Amazon.com, Inc. Company Overview Amazon is an online retailer focused on selection, price and convenience. Incorporated in May 1996, Amazon.com offers programs that allow sellers to sell products on the website and have the fulfillment performed by the seller. In addition to the online marketplace, Amazon also manufactures and sells Kindle devices. Through the different programs offered by Amazon, the company has the edge over their competitors. They are able to secure the lowest price, fastest shipping and offer incentives to the customer, such as Amazon Prime (Amazon, 2014). Amazon’s competitors include Apple Inc., Barnes & Noble, Inc. and Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC (Hoovers, 2014). For the purpose of this financial analysis we will be comparing Amazon to the SIC Code: 5961, CATALOG AND MAIL-ORDER HOUSES, industry average. The financial analysis will take into consideration the balance sheet, income statement and ratios for the past 5 years, 2009 to 2013. Financial Management The effectiveness of Amazon’s financial management can be seen in the performance over the last 5 years. Largely investor confidence has been very high throughout the 5 years analyzed. This can be seen in the increase of 4 times the stock price. Stock prices were at an all-time high the end of 2013 at price of $405USD each (Morningstar, 2014). Through analysis of the financial statements and history of stock prices it can be determined that the financial management team at Amazon is doing a great job.
In 1994 Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com, one of the first online retailer sites and in 1995 he went live on the internet. Jeff Bezos is still the CEO today and his company is growing yearly with many added subsidiaries. Amazon started selling only in American and today it is in over 11 nations and on the rise. We will glance at some of financial information to come to a conclusion of whether Amazon is a sound investment in the present and the future. Next we will look at the three techniques used to assess the financial statement data: horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, and ratio analysis. We will focus on three financial factors: Liquidity Ratios, Profitability Ratios, and Solvency Ratios of Amazon.com during the 2007 and 2008 years.
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer that was launched in 1995 (Rouse, 2014). Amazon was mainly a book selling company that has enlarged its’ business by selling a variety of goods. The company sells all types of technology devices such as cell phones, games, televisions, movies, cameras, computers,
Amazon is a multinational consumer electronics company and the largest Internet Company in the United States as of November 2014. The company also sells a great deal of other consumer goods. Amazon operates in three general segments: media, electronics and other merchandise. In the media segment, Amazon competes with auction site eBay, media game-changer Netflix, Time Warner Cable, Apple, with iTunes; Google with its Play Store and media producer Liberty Interactive.
The Amazon is the Internet-based retailer and e-commerce website started as an online Bookstore which advanced on and became competition for Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble began as a real bookstore chain selling books and glossy magazine in its stores.
Headquartered in Settle, Washington DC, Amazon.com is a cloud computing electronic and commerce company (Amazon, 2016). The company is one of the largest internet based retailers both in the US and globally based on total sales and market capitalization. The company does a majority of its business through online retail websites throughout the United States and with more that ten countries throughout World. In 2015, Amazon overtook Wal-Mart to become the most valuable retailer by market capitalization.
The earlier environmental scan of Amazon.com revealed two important competitive advantages: a highly profitable, low-cost middleman business model, which enabled it to grow its net sales 222.59 percent in five years (2012 – 2016), from $61.09 billion in 2012 to $135.99 billion in 2016 (Amazon 2016 Annual Report 37; Amazon 2013 Annual Report 36); and consistent resoluteness to seize profitable opportunities (Adamson n. p.).
In July 2015, Amazon.com surpassed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as the world 's biggest retailer. The company, incorporated on May 28, 1996, is an e-commerce company. The company began as an online bookstore but now offers a large range of products and services through its websites. Amazon’s products include merchandise and content that the company purchases for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers. The company through its Websites offers products under various categories, including instant videos, digital music, Appstore for Android, Amazon Cloud Drive, Kindle E-readers and books, FIRE tablets, FIRE TV, FIRE phone, books and audible, movies, music and games, and a wide variety of consumer goods. The company offers its own products as well as third-party products across various categories, through its retail websites and through its mobile websites and applications. It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo and Fire phones.
Amazon.com had 5 years since the company went public in 1995 and needed 1 year to create and sustain value over time. Many of the investments have been made to build the state-of-the art digital business infrastructure. The company has tremendous opportunities according to the SWOT analysis. Amazon.com is ranked 48th worldwide and online retail sales are growing rapidly. Amazon.com has good leadership and digital infrastructure with excess capacity. Amazon.com has built high barriers to entry and is the leading online retailer globally and has a
Underlying: Amazon has acquired losses to the development of their competitors in different industries. Recent performances in some areas substantially affected the company by spending more in expenses than bringing in more in sales. The introduction of web services, tablets and retail were unsuccessful which affected the underlying performance of the company. With strong competition from competitors
Amazon.com or commonly known as Amazon was a company which firstly sold only books on the Internet (known as an online bookstore), but Jeff Bezos, the founder of this company, had a vision in making Amazon be “An everything store”. Now, Amazon sells everything such as CDs, hardware, software, clothes, toys, numerous tools and much more. Amazon shows its slogan as “Our vision is to be the world’s most consumer-centric company, where customers can come to find anything they want to buy online” (Straus, 2017).
Amazon is an electronic commerce company which provides online retail shopping services to four primary customer sets: consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators. Amazon also serves consumers through its retail websites with a focus on selection, price, and convenience. The company designs the websites to enable products to be sold by the company and by third parties. Amazon.com was founded by Jeffrey P. Bezos in July 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.
Amazon is a public company that has undergone many changes over the past decade. Since its inception, the company's net income and revenue have increased by 75%. The company continues to look for ways to provide better quality services to its customers. It's not disappointing. Look at the company's financial statements to get a better understanding of the company's financial position. These financial statements are vital to investors, creditors, and company managers. The most commonly used financial statements are the income statement, the cash flow statement, balance sheet and stockholder's equity statement (Brigham & Ehrhardt 2011).
Amazon.com Inc is an American international electronic commerce company that started off as an online book store under the old name of cadabra.com. Under the direction of Jeff Bezos, who incorporated the company in 1994, Amazon quickly expanded their scopes by selling various other items, besides just books, in order to create its now famous brand name. Today, Amazon sells “everything from A to Z,” hence the brand name, and has taken control of the online shopping market as the world’s leading online retailer in the world (Fabrice Guillaume’s e-Portfolio, EST 325: Amazon.com).
Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company that has revolutionized the retail industry. In recent years, Amazon has faced increased competition in the highly competitive online retail space as competitors invested heavily in their online storefronts and infrastructure. Positioned in a highly fragmented industry, Amazon must find solutions that can sustain its long term profitability and maintain its market share. To that end, Amazon should grow the Amazon Prime membership base and expand on its media and mobile offerings.
Amazon has grown up from a normal online website to an ecommerce and broadcasting partner to development platform being driven by the spirit of innovation. Amazon is a service based company offering customers best services and providing more types of products, at lower prices and with proper reviews. Their innovations towards the technology increase the growth of Amazon. Since 1995, Amazon has significantly expanded international retail websites, its product selection, customer service centers and worldwide network (AmazonJobs).