Also not bad for 25 months. You've got to be really good to lose that much and still be going. Remember, however, they can not capitalize their marketing costs. Had this been a new auto company spending money on plant and equipment, their accountants might actually have figured out how to show an accounting profit for them. So, Amazon has spent a fortune on name recognition.
Name recognition is a valuable asset.
But here is the tricky question if you are an Amazon executive or shareholder. This will be measured by how loyal customers are to Amazon. If they are not loyal, your investment is worth nearly what was paid for it. Unfortunately for companies like Amazon, customer loyalty may be as skinny as the tail on a mouse. There is great ease of entry into the Internet business.