods sales, shot up by 38% year-over-year. The retail giant recorded revenues of $37 billion for its North American segment, representing a jump of 42%. On the other hand, international sales hit $18 billion, representing a rise of 29%.
Amazon’s CEO Comments
Amazon Chief Executive Officer has been at loggerheads with President Trump even before the former became the Republican nominee for the 2016 elections. The President has repeatedly rushed out at Bezos because of “killing tax paying retailers and hurting towns, states, and cities throughout the country by casing unemployment”
Bezos on the other hand has criticized the President for “eroding the US democracy.” At one during the 2016 campaigns, the CEO joked that he would get rid of Trump by sending him into space using one of his rockets. He has, however, remained silent since Trump took over the White House. During the presentation of Amazon’s Q4 report, Bezos said that he was optimistic that his company would continue to achieve more gains.
Amazon.com, Inc. Company Profile
Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retail company based in Seattle, WA. It was founded in 1994 by billionaire Jeff Bezos. The company’s segments are: North America, Amazon Web Services, and International.
Through its North American segment, the company sells consumer products as well as subscriptions to its web services, such as www.amazon.ca and www.amazon.com. Amazon offers subscriptions to its web services and sales of consumer products through its International segment.
The company engages in global sales of computers, database, storage, through its Amazon Web Services. The segment also offers web services to academic institutions, start-ups, government agencies, and enterprises. The competitors of Amazon include eBay, Walmart, Kroger, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Alibaba, Macys, Costco, Target, BestBuy, Microsoft, Netflix and Apple. –Reuters
