AMAZON COM INC

Amazon.com is a diversified technology and retail company that operates a global e‑commerce marketplace, subscription services (Prime), online advertising and consumer devices, and a high‑margin cloud‑computing platform (AWS). It generates revenue from product sales, third‑party seller services, advertising and subscriptions, and cloud services, leveraging scale and a vast logistics and data‑center footprint.^[1]

Business Segments

• North America retail: online and physical store sales, advertising and subscription services — roughly ~61% of net sales.
• International retail: non‑U.S. online stores, third‑party seller and subscription revenues — roughly ~23% of net sales.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS): cloud infrastructure and platform services for enterprises and developers — roughly ~16% of net sales. (Percentages and net sales mix per Form 10‑K disclosures.)^[2]

Competitive Position

• Scale and selection: Amazon’s massive retail assortment, logistics network and marketplace scale create convenient selection and low‑price expectations that are hard for smaller rivals to match.^[3]
• High‑margin cloud leadership: AWS supplies differentiated, enterprise‑grade cloud services with materially higher operating margins than retail, underpinning the company’s overall profitability and cash generation.^[4]

Investment Considerations

• Diversified revenue mix: the combination of retail volume, growing advertising and high‑margin cloud services provides multiple profit engines, reducing dependence on any single line of business.^[2]
• Capital intensity and margin pressure: the retail and logistics businesses are capital‑and‑labor intensive and can compress margins; profitability depends on mix shift toward higher‑margin services.^[5]
• Regulatory and competition risks: global regulatory scrutiny, antitrust concerns and intense competition across retail, ads and cloud could affect operations and growth assumptions.^[5]
• Valuation and execution sensitivity: large market expectations are embedded in the share price; long‑term returns depend on sustaining AWS growth, ad monetization, and operational efficiency.^[6]