Shares of Amazon fell as much as 8% Friday after the e-commerce juggernaut disclosed a massive fine from European regulators for allegedly breaking regional privacy laws and posted second-quarter earnings results that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, putting the longtime market leader on track for its worst day in more than a year.
Key Facts
As of 11:15 a.m. EDT, Amazon stock has plunged 7% Friday to about $3,349.50, pushing the firm's market capitalization down below $1.7 trillion and wiping out nearly $130 billion from a closing level above $1.8 trillion Thursday.
Ushering in the massive losses, Amazon posted second-quarter revenue after Thursday's market close of $113.1 billion—up 27% year over year, but falling short of average analyst expectations totaling $115 billion.
Despite soaring more than 48%, net income of more than $7.7 billion also fell slightly short of estimates, which called for about $7.8 billion.
The stark decline also comes after Amazon disclosed a $885 million (746 million euros) fine, levied on July 16, by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection, which claims Amazon's processing of personal data did not comply with European regulations.
In the filing, Amazon, which in a statement asserts no data breach has occurred, said it believes the watchdog's decision is "without merit" and that it intends to appeal the ruling and defend itself "vigorously" in the matter.
Amazon's Friday plunge puts it on track for its worst one-day decline since the height of pandemic uncertainty tanked the broader market in March 2020.
Crucial Quote
"Consumers' online shopping levels are returning to more normal levels as they shift some spending to other entertainment sources and offline shopping," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said in a Friday note. "Meanwhile, the company continues to add capacity [and costs] at a breakneck pace in order to meet customer demand and one day delivery," Romanoff added, pointing out Amazon has already nearly doubled its footprint during the last 18 months.
Surprising Fact
Shares of Amazon are now down more than 10% from a record closing high of $3,719 earlier this month.
Tangent
Amazon far underperformed the broader market Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which doesn't include Amazon, ticked down just 0.2%, while the S&P 500, which counts the retail giant as its third-largest component, fell 0.4%.
Chief Critic
"Maintaining the security of our customers' information and their trust are top priorities. There has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to any third party. These facts are undisputed," Amazon said in a statement Friday. "The decision relating to how we show customers relevant advertising relies on subjective and untested interpretations of European privacy law, and the proposed fine is entirely out of proportion with even that interpretation."
Further Reading
Amazon hit with $886m fine for alleged data breach (BBC)
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I'm a reporter at Forbes focusing on markets and finance. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I double-majored in business journalism and economics while working for UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School as a marketing and communications assistant. Before Forbes, I spent a summer reporting on the L.A. private sector for Los Angeles Business Journal and wrote about publicly traded North Carolina companies for NC Business News Wire. Reach out at jponciano@forbes.com. And follow me on Twitter @Jon_Ponciano
Source: Amazon Stock Loses $130 Billion In Market Value After $885 Million Fine And Disappointing Earnings Report
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Critics:
With technology stocks garnering renewed scrutiny, it's helpful to take a look back at one company that has weathered some of the most severe market downturns and serious doubts from Wall Street: Amazon. Betting on the online bookstore wasn't always a sure thing. Amazon's journey from tiny garage start-up to one of the most valuable companies in the world has paid off for investors, but shareholders needed a strong stomach."Earth's Biggest Bookstore"
In the early 1990s, Jeff Bezos walked away from a Wall Street career with an outlandish idea to sell books on the World Wide Web. In 1994, he launched Amazon.com. "I found this fact on a website that the web was growing at 2,300 percent per year," Bezos told CNBC in a 2001 interview about his early foray into book selling. "The idea that sort of entranced me was this idea of building a bookstore online."
The site experienced growth quickly, going public three years later with $16 million in revenue and 180,000 customers spanning more than 100 countries (according to its SEC filing). But even as the site began growing, many investors had their doubts about Amazon, instead favoring brick-and-mortar book-selling giant Barnes & Noble.
At an early meeting between Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio and Bezos, Riggio reportedly told Bezos he would "crush" Amazon. Barnes & Noble dwarfed the young start-up. The traditional bookseller had hundreds of stores and more than $2 billion in revenue. It was also tapping into major Silicon Valley talent to built its own sleek new website.
On top of that, it was suing Amazon over the start-up's claim to be "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." But for those who took a chance and bought Amazon stock at the initial public offering, their investment has returned a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent since the IPO – outperforming the S&P 500 which had a total return of 10 percent annually over the same period.
https://keymaninvestment.com/?ref=arminham
Tech stocks have been under renewed pressure in recent weeks as the markets have experienced volatility. From September to November, Amazon stock lost a quarter of its value as the wider tech sector took major hits. Some analysts say it's a good time to buy in. Others say Amazon's growth rate has hit a ceiling as the company enters maturity.
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