Conversion Therapy: An “Amazon Atheist” Gets Religion

Share Price Heaven

[Editor’s Note:  The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.]

Before I got religion on Amazon, you could say I was an “Amazon atheist” (or at least, an “Amazon Agnostic”).

How could an over-stretched, loss-accumulating retail Behemoth enter new industry after industry, vanquish the incumbents, then move on to seemingly disparate new markets to up-end (er, “disrupt”).

All without earning the ire (if not opprobrium) of investors, regulators, etc.

Well, that was $100 billion ($400 billion?) ago in market cap.

Suffice to say, a rising share price can overcome almost all sins (save sexual misconduct — has anyone alleged that about Amazon?).

Devouring Whole Foods

All of which leaves the $64 thousand billion question:  what’s next?

A decade ago, asked what the future held for Amazon, I would have quoted economist Herbert Stein:  “”whatever can’t go on forever” — money-losing, anti-trust law-skirting, etc. — “won’t.”

Now?

Who knows??

Is there any reason the company that now sells you entertainment, groceries, cloud storage, clothing, books, household necessities, etc. couldn’t also sell you . . . . cars, gas, drugs, medical care, airline tickets, annuities, and index funds?

And eventually, maybe even national defense, local police and fire protection, garbage collection, and . . .  (yikes!) tax collection? (it would just be billed as “privatization”; See, “Putin, Vladimir”).

Yeah, that’s right, Amazon!

Stop picking on Wal-Mart and Target.

Go after the Pentagon and the IRS!

See also, “Is Amazon a Costco-Killer?”; “Does Amazon Violate U.S. Antitrust Law?” ; and “Parsing Amazon’s Q2 2017 Results (Pssst! Don’t Bother Calculating the P/E Ratio).”



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