President vs. Amazon: Amazon Loses $53B In Market Value After Trump Announcement

[Pavel + 384]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted Amazon.com Inc  with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to curb the mega retailer’s growing power using federal antitrust laws and led its shares to fall almost 5 percent. “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump said in a post on Twitter. Amazon founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, also privately owns the Washington Post, which won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its investigation of Trump’s donations to charities. The probe found that many of Trump’s philanthropic claims were exaggerated and often were not charitable donations......

[franco + 96]

This is not just Amazon, this could be linked with attack in free speech. Still, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah shot down the notion that Trump’s criticism was part of a personal grudge. And, what about other sites other than Amazon?  Many of analyst are thinking Walmart does way more damage than Amazon so I don't see why he would be going after this one company...

[Petar + 76]

Folks, it's time to buy Amazon stocks...

[pinto + 293]

Generally, it's not good that President's using his position for this kind of attack.. Wondering, how do we call this in countries like South America or Africa? 

[damirUSBiH + 327]

Let's see. Before this "twiter war", I have read: The federal government can fix the problem, but without wiping out Amazon. How about making Amazon and all other mail order retailers, collect and then disperse, state and local sales taxes based on where the customer lives? This removes a major price advantage that Amazon currently has. It restores lost tax revenue for our state and local governments, allowing them to invest in education and infrastructure, and create a better atmosphere to grow our economy and add more jobs." It works much simpler than this what we see. 

[jpZelabal + 63]

They do pay sales tax in states that charge it. And is there a problem with actually using the post office? And, didn't he just give them a big tax break? As I know, Amazon uses UPS and even if they did use the USPS wouldn’t that be a good thing? It’s not like they aren’t paid for the service.

[Stormysaga + 62]

On the other side,  Amazon is an expert in aggressive pricing,  growing on taking all from competing physical retailers. He made money by putting others out of business. 

[BlackTortoise + 103]

Didn't Trump just reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%? However, it seems to me that this has nothing to do with taxes. Just personal issue  between Bezos and Trump.

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by BlackTortoise

[Missy + 43]

32 minutes ago, BlackTortoise said:

Didn't Trump just reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%? However, it seems to me that this has nothing to do with taxes. Just personal issue  between Bezos and Trump.

 

Or... maybe just what it appears to be on the surface. Federal Antitrust Laws exist for a reason. 

[aspoerl + 28]

The FANG stocks have been increasingly vulnerable to regulation over the past few years. This is true in any industry where a handful of constituent stock become the overwhelming market leaders. It doesn't help the public perception when the bull case from Wall St falls along the lines of "Amazon is going to take over EVERYTHING! Retail, healthcare, banking. It's all going to be AMAZON'd!" or "Google is and always will be everything search and online advertising." (These aren't direct quotes, but the gist is spot on; you get the idea.)

With those kinds of friends and that kind of press, is it any wonder that Bezos has become more and more bold in using his Washington Post to attack politicians he doesn't agree with? Or that Zuckerberg and Google have become more brazen over the past few years with their internal business policies? Google started with the mantra of "Don't be evil." Zuckerberg, in his own words, repeatedly said in his early days that users information would never be sold or shared! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuHVZx4OwU As this cohort has been exalted to the status of gods in the business community, their hubris got the best of them. But as these companies overstep their bounds and raise public ire (see image below), like sharks to blood, politicians will smell a way to score quick and easy points with their constituents. Amazon will see some sort of anti-trust action taken against it, Facebook and Google will see their business models upended by new privacy laws and regulation, and Elon Musk will see his fortune evaporate and likely do jail time after a lengthy SEC investigation. And the investing public will be left questioning how they could have been fooled again so badly by Silicon Valley.

[kshithij Sharma + 78]

Jeff Bezos did run a lot of fake news about Trump and did misuse his companies. So, it is justice time

[pinto + 293]

1 hour ago, kshithij Sharma said:

Jeff Bezos did run a lot of fake news about Trump and did misuse his companies. So, it is justice time

 I know only one place for "Justice time": court. Fake news = lawsuit for libel. This is something else....

[Cokiga Damke + 53]

8 hours ago, Pavel said:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted Amazon.com Inc  with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to curb the mega retailer’s growing power using federal antitrust laws and led its shares to fall almost 5 percent. “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump said in a post on Twitter. Amazon founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, also privately owns the Washington Post, which won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its investigation of Trump’s donations to charities. The probe found that many of Trump’s philanthropic claims were exaggerated and often were not charitable donations......

And yet we are still waiting for Trump's tax returns. Maybe Amazon paid more

[Cokiga Damke + 53]

8 hours ago, Petar said:

Folks, it's time to buy Amazon stocks...

Amazon is not charging  for shipping because they are paying for it and they pay the post office to do it. Trump should try to send a package once on his own

[Meanwhile + 49]

He has never mailed a package in his life and has no basic understandings on how our systems work. Does he know how the taxes are being paid at all?

[Meanwhile + 49]

8 hours ago, Pavel said:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted Amazon.com Inc  with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to curb the mega retailer’s growing power using federal antitrust laws and led its shares to fall almost 5 percent. “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump said in a post on Twitter. Amazon founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, also privately owns the Washington Post, which won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its investigation of Trump’s donations to charities. The probe found that many of Trump’s philanthropic claims were exaggerated and often were not charitable donations......

As far as not paying sales tax, Amazon pays sales tax in every state that requires it for their own products ... it does not collect sales tax on 3rd party vendors, as that responsibility lies with them.

[Cokiga Damke + 53]

5 hours ago, kshithij Sharma said:

Jeff Bezos did run a lot of fake news about Trump and did misuse his companies. So, it is justice time

I think problem is that Bezos is richer than Trump

[Stephen + 67]

5 hours ago, aspoerl said:

The FANG stocks have been increasingly vulnerable to regulation over the past few years. This is true in any industry where a handful of constituent stock become the overwhelming market leaders. It doesn't help the public perception when the bull case from Wall St falls along the lines of "Amazon is going to take over EVERYTHING! Retail, healthcare, banking. It's all going to be AMAZON'd!" or "Google is and always will be everything search and online advertising." (These aren't direct quotes, but the gist is spot on; you get the idea.)

With those kinds of friends and that kind of press, is it any wonder that Bezos has become more and more bold in using his Washington Post to attack politicians he doesn't agree with? Or that Zuckerberg and Google have become more brazen over the past few years with their internal business policies? Google started with the mantra of "Don't be evil." Zuckerberg, in his own words, repeatedly said in his early days that users information would never be sold or shared! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuHVZx4OwU As this cohort has been exalted to the status of gods in the business community, their hubris got the best of them. But as these companies overstep their bounds and raise public ire (see image below), like sharks to blood, politicians will smell a way to score quick and easy points with their constituents. Amazon will see some sort of anti-trust action taken against it, Facebook and Google will see their business models upended by new privacy laws and regulation, and Elon Musk will see his fortune evaporate and likely do jail time after a lengthy SEC investigation. And the investing public will be left questioning how they could have been fooled again so badly by Silicon Valley.

The Post Office has already came out and said they make money on Amazon's deal the last time he raved about this.

[Cokiga Damke + 53]

8 hours ago, jpZelabal said:

They do pay sales tax in states that charge it. And is there a problem with actually using the post office? And, didn't he just give them a big tax break? As I know, Amazon uses UPS and even if they did use the USPS wouldn’t that be a good thing? It’s not like they aren’t paid for the service.

Walmart has done more to destroy small businesses than Amazon

[LAOIL + 33]

As far as not paying sales tax, Amazon pays sales tax in every state that requires it for their own products ... it does not collect sales tax on 3rd party vendors, as that responsibility lies with them.

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

If Trump's goal is to add sales tax to all 3P merchants, that just makes shopping more expensive for me, not Amazon.
 

[Selva + 252]

It would be nice if Trump base his statements on facts.  Amazon is paying taxes and the post office to deliver packages. He's right only about retailers closing stores. But stronger are pushing out weaker. Rough but that's how it works

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

I am a complete ignoramus in U.S. taxes but I suppose sales tax is not the same as federal income tax, right? Amazon didn't pay any of these last year, if we are to trust any media at all. Now, I know there are plenty of tax avoidance mechanisms but zero in federal income tax sounds a bit over the top.

I won't even mention the reports of employees working for minimum wages because they don't really have an alternative after Amazon drove competition out of the market. yeah, I know, there is ALWAYS choice but still.

[BeamMeUp + 11]

4 hours ago, Marina Schwarz said:

I am a complete ignoramus in U.S. taxes but I suppose sales tax is not the same as federal income tax, right? Amazon didn't pay any of these last year, if we are to trust any media at all. Now, I know there are plenty of tax avoidance mechanisms but zero in federal income tax sounds a bit over the top.

I won't even mention the reports of employees working for minimum wages because they don't really have an alternative after Amazon drove competition out of the market. yeah, I know, there is ALWAYS choice but still.

Correct--sales tax and fed tax are different. One is a tax on the goods you buy, and another is tax on the income you receive. Sales tax goes to the state (the state you buy the goods in) and fed tax goes to the federal government. (So yes, you are taxed when you get the money and when you spend it--YIKES). Retailers charge the sales tax when they sell an item, and then they forward it on to the state on a quarterly basis. The deal with Amazon is that they do not charge sales tax to its customers except for in certain circumstances (because they aren't in any state, so to speak)--so they neither collect it nor forward it on to the state gov. So while this means nothing for Amazon fiscally either way (it doesn't change how much they pay), it does mean that people often choose Amazon because buying from Amazon means they don't have to pay sales tax on top of the price of the goods. Other retailers consider this an unfair advantage. This is a classic example of regulation lagging behind tech. I think they have made some changes in this space, however, and Amazon does charge some sales tax now, but I don't know in what circumstances. I think only when the seller and the buyer are in the same state? Maybe someone else knows.

As for minimum wage employees... if you work in retail you're going to make minimum wage. The only retailers that do more than that are some upscale places that offer a commission along with the pay. But I think that's rare nowadays.

[Missy + 43]

3 minutes ago, BeamMeUp said:

As for minimum wage employees... if you work in retail you're going to make minimum wage. The only retailers that do more than that are some upscale places that offer a commission along with the pay. But I think that's rare nowadays.

Working retail requires no special skills (other than being kind). The pay is commensurate with the skill required. It requires no investment in a degree, no investment in training. And almost anyone can do it.