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That depends on whom you listen to. Amazon's financial viability--or lack of it--is one of the most hotly debated issues in the industry. At the PacMed Center, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't drunk deep of the Bezos Kool-Aid. The fact that their fearless leader dished out extra options to any recent hires whose stock is underwater hasn't hurt. But beyond mere cash incentives lies a genuine faith in the thoughts of Chairman Jeff...
Which may help explain why Amazon itself acts like a hyperactive kid at the holidays--forever playing with something new. Last week Bezos got into the automobile business through a joint venture with Greenlight.com Customers can now order an Audi or a Chevy alongside electric drills and Oprah books. And it doesn't stop there. This week Amazon is set to open its Paris-based online store, Amazon.fr, a brave bid to raise international sales despite the fact that less than 1% of book sales in France are done online--and not for want of dotcoms...
...best of times for TIME's 1999 Person of the Year. Except for one widely applauded joint operating deal with Toys "R" Us, such frantic unwrappings have not gone down well in an increasingly skeptical marketplace. Strong doubts are setting in over whether cybershoppers will ever turn to Amazon for big-ticket items. "Beyond books, music and videos, it's unclear whether they have a sustainable business," says Alan Alper, an analyst at e-commerce watchdog Gomez Advisors. Which raises a horrifying prospect for all e-tailing: Is the poster child for the new economy in danger of being dragged...
...sudden collapse and bankruptcy of Living.com which promised Amazon $145 million to be its home-furnishings partner over the next five years, hasn't calmed investors' nerves (none of that cash ever made it to Amazon's coffers). Last week it emerged that Amazon has had to rearrange terms, less favorably, with other partners such as Drugstore.com...
...real worry is Amazon's debt load--which ballooned from $1.5 billion at the end of 1999 to $2.1 billion at the end of June--as the company continues to burn money. Amazon stock has nose-dived $50 since the year began, from about $89. Most employees' stock options are stuck below the price at which they were issued. "My mom calls me up and says, 'My God, David, is everything O.K.?'" says Amazon senior vice president David Risher, laughing...