Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Sometimes, that leads to very logical extensions for people. When I got to Amazon 25 years ago, we were a books-only retailer. And when we expanded into music and video and electronics, that seemed pretty natural to people. Amazingly, people were very surprised we were expanding into tools. That seemed far field for people, but it turned out not to be. When we launch something like Buy with Prime, I think people see that as more predictable. That process has also led us to less predictable investments. And I remember, I had a front-row seat in the AWS experience, having worked with the team and led the team from the very start. And I remember both externally and internally, there were a number of people who wondered why we were doing that. It was so different from retail only.

But think about how different a company Amazon would be today if we hadn’t invested in AWS. And so that informs some of the other meaningful investments we’re making beyond our stores, in retail and advertising and AWS businesses. I think that while we’ve gone slower in some devices and things, we still — when we look at the answers to those 4 questions, we are very enthusiastic about our investments in streaming entertainment devices, our low Earth orbit satellite and Kuiper, health care and a few other things. And I think that do I think every one of our new investments will be successful? History would say that, that would be a long shot. However, it only takes one or two of them becoming the fourth pillar for Amazon for us to be a very different company over time.

So I think it’s very worthwhile. We’re going to continue to invest. We’re going to be very thoughtful about how we streamline our costs, and I think you see a lot of that, but we’re also going to continue to invest for the long term.

Dave Fildes: Thank you for joining us today on the call and for your questions. A replay will be available on our Investor Relations website for at least 3 months. We appreciate your interest in Amazon, and we look forward to talking with you again next quarter.