Focus on cost improvement makes it possible for us to afford to lower prices, which drives growth. Growth spreads fixed costs across more sales, reducing cost per unit, which makes possible more price reductions. Customers like this, and it's good for shareholders. Please expect us to repeat this loop.
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When forced to choose between optimizing the appearance of our GAAP accounting and maximizing the present value of future cash flows, we'll take the cash flows.
Why focus on cash flows? Because a share of stock is a share of a company's future cash flows, and, as a result, cash flows more than any other single variable seem to do the best job of explaining a company's stock price over the long term.
Our consumer franchise is our most valuable asset, and we will nourish it with innovation and hard work.
There is more innovation ahead of us than behind us, we are close to demonstrating the operating leverage of our business model, and I get to work with this amazing team of Amazonians all over the world.
the long-term interests of shareholders are tightly linked to the interests of our customers: if we do our jobs right, today's customers will buy more tomorrow, we'll add more customers in the process, and it will all add up to more cash flow and more long-term value for our shareholders.
We're a company that wants to be weighed, and over time, we will be—over the long term, all companies are.
In the physical world, retailers will continue to use technology to reduce costs, but not to transform the customer experience.
Amazon.com today is a unique asset. We have the brand, the customer relationships, the technology, the fulfillment infrastructure, the financial strength, the people, and the determination to extend our leadership in this infant industry and to build an important and lasting company.
the current online shopping experience is the worst it will ever be.
We have a market-size unconstrained opportunity in an area where the underlying foundational technology we employ improves every day. That is not normal.
this remains Day 1 for e-commerce, and these are the early days of category formation where many customers are forming relationships for the first time.