Amazon.com Releases Preliminary Fourth Quarter Highlights -- Sales Up More Than 40% Over 1999, Fueled by Growth in Electronics, Kitchen and Tools.Business Editors SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE) Jan. 8, 2001- Cumulative Customer Accounts Increased a Record 4 Million During the Quarter to over 29 million; Gross Profit over $210 Million, an Increase of over 140%, and Inventory Under $175 million, a Decrease of over 20%, from 1999 Leading online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN AMZN Amazon.com (NASDAQ symbol) ) today announced that net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight for the December quarter of 2000 are expected to exceed $960 million, an increase of more than 40% over net sales of $676 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2000 is expected to be over $210 million, an increase of more than 140% over the prior year. Pro forma As a matter of form or for the sake of form. Used to describe accounting, financial, and other statements or conclusions based upon assumed or anticipated facts. The phrase pro forma operating loss operating loss The excess of operating expenses over revenue. As with operating income, operating losses exclude revenues and expenses from operations that are not considered a regular part of the business. Also called deficit. Compare operating income. for the fourth quarter of 2000 is expected to be less than 7% of net sales, compared to a pro forma operating loss of 26% of net sales in the fourth quarter of 1999. This holiday season customers purchased record amounts from our electronics, kitchen and tools stores, said Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964 , Albuquerque ) is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. , Amazon.com chief executive officer. More than 35% of U.S. customers made purchases during the quarter from a store other than books, music or DVD/video. And, for the second quarter in a row, the electronics store was the second-largest U.S. store, behind books. Were pleased that during a period of broad softening in consumer spending Consumer demand or consumption is also known as personal consumption expenditure. It is the largest part of aggregate demand or effective demand at the macroeconomic level. , we delivered sales within our guidance, and at the same time met our bottom-line objectives, said Warren Jenson, Amazon.com chief financial officer. We expect to report an inventory balance for year-end of less than $175 million, while also reporting an increase in gross profit of over 140%. Were entering 2001 in a solid financial position with approximately $1.1 billion in cash and marketable securities Marketable Securities Very liquid securities that can be converted into cash quickly at a reasonable price. Notes: Marketable securities are very liquid as they tend to have maturities less than one year, and the rate at which these securities can be bought or sold has . Amazon.com was ranked 1st in Nielsen//NetRatings rankings of top holiday 2000 e-tailers based on total shopping visits. Amazon.coms shopping visits numbered more than five times those of the second-ranked e-tailing site and more than the combined total shopping visits for the sites ranked second through seventh. Amazon.com expects to release complete fourth quarter 2000 results after market close on Tuesday, January 30, 2001. A conference call to discuss fourth quarter 2000 financial results and 2001 business outlook will be Webcast live on Tuesday, January 30, 2001, at 5:00 p.m. EST/2:00 p.m. PST PST Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, see there . This conference call will be available at www.amazon.com/ir through March 31, 2001, and will contain forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. and other material information. Notes on Financial Presentation The financial highlights in this release are preliminary and unaudited and should not be considered a complete disclosure of our quarterly or annual results. Financial results are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles The standard accounting rules, regulations, and procedures used by companies in maintaining their financial records. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provide companies and accountants with a consistent set of guidelines that cover both broad accounting . Pro forma financial results exclude stock-based compensation costs, amortization of goodwill and other intangibles, acquisition-related and other costs, noncash investment gains and losses, net, and equity in losses of equity-method investees, net. The Electronics store business includes Amazon.com Electronics, Video Games See video game console. and Software. Customer accounts exclude Amazon Commerce Network partners businesses and Amazon.coms catalog businesses but include Toysrus.com customers and users of Amazon Marketplace Amazon Marketplace ( i.e:Third-party Marketplace ) is Amazon.com's fixed-price online marketplace that allows sellers to survey their goods alongside Amazon's offerings. Buyers can buy new and used items sold directly by a third party through Amazon. services. About Amazon.com Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internets No. 1 retailer. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earths Biggest Selection, along with online auctions and free electronic greeting cards See e-card. . Amazon.com seeks to be the worlds most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com lists more than 28 million unique items in categories such as electronics, kitchen products, books, music, DVDs, videos, camera and photo items, toys, software, computer and video games This article is about the British magazine covering computer and video games. For the American magazine, see Computer Games Magazine. Computer And Video Games (CVG , tools and hardware, lawn and patio items, and wireless products. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.coms more than 29 million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, sellers can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments. Amazon.com operates four international Web sites: www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de and www.amazon.co.jp. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Webs comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 250,000 movies and entertainment titles and 1 million cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1891 to 2003. Amazon Anywhere is the leader in mobile e-commerce, providing access from anywhere in the world to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and through handheld wireless Internet devices that use HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language) A specialized version of HTML designed to enable wireless pagers, cellphones and other handheld devices to obtain information from Web pages. HDML was developed by Phone. or the Wireless Application Protocol. This press release contains preliminary and unaudited statements regarding results for the fourth quarter of 2000, including statements relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc expectations of sales, gross profit, pro forma operating loss, inventory, cash and marketable securities and other results of operations. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including customer returns and refunds, other revenue-related adjustments, inventory-related adjustments, and actual operating and nonoperating expenses and adjustments. In addition, this press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict, and actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, anticipated losses, significant amount of indebtedness, unpredictability of future revenues, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, consumer trends, competition, risk of distribution center expansion, risks related to fourth quarter performance, risks of system interruption, management of potential growth, inventory risks, risks related to auction and zShops services, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, strategic alliances and the Amazon Commerce Network. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. for the year ended December 31, 1999, and all subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. .
Amazon.com
(MM) Q4 99 Q1 00 Q2 00 Q3 00 Q4 00 Y-0-Y Growth
----- ----- ----- ----- ---------------- ----------------
(Preliminary)
Net Sales $676 $574 $578 $638 Greater Than $960 Greater Than 40%
Gross
Profit $ 88 $128 $136 $167 Greater Than $210 Greater Than 140%
Pro-Forma
Operating
Loss as a
Percentage
of Sales -26% -17% -16% -11% Less Than -7% N/A
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