It saddens me that people are bothered about this. It highlights the continued disconnect between the interests of the companies traded on the market and those of the investors at large.
Bezos has been completely transparent about his philosophy regarding long-term and short-term profitability. This is not out of character for Amazon. Rather the opposite: the day I hear Amazon cutting long-term projects to boost short-term profitability is the day I would sell my Amazon stock. This is the way Amazon has operated for most of its history. They've already built up enough of a track record for us to trust that they know what they're doing. It is stupid to expect them to behave like other companies when we have seen them operate in this manner for some 20 years successfully. Maximizing short-term profitability is not a high priority for Amazon, and it never has been. Why is the market surprised then when they re-invest in growth? Because the market can be stupid.
Bezos has been completely transparent about his philosophy regarding long-term and short-term profitability. This is not out of character for Amazon. Rather the opposite: the day I hear Amazon cutting long-term projects to boost short-term profitability is the day I would sell my Amazon stock. This is the way Amazon has operated for most of its history. They've already built up enough of a track record for us to trust that they know what they're doing. It is stupid to expect them to behave like other companies when we have seen them operate in this manner for some 20 years successfully. Maximizing short-term profitability is not a high priority for Amazon, and it never has been. Why is the market surprised then when they re-invest in growth? Because the market can be stupid.