When a photographer recently directed Amazon.com (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos to close his mouth during a shoot, the grinning chief executive didn't miss a beat. "Now that I've heard many times!" he said, letting loose one of his famous room-filling laughs.
Bezos has heard worse, of course. For nearly half of Amazon's 13-year history, he's been in Wall Street's doghouse, largely because he's insisted on massive spending to build the capacity that supports new services. While many Web companies were roaring back to life between 2004 and 2006, Amazon's stock fell from more than 50 to as low as 26.
