FOCUSED ON PROFITABILITY (2001)
Amazon.com continued to outpace its online competition in January 2001, registering 2.3 million projected buyers according to a report from PC Data—nearly double the number for January 2000. Although Amazon.com beat Wall Street's estimates for the fourth quarter of 2000, the company announced at the end of January that it would lay off 1,300 workers, or 15 percent of its workforce. Other cost-cutting measures included closing a distribution center in Georgia and a customer service center in Seattle. The company also lowered revenue estimates for 2001, mainly due to the slowdown of the overall economy toward the end of 2000. Amazon.com projected that sales would grow from 20 to 30 percent in 2001 to $3.3 to $3.6 billion. Still, the company maintained that it would reach operating profitability by the end of 2001, and that it would have about $900 million in cash and marketable securities at the end of the year.
FURTHER READING:
"All Boxed In." Time. September 4, 2000.
"Amazon in New E-tail Deals." Puget Sound Business Journal. January 28, 2000.
Dembeck, Chet. "Amazon and Sotheby's Launch Upscale Auction Site." E-Commerce Times. November 19, 1999. Available from www.ecommercetimes.com.
"Double Play." Business Week. October 23, 2000.
Enos, Lori. "Amazon Ranked as Net Ad Champ." E-Commerce Times. December 14, 2000. Available from www.ecommercetimes.com.
"Inside the First e-Christmas." Fortune. February 1, 1999.
Macaluso, Nora. "Amazon and Toys 'R' Us Take E-Holiday Prize." E-Commerce Times. January 2, 2001. Available from www.ecommercetimes.com.
Rabinovitz, Jonathan. "Santa Monica, Calif.-Based Internet Entrepreneur Sells Toys." Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. October 25, 1998.
Reid, Calvin. "Amazon.com in Pact to Take Over Borders.com ." Publishers Weekly. April 16, 2001.
Saliba, Clare. "Report: Amazon Smashed E-tail Competition in January." E-Commerce Times. February 14, 2001. Available from www.ecommercetimes.com.
"We Have Lift-off." The Economist (US). February 3, 2001.
"Wired for the Bottom Line." Newsweek. September 20, 1999.
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