Economics

Online Extra: Amazon Wants to Run Your Business

Always a big-spender, CEO Jeff Bezos talks about new ideas that will keep his web merchandising empire on the front page

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November 13, 2006 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has always been a controversial figure. His big-spending early on to expand Amazon (AMZN ) from an online bookshop to a Web department store backed by a massive distribution system led some analysts to predict its demise. Not only has Bezos' company—once derided as "Amazon.toast" and "Amazon.bomb," survived, it has been profitable for the past three years.

But no sooner had Amazon printed black ink than Bezos began spending anew on technology to expand Amazon's horizons even further. That has profits sagging. In 2006, thanks to a 52% jump in technology spending so far this year, Amazon is expected to earn only half the profits of last year, on $10.5 billion in sales.