Amazon’s share price has fallen – meaning Jeff Bezos isn’t the richest man in the world any more
It’s all over for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who briefly became the richest man in the world yesterday, before seeing his fortune take a dive after the company’s second quarter earnings missed expectations.
Today shares fell further, dropping four per cent to $1,005 on the opening bell in New York, pushing the company’s market capitalisation below $482bn, from a peak of over $500bn earlier this week.
Earnings published last night showed revenues rose 25 per cent to $38bn (£29.1bn) in the three months to June, ahead of analyst expectations.
But earnings per share fell to just 40 cents, way below analysts’ expectations of $1.42, while net income fell 77 per cent to $197m, from $857m.
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Analysts blamed Prime Video, Amazon’s Netflix rival.
The reason for the decline in profits was down to its investment in its Prime Video division as it takes on Netflix for new subscribers, as these two leave Apple behind in the TV and video content stakes.
“Investors need to be wise to the fact that adding subscriber numbers and market share requires new content and that costs money,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
“Between them Amazon and Netflix are spending over $10bn between them over the next year or so, which means they need to start pricing that in.”
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