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1、A N N U A LR E P O R T2022Dear shareholders:As I sit down to write my second annual shareholder letter as CEO,I find myself optimistic and energizedbywhatliesaheadforAmazon.Despite2022beingoneof thehardermacroeconomicyearsinrecentmemory,and with some of our own operating challenges to boot,we still

2、found a way to grow demand(on top ofthe unprecedented growth we experienced in the first half of the pandemic).We innovated in our largestbusinesses to meaningfully improve customer experience short and long term.And,we made importantadjustments in our investment decisions and the way in which we ll

3、 invent moving forward,while stillpreserving the long-term investments that we believe can change the future of Amazon for customers,shareholders,and employees.While there were an unusual number of simultaneous challenges this past year,the reality is that if youoperate in large,dynamic,global marke

4、t segments with many capable and well-funded competitors(theconditions in which Amazon operates all of its businesses),conditions rarely stay stagnant for long.In the 25 years I ve been at Amazon,there has been constant change,much of which we ve initiated ourselves.When I joined Amazon in 1997,we h

5、ad booked$15M in revenue in 1996,were a books-only retailer,didnothaveathird-partymarketplace,andonlyshippedtoaddressesintheUS.Today,Amazonsellsnearlyeveryphysical and digital retail item you can imagine,with a vibrant third-party seller ecosystem that accountsfor 60%of our unit sales,and reaches cu

6、stomers in virtually every country around the world.Similarly,building a business around a set of technology infrastructure services in the cloud was not obvious in 2003when we started pursuing AWS,and still wasn t when we launched our first services in 2006.Having virtuallyevery book at your finger

7、tips in 60 seconds,and then being able to store and retrieve them on a lightweightdigitalreaderwasnot“athing”yetwhenwelaunchedKindlein2007,norwasavoice-drivenpersonalassistantlike Alexa(launched in 2014)that you could use to access entertainment,control your smart home,shop,and retrieve all sorts of

8、 information.There have also been times when macroeconomic conditions or operating inefficiencies have presented uswith new challenges.For instance,in the 2001 dot-com crash,we had to secure letters of credit to buyinventory for the holidays,streamline costs to deliver better profitability for the b

9、usiness,yet still prioritizedthe long-term customer experience and business we were trying to build(if you remember,we actuallylowered prices in most of our categories during that tenuous 2001 period).You saw this sort of balancingagain in 2008-2009 as we endured the recession provoked by the mortga

10、ge-backed securities financial crisis.We took several actions to manage the cost structure and efficiency of our Stores business,but we alsobalanced this streamlining with investment in customer experiences that we believed could be substantialfuture businesses with strong returns for shareholders.I

11、n 2008,AWS was still a fairly small,fledgling business.We knew we were on to something,but it still required substantial capital investment.There were voicesinside and outside of the company questioning why Amazon(known mostly as an online retailer then)wouldbe investing so much in cloud computing.B

12、ut,we knew we were inventing something special that couldcreate a lot of value for customers and Amazon in the future.We had a head start on potential competitors;and if anything,we wanted to accelerate our pace of innovation.We made the long-term decision tocontinue investing in AWS.Fifteen years l

13、ater,AWS is now an$85B annual revenue run rate business,withstrong profitability,that has transformed how customers from start-ups to multinational companies to publicsector organizations manage their technology infrastructure.Amazon would be a different company ifwe d slowed investment in AWS durin

14、g that 2008-2009 period.Change is always around the corner.Sometimes,you proactively invite it in,and sometimes it just comesa-knocking.But,when you see it s coming,you have to embrace it.And,the companies that do this well overa long period of time usually succeed.I m optimistic about our future pr

15、ospects because I like the way ourteam is responding to the changes we see in front of us.Over the last several months,we took a deep look across the company,business by business,invention byinvention,and asked ourselves whether we had conviction about each initiative s long-term potential to drivee

16、nough revenue,operating income,free cash flow,and return on invested capital.In some cases,it led to usshuttering certain businesses.For instance,we stopped pursuing physical store concepts like our Bookstoresand 4 Star stores,closed our Amazon Fabric and Amazon Care efforts,and moved on from some n

17、ewerdevices where we didn t see a path to meaningful returns.In other cases,we looked at some programs thatweren t producing the returns we d hoped(e.g.free shipping for all online grocery orders over$35)andamended them.We also reprioritized where to spend our resources,which ultimately led to the h

18、ard decisionto eliminate 27,000 corporate roles.There are a number of other changes that we ve made over the lastseveral months to streamline our overall costs,and like most leadership teams,we ll continue to evaluatewhat we re seeing in our business and proceed adaptively.We also looked hard at how

19、 we were working together as a team and asked our corporate employees to comeback to the office at least three days a week,beginning in May.During the pandemic,our employees rallied toget work done from home and did everything possible to keep up with the unexpected circumstances thatpresented thems

20、elves.It was impressive and I m proud of the way our collective team came together toovercome unprecedented challenges for our customers,communities,and business.But,we don t think it s thebest long-term approach.We ve become convinced that collaborating and inventing is easier and moreeffective whe

21、n we re working together and learning from one another in person.The energy and riffing ononeanother sideashappenmorefreely,andmanyof thebestAmazoninventionshavehadtheirbreakthroughmoments from people staying behind after a meeting and working through ideas on a whiteboard,orcontinuing the conversat

22、ion on the walk back from a meeting,or just popping by a teammate s office laterthat day with another thought.Invention is often messy.It wanders and meanders and marinates.Serendipitous interactions help it,and there are more of those in-person than virtually.It s also significantlyeasier to learn,

23、model,practice,and strengthen our culture when we re in the office together most of thetime and surrounded by our colleagues.Innovation and our unique culture have been incredibly importantin our first 29 years as a company,and I expect it will be comparably so in the next 29.A critical challenge we

24、 ve continued to tackle is the rising cost to serve in our Stores fulfillment network(i.e.the cost to get a product from Amazon to a customer)and we ve made several changes that we believe willmeaningfully improve our fulfillment costs and speed of delivery.During the early part of the pandemic,with

25、 many physical stores shut down,our consumer business grewatanextraordinaryclip,withannualrevenueincreasingfrom$245Bin2019to$434Bin2022.Thismeantthatwe had to double the fulfillment center footprint that we d built over the prior 25 years and substantiallyaccelerate building a last-mile transportati

26、on network that s now the size of UPS(along with a new sortationcenter network to assist with efficiency and speed when items needed to traverse long distances)all in thespan of about two years.This was no easy feat,and hundreds of thousands of Amazonians worked very hardto make this happen.However,

27、not surprisingly,with that rate and scale of change,there was a lot ofoptimization needed to yield the intended productivity.Over the last several months,we ve scrutinized everyprocess path in our fulfillment centers and transportation network and redesigned scores of processes andmechanisms,resulti

28、ng in steady productivity gains and cost reductions over the last few quarters.There smore work to do,but we re pleased with our trajectory and the meaningful upside in front of us.We also took this occasion to make larger structural changes that set us up better to deliver lower costs andfaster spe

29、ed for many years to come.A good example was reevaluating how our US fulfillment network wasorganized.Until recently,Amazon operated one national US fulfillment network that distributed inventoryfrom fulfillment centers spread across the entire country.If a local fulfillment center didn t have the p

30、roduct acustomer ordered,we d end up shipping it from other parts of the country,costing us more and increasingdelivery times.This challenge became more pronounced as our fulfillment network expanded to hundreds ofadditional nodes over the last few years,distributing inventory across more locations

31、and increasing thecomplexity of connecting the fulfillment center and delivery station nodes efficiently.Last year,we startedrearchitecting our inventory placement strategy and leveraging our larger fulfillment center footprint to movefrom a national fulfillment network to a regionalized network mod

32、el.We made significant internal changes(e.g.placement and logistics software,processes,physical operations)to create eight interconnected regions insmaller geographic areas.Each of these regions has broad,relevant selection to operate in a largely self-sufficient way,while still being able to ship n

33、ationally when necessary.Some of the most meaningful and hardwork came from optimizing the connections between this large amount of infrastructure.We also continuetoimproveouradvancedmachinelearningalgorithmstobetterpredictwhatcustomersinvariouspartsof thecountry will need so that we have the right

34、inventory in the right regions at the right time.We ve recentlycompleted this regional roll out and like the early results.Shorter travel distances mean lower cost to serve,less impact on the environment,and customers getting their orders faster.On the latter,we re excited aboutseeing more next day

35、and same-day deliveries,and we re on track to have our fastest Prime delivery speedsever in 2023.Overall,we remain confident about our plans to lower costs,reduce delivery times,and build ameaningfully larger retail business with healthy operating margins.AWS has an$85B annualized revenue run rate,i

36、s still early in its adoption curve,but at a juncture where it scritical to stay focused on what matters most to customers over the long-haul.Despite growing 29%year-over-year(“YoY”)in 2022 on a$62B revenue base,AWS faces short-term headwinds right now as companiesare being more cautious in spending

37、 given the challenging,current macroeconomic conditions.While somecompanies might obsess over how they could extract as much money from customers as possible in these tighttimes,it s neither what customers want nor best for customers in the long term,so we re taking a differenttack.One of the many a

38、dvantages of AWS and cloud computing is that when your business grows,you canseamlessly scale up;and conversely,if your business contracts,you can choose to give us back that capacityand cease paying for it.This elasticity is unique to the cloud,and doesn t exist when you ve already madeexpensive ca

39、pital investments in your own on-premises datacenters,servers,and networking gear.In AWS,like all our businesses,we re not trying to optimize for any one quarter or year.We re trying to build customerrelationships(and a business)that outlast all of us;and as a result,our AWS sales and support teams

40、arespending much of their time helping customers optimize their AWS spend so they can better weather thisuncertain economy.Many of these AWS customers tell us that they re not cost-cutting as much as cost-optimizing so they can take their resources and apply them to emerging and inventive new custom

41、erexperiences they re planning.Customers have appreciated this customer-focused,long-term approach,andwe think it ll bode well for both customers and AWS.While these short-term headwinds soften our growth rate,we like a lot of the fundamentals that we re seeingin AWS.Our new customer pipeline is rob

42、ust,as are our active migrations.Many companies usediscontinuous periods like this to step back and determine what they strategically want to change,and wefind an increasing number of enterprises opting out of managing their own infrastructure,and preferring tomove to AWS to enjoy the agility,innova

43、tion,cost-efficiency,and security benefits.And most importantlyforcustomers,AWScontinuestodelivernewcapabilitiesrapidly(over3,300newfeaturesandserviceslaunchedin 2022),and invest in long-term inventions that change what s possible.Chip development is a good example.In last year s letter,I mentioned

44、the investment we were making in ourgeneral-purpose CPU processors named Graviton.Graviton2-based compute instances deliver up to 40%betterprice-performancethanthecomparablelatestgenerationx86-basedinstances;andin2022,wedeliveredour Graviton3 chips,providing 25%better performance than the Graviton2

45、processors.Further,as machinelearning adoption has continued to accelerate,customers have yearned for lower-cost GPUs(the chipsmost commonly used for machine learning).AWS started investing years ago in these specialized chips formachine learning training and inference(inferences are the predictions

46、 or answers that a machine learningmodel provides).We delivered our first training chip in 2022(“Trainium”);and for the most commonmachine learning models,Trainium-based instances are up to 140%faster than GPU-based instances at upto 70%lower cost.Most companies are still in the training stage,but a

47、s they develop models that graduate tolarge-scale production,they ll find that most of the cost is in inference because models are trainedperiodically whereas inferences are happening all the time as their associated application is being exercised.Welaunchedourfirstinferencechips(“Inferentia”)in2019

48、,andtheyhavesavedcompanieslikeAmazonovera hundred million dollars in capital expense already.Our Inferentia2 chip,which just launched,offers upto four times higher throughput and ten times lower latency than our first Inferentia processor.With theenormous upcoming growth in machine learning,customer

49、s will be able to get a lot more done with AWS straining and inference chips at a significantly lower cost.We re not close to being done innovating here,and this long-term investment should prove fruitful for both customers and AWS.AWS is still in the earlystages of its evolution,and has a chance fo

50、r unusual growth in the next decade.Similarly high potential,Amazon s Advertising business is uniquely effective for brands,which is part of why itcontinues to grow at a brisk clip.Akin to physical retailersadvertising businesses selling shelf space,end-caps,and placement in their circulars,our spon

51、sored products and brands offerings have been an integral partof the Amazon shopping experience for more than a decade.However,unlike physical retailers,Amazoncan tailor these sponsored products to be relevant to what customers are searching for given what we knowabout shopping behaviors and our ver

52、y deep investment in machine learning algorithms.This leads toadvertising that s more useful for customers;and as a result,performs better for brands.This is part of whyour Advertising revenue has continued to grow rapidly(23%YoY in Q4 2022,25%YoY overall for 2022on a$31B revenue base),even as most

53、large advertising-focused businessesgrowth have slowed over the lastseveral quarters.We strive to be the best place for advertisers to build their brands.We have near and long-term opportunitiesthat will help us achieve that mission.We re continuing to make large investments in machine learning toke

54、ep honing our advertising selection algorithms.For the past couple of years,we ve invested in buildingcomprehensive,flexible,and durable planning and measurement solutions,giving marketers greater insightinto advertising effectiveness.An example is Amazon Marketing Cloud(“AMC”).AMC is a“clean room”(

55、i.e.secure digital environment)in which advertisers can run custom audience and campaign analyticsacross a range of first and third-party inputs,in a privacy-safe manner,to generate advertising and businessinsights to inform their broader marketing and sales strategies.The Advertising and AWS teams

56、havecollaborated to enable companies to store their data in AWS,operate securely in AMC with Amazon andother third-party data sources,perform analytics in AWS,and have the option to activate advertising onAmazon or third-party publishers through the Amazon Demand-Side Platform.Customers really like

57、thisconcerted capability.We also see future opportunity to thoughtfully integrate advertising into our video,live sports,audio,and grocery products.We ll continue to work hard to help brands uniquely engage withthe right audience,and grow this part of our business.While it s tempting in turbulent ti

58、mes only to focus on your existing large businesses,to build a sustainable,long-lasting,growing company that helps customers across a large number of dimensions,you can t stopinventing and working on long-term customer experiences that can meaningfully impact customers andyour company.When we look a

59、t new investment opportunities,we ask ourselves a few questions:If we were successful,could it be big and have a reasonable return on invested capital?Is the opportunity being well-served today?Do we have a differentiated approach?And,do we have competence in that area?And if not,can we acquire it q

60、uickly?If we like the answers to those questions,then we ll invest.This process has led to some expansions thatseem straightforward,and others that some folks might not have initially guessed.The earliest example is when we chose to expand from just selling Books,to adding categories like Music,Vide

61、o,Electronics,and Toys.Back then(1998-1999),it wasn t universally applauded,but in retrospect,itseems fairly obvious.The same could be said for our international Stores expansion.In 2022,our international consumer segmentdrove$118B of revenue.In our larger,established international consumer business

62、es,we re big enough tobe impacted by the slowing macroeconomic conditions;however,the growth in 2019-2021 on a large base wasremarkable30%compound annual growth rate(“CAGR”)in the UK,26%in Germany,and 21%inJapan(excluding the impact of FX).Over the past several years,we ve invested in new internatio

63、nalgeographies,including India,Brazil,Mexico,Australia,various European countries,the Middle East,andparts of Africa.These new countries take a certain amount of fixed investment to get started and to scale,butwe like the trajectory they re on,and their growth patterns resemble what we ve seen in No

64、rth Americaand our established international geographies.Emerging countries sometimes lack some of the infrastructureand services that our business relies on(e.g.payment methods,transportation services,and internet/telecom infrastructure).To solve these challenges,we continue to work with various pa

65、rtners to deliversolutionsforcustomers.Ultimately,webelievethatthisinvestmentinservingabroadergeographicalfootprintwill allow us to help more customers across the world,as well as build a larger free cash flow-generatingconsumer business.Beyond geographic expansion,we ve been working to expand our c

66、ustomer offerings across some large,unique product retail market segments.Grocery is an$800B market segment in the US alone,with the averagehousehold shopping three to four times per week.Amazon has built a somewhat unusual,but significantgrocery business over nearly 20 years.Similar to how other ma

67、ss merchants entered the grocery space in the1980s,we began by adding products typically found in supermarket aisles that don t require temperaturecontrol such as paper products,canned and boxed food,candy and snacks,pet care,health and personal care,and beauty.However,we offer more than three milli

68、on items compared to a typical supermarket s 30K forthe same categories.To date,we ve also focused on larger pack sizes,given the current cost to serve onlinedelivery.While we re pleased with the size and growth of our grocery business,we aspire to serve more ofourcustomersgroceryneedsthanwedotoday.

69、Todoso,weneedabroaderphysicalstorefootprintgiventhatmost of the grocery shopping still happens in physical venues.Whole Foods Market pioneered the naturalandorganicspecialtygrocerystoreconcept40yearsago.Today,it salargeandgrowingbusinessthatcontinuesto raise the bar for healthy and sustainable food.

70、Over the past year,we ve continued to invest in thebusiness while also making changes to drive better profitability.Whole Foods is on an encouraging path,but to have a larger impact on physical grocery,we must find a mass grocery format that we believe is worthexpanding broadly.Amazon Fresh is the b

71、rand we ve been experimenting with for a few years,and we reworking hard to identify and build the right mass grocery format for Amazon scale.Grocery is a big growthopportunity for Amazon.Amazon Business is another example of an investment where our ecommerce and logistics capabilitiesposition us we

72、ll to pursue this large market segment.Amazon Business allows businesses,municipalities,and organizations to procure products like office supplies and other bulk items easily and at great savings.While some areas of the economy have struggled over the past few years,Amazon Business has thrived.Why?B

73、ecause the team has translated what it means to deliver selection,value,and convenience into a businessprocurement setting,constantly listening to and learning from customers,and innovating on their behalf.Some people have never heard of Amazon Business,but,our business customers love it.Amazon Busi

74、nesslaunched in 2015 and today drives roughly$35B in annualized gross sales.More than six million activecustomers,including 96 of the global Fortune 100 companies,are enjoying Amazon Businessone-stopshopping,real-time analytics,and broad selection on hundreds of millions of business supplies.We beli

75、evethat we ve only scratched the surface of what s possible to date,and plan to keep building the features ourbusiness customers tell us they need and want.While many brands and merchants successfully sell their products on Amazon s marketplace,there are alsoa large number of brands and sellers who

76、have launched their own direct-to-consumer websites.One of thechallenges for these merchants is driving conversion from views to purchases.We invented Buy with Primeto help with this challenge.Buy with Prime allows third-party brands and sellers to offer their products ontheirownwebsitestoourlargeAm

77、azonPrimemembership,andofferthosecustomersfast,freePrimeshippingand seamless checkout with their Amazon account.Buy with Prime provides merchants several additionalbenefits,including Amazon handling the product storage,picking,packing,delivery,payment,and anyreturns,all through Amazon Pay and Fulfil

78、lment by Amazon.Buy with Prime has recently been madeavailable to all US merchants;and so far,Buy with Prime has increased shopper conversion on third-partyshopping sites by 25%on average.Merchants are excited about converting more sales and fulfilling theseshipments more easily,Prime members love t

79、hat they can use their Prime benefits on more destinations,and Buy with Prime allows us to improve the shopping experience across more of the web.Expanding internationally,pursuing large retail market segments that are still nascent for Amazon,andusing our unique assets to help merchants sell more e

80、ffectively on their own websites are somewhat naturalextensions for us.There are also a few investments we re making that are further from our core businesses,butwhere we see unique opportunity.In 2003,AWS would have been a classic example.In 2023,AmazonHealthcare and Kuiper are potential analogues.

81、Our initial efforts in Healthcare began with pharmacy,which felt less like a major departure from ecommerce.For years,Amazon customers had asked us when we d offer them an online pharmacy as their frustrationsmounted with current providers.Launched in 2020,Amazon Pharmacy is a full-service,online ph

82、armacy thatoffers transparent pricing,easy refills,and savings for Prime members.The business is growing quickly,and continues to innovate.An example is Amazon Pharmacy s recent launch of RxPass,which for a$5 permonth flat fee,enables Prime members to get as many of the eligible prescription medicat

83、ions as they needfor dozens of common conditions,like high blood pressure,acid reflux,and anxiety.However,our customershave continued to express a strong desire for Amazon to provide a better alternative to the inefficient andunsatisfying broader healthcare experience.We decided to start with primar

84、y care as it s a prevalent first stopin the patient journey.We evaluated and studied the existing landscape extensively,including some earlyAmazon experiments like Amazon Care.During this process,we identified One Medical s patient-focusedexperienceasanexcellentfoundationuponwhichtobuildourfuturebus

85、iness;andinJuly2022,weannouncedour acquisition of One Medical.There are several elements that customers love about One Medical.It hasa fantastic digital app that makes it easy for patients to discuss issues with a medical practitioner via chat orvideo conference.If a physical visit is required,One M

86、edical has offices in cities across the US wherepatients can book same or next day appointments.One Medical has relationships with specialty physiciansin each of its cities and works closely with local hospital systems to make seeing specialists easy,so OneMedical members can quickly access these re

87、sources when needed.Going forward,we strongly believethat One Medical and Amazon will continue to innovate together to change what primary care will look likefor customers.Kuiper is another example of Amazon innovating for customers over the long term in an area where there shighcustomerneed.Ourvisi

88、onforKuiperistocreatealow-Earthorbitsatellitesystemtodeliverhigh-qualitybroadband internet service to places around the world that don t currently have it.There are hundreds ofmillions of households and businesses who don t have reliable access to the internet.Imagine what they ll beable to do with

89、reliable connectivity,from people taking online education courses,using financial services,starting their own businesses,doing their shopping,enjoying entertainment,to businesses and governmentsimproving their coverage,efficiency,and operations.Kuiper will deliver not only accessibility,butaffordabi

90、lity.Our teams have developed low-cost antennas(i.e.customer terminals)that will lower thebarriers to access.We recently unveiled the new terminals that will communicate with the satellites passingoverhead,andweexpecttobeabletoproduceourstandardresidentialversionforlessthan$400each.They resmall:11 i

91、nches square,1 inch thick,and weigh less than 5 pounds without their mounting bracket,butthey deliver speeds up to 400 megabits per second.And they re powered by Amazon-designed baseband chips.We re preparing to launch two prototype satellites to test the entire end-to-end communications networkthis

92、 year,and plan to be in beta with commercial customers in 2024.The customer reaction to what we veshared thus far about Kuiper has been very positive,and we believe Kuiper represents a very large potentialopportunity for Amazon.It also shares several similarities to AWS in that it s capital intensiv

93、e at the start,but has a large prospective consumer,enterprise,and government customer base,significant revenue andoperating profit potential,and relatively few companies with the technical and inventive aptitude,as well asthe investment hypothesis to go after it.One final investment area that I ll

94、mention,that s core to setting Amazon up to invent in every area of ourbusiness for many decades to come,and where we re investing heavily is Large Language Models(“LLMs”)and Generative AI.Machine learning has been a technology with high promise for several decades,but it sonly been the last five to

95、 ten years that it s started to be used more pervasively by companies.This shift wasdrivenbyseveralfactors,includingaccesstohighervolumesof computecapacityatlowerpricesthanwaseveravailable.Amazon has been using machine learning extensively for 25 years,employing it in everythingfrom personalized eco

96、mmerce recommendations,to fulfillment center pick paths,to drones for Prime Air,to Alexa,to the many machine learning services AWS offers(where AWS has the broadest machine learningfunctionality and customer base of any cloud provider).More recently,a newer form of machine learning,called Generative

97、 AI,has burst onto the scene and promises to significantly accelerate machine learningadoption.Generative AI is based on very Large Language Models(trained on up to hundreds of billionsof parameters,and growing),across expansive datasets,and has radically general and broad recall andlearning capabil

98、ities.We have been working on our own LLMs for a while now,believe it will transform andimprove virtually every customer experience,and will continue to invest substantially in these modelsacross all of our consumer,seller,brand,and creator experiences.Additionally,as we ve done for years inAWS,we r

99、e democratizing this technology so companies of all sizes can leverage Generative AI.AWS isoffering the most price-performant machine learning chips in Trainium and Inferentia so small and largecompanies can afford to train and run their LLMs in production.We enable companies to choose fromvarious L

100、LMs and build applications with all of the AWS security,privacy and other features that customersareaccustomedtousing.And,we redeliveringapplicationslikeAWS sCodeWhisperer,whichrevolutionizesdeveloper productivity by generating code suggestions in real time.I could write an entire letter on LLMsand

101、Generative AI as I think they will be that transformative,but I ll leave that for a future letter.Let s justsay that LLMs and Generative AI are going to be a big deal for customers,our shareholders,and Amazon.So,in closing,I m optimistic that we ll emerge from this challenging macroeconomic time in

102、a strongerposition than when we entered it.There are several reasons for it and I ve mentioned many of them above.But,there are two relatively simple statistics that underline our immense future opportunity.While we have aconsumer business that s$434B in 2022,the vast majority of total market segmen

103、t share in global retailstill resides in physical stores(roughly 80%).And,it s a similar story for Global IT spending,where we haveAWS revenue of$80B in 2022,with about 90%of Global IT spending still on-premises and yet to migratetothecloud.Astheseequationssteadilyflipaswe realreadyseeinghappenwebel

104、ieveourleadingcustomerexperiences,relentless invention,customer focus,and hard work will result in significant growth in thecoming years.And,of course,this doesn t include the other businesses and experiences we re pursuing atAmazon,all of which are still in their early days.I strongly believe that

105、our best days are in front of us,and I look forward to working with my teammates atAmazon to make it so.Sincerely,Andy JassyPresident and Chief Executive OfficerA,Inc.P.S.As we have always done,our original 1997 Shareholder Letter follows.What s written there is as truetoday as it was in 1997.1997 L

106、ETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS(Reprinted from the 1997 Annual Report)To our shareholders:A passed many milestones in 1997:by year-end,we had served more than 1.5 million customers,yielding 838%revenue growth to$147.8 million,and extended our market leadership despite aggressivecompetitive entry.But this is D

107、ay 1 for the Internet and,if we execute well,for A.Today,online commerce savescustomers money and precious time.Tomorrow,through personalization,online commerce will accelerate thevery process of discovery.A uses the Internet to create real value for its customers and,by doing so,hopes to create an

108、enduring franchise,even in established and large markets.We have a window of opportunity as larger players marshal the resources to pursue the online opportunityand as customers,new to purchasing online,are receptive to forming new relationships.The competitivelandscape has continued to evolve at a

109、fast pace.Many large players have moved online with credible offeringsand have devoted substantial energy and resources to building awareness,traffic,and sales.Our goal is to movequickly to solidify and extend our current position while we begin to pursue the online commerce opportunitiesin other ar

110、eas.We see substantial opportunity in the large markets we are targeting.This strategy is not withoutrisk:it requires serious investment and crisp execution against established franchise leaders.Its All About the Long TermWe believe that a fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder v

111、alue we create over the longterm.This value will be a direct result of our ability to extend and solidify our current market leadership position.The stronger our market leadership,the more powerful our economic model.Market leadership can translatedirectly to higher revenue,higher profitability,grea

112、ter capital velocity,and correspondingly stronger returns oninvested capital.Our decisions have consistently reflected this focus.We first measure ourselves in terms of the metrics mostindicative of our market leadership:customer and revenue growth,the degree to which our customers continue topurcha

113、se from us on a repeat basis,and the strength of our brand.We have invested and will continue to investaggressively to expand and leverage our customer base,brand,and infrastructure as we move to establish anenduring franchise.Because of our emphasis on the long term,we may make decisions and weigh

114、tradeoffs differently thansome companies.Accordingly,we want to share with you our fundamental management and decision-makingapproach so that you,our shareholders,may confirm that it is consistent with your investment philosophy:We will continue to focus relentlessly on our customers.We will continu

115、e to make investment decisions in light of long-term market leadership considerationsrather than short-term profitability considerations or short-term Wall Street reactions.We will continue to measure our programs and the effectiveness of our investments analytically,tojettison those that do not pro

116、vide acceptable returns,and to step up our investment in those that workbest.We will continue to learn from both our successes and our failures.We will make bold rather than timid investment decisions where we see a sufficient probability ofgaining market leadership advantages.Some of these investme

117、nts will pay off,others will not,and wewill have learned another valuable lesson in either case.When forced to choose between optimizing the appearance of our GAAP accounting and maximizingthe present value of future cash flows,we ll take the cash flows.We will share our strategic thought processes

118、with you when we make bold choices(to the extentcompetitive pressures allow),so that you may evaluate for yourselves whether we are making rationallong-term leadership investments.We will work hard to spend wisely and maintain our lean culture.We understand the importance ofcontinually reinforcing a

119、 cost-conscious culture,particularly in a business incurring net losses.We will balance our focus on growth with emphasis on long-term profitability and capital management.At this stage,we choose to prioritize growth because we believe that scale is central to achieving thepotential of our business

120、model.We will continue to focus on hiring and retaining versatile and talented employees,and continue toweight their compensation to stock options rather than cash.We know our success will be largelyaffected by our ability to attract and retain a motivated employee base,each of whom must think like,

121、and therefore must actually be,an owner.We aren t so bold as to claim that the above is the“right”investment philosophy,but it s ours,and wewould be remiss if we weren t clear in the approach we have taken and will continue to take.With this foundation,we would like to turn to a review of our busine

122、ss focus,our progress in 1997,and ouroutlook for the future.Obsess Over CustomersFrom the beginning,our focus has been on offering our customers compelling value.We realized that theWeb was,and still is,the World Wide Wait.Therefore,we set out to offer customers something they simplycould not get an

123、y other way,and began serving them with books.We brought them much more selection thanwas possible in a physical store(our store would now occupy 6 football fields),and presented it in a useful,easy-to-search,and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year,24 hours a day.We maintained a do

124、ggedfocus on improving the shopping experience,and in 1997 substantially enhanced our store.We now offercustomers gift certificates,1-ClickSMshopping,and vastly more reviews,content,browsing options,andrecommendation features.We dramatically lowered prices,further increasing customer value.Word of m

125、outhremains the most powerful customer acquisition tool we have,and we are grateful for the trust our customershave placed in us.Repeat purchases and word of mouth have combined to make A the market leaderin online bookselling.By many measures,A came a long way in 1997:Sales grew from$15.7 million i

126、n 1996 to$147.8 million an 838%increase.Cumulative customer accounts grew from 180,000 to 1,510,000 a 738%increase.The percentage of orders from repeat customers grew from over 46%in the fourth quarter of 1996 toover 58%in the same period in 1997.In terms of audience reach,per Media Metrix,our Web s

127、ite went from a rank of 90th to within thetop 20.We established long-term relationships with many important strategic partners,including AmericaOnline,Yahoo!,Excite,Netscape,GeoCities,AltaVista,Home,and Prodigy.InfrastructureDuring 1997,we worked hard to expand our business infrastructure to support

128、 these greatly increasedtraffic,sales,and service levels:A s employee base grew from 158 to 614,and we significantly strengthened ourmanagement team.Distribution center capacity grew from 50,000 to 285,000 square feet,including a 70%expansion of ourSeattle facilities and the launch of our second dis

129、tribution center in Delaware in November.Inventories rose to over 200,000 titles at year-end,enabling us to improve availability for our customers.Our cash and investment balances at year-end were$125 million,thanks to our initial public offering inMay 1997 and our$75 million loan,affording us subst

130、antial strategic flexibility.Our EmployeesThe past year s success is the product of a talented,smart,hard-working group,and I take great pride inbeing a part of this team.Setting the bar high in our approach to hiring has been,and will continue to be,thesingle most important element of A s success.I

131、t s not easy to work here(when I interview people I tell them,“You can work long,hard,or smart,but atA you can t choose two out of three”),but we are working to build something important,somethingthat matters to our customers,something that we can all tell our grandchildren about.Such things aren t

132、meant tobe easy.We are incredibly fortunate to have this group of dedicated employees whose sacrifices and passionbuild A.Goals for 1998We are still in the early stages of learning how to bring new value to our customers through Internetcommerce and merchandising.Our goal remains to continue to soli

133、dify and extend our brand and customer base.This requires sustained investment in systems and infrastructure to support outstanding customer convenience,selection,and service while we grow.We are planning to add music to our product offering,and over time webelieve that other products may be prudent

134、 investments.We also believe there are significant opportunities tobetter serve our customers overseas,such as reducing delivery times and better tailoring the customer experience.To be certain,a big part of the challenge for us will lie not in finding new ways to expand our business,but inprioritiz

135、ing our investments.We now know vastly more about online commerce than when A was founded,but we still haveso much to learn.Though we are optimistic,we must remain vigilant and maintain a sense of urgency.Thechallenges and hurdles we will face to make our long-term vision for A a reality are several

136、:aggressive,capable,well-funded competition;considerable growth challenges and execution risk;the risks ofproduct and geographic expansion;and the need for large continuing investments to meet an expanding marketopportunity.However,as we ve long said,online bookselling,and online commerce in general

137、,should prove tobe a very large market,and it s likely that a number of companies will see significant benefit.We feel good aboutwhat we ve done,and even more excited about what we want to do.1997 was indeed an incredible year.We at A are grateful to our customers for their business andtrust,to each

138、 other for our hard work,and to our shareholders for their support and encouragement.Jeffrey P.BezosFounder and Chief Executive OfficerA,Inc.UNITED STATESSECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSIONWashington,D.C.20549 _FORM 10-K _(Mark One)ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)OF THE SECURITIES EXCHAN

139、GE ACT OF 1934For the fiscal year ended December 31,2022 orTRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934For the transition period from to .Commission File No.000-22513 _AMAZON.COM,INC.(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)Delaware 91-1646860(

140、State or other jurisdiction ofincorporation or organization)(I.R.S.EmployerIdentification No.)410 Terry Avenue North Seattle,Washington 98109-5210(206)266-1000(Address and telephone number,including area code,of registrants principal executive offices)Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b)o

141、f the Act:Title of Each ClassTrading Symbol(s)Name of Each Exchange on Which RegisteredCommon Stock,par value$.01 per shareAMZNNasdaq Global Select MarketSecurities registered pursuant to Section 12(g)of the Act:None _Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer,as define

142、d in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.Yes No Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)of the Exchange Act.Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant(1)has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d)of th

143、e Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months(or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports),and(2)has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically

144、 every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months(or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer,an accelerat

145、ed filer,a non-accelerated filer,a smaller reporting company,or an emerging growth company.See the definitions of“large accelerated filer,”“accelerated filer,”“smaller reporting company,”and“emerging growth company”in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.Large accelerated filerAccelerated filerNon-acceler

146、ated filerSmaller reporting companyEmerging growth companyIf an emerging growth company,indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a)of the Exchang

147、e Act.Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its managements assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b)of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act(15 U.S.C.7262(b)by the registered public accounting firm that pr

148、epared or issued its audit report.Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company(as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).Yes No Aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30,2022$944,744,113,598 Number of shares of common stock

149、outstanding as of January 25,2023 10,247,259,757 _ DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCEThe information required by Part III of this Report,to the extent not set forth herein,is incorporated herein by reference from the registrants definitive proxy statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Sharehold

150、ers to be held in 2023,which definitive proxy statement shall be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year to which this Report relates.AMAZON.COM,INC.FORM 10-KFor the Fiscal Year Ended December 31,2022 INDEX PagePART IItem 1.Business3Item 1A.

151、Risk Factors6Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments16Item 2.Properties17Item 3.Legal Proceedings17Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures17PART IIItem 5.Market for the Registrants Common Stock,Related Shareholder Matters,and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities18Item 6.Reserved18Item 7.Managements Discussion and

152、 Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations19Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk31Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data33Item 9.Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure69Item 9A.Controls and Proced

153、ures69Item 9B.Other Information71Item 9C.Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections71PART IIIItem 10.Directors,Executive Officers,and Corporate Governance71Item 11.Executive Compensation71Item 12.Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shar

154、eholder Matters71Item 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions,and Director Independence71Item 14.Principal Accountant Fees and Services71PART IVItem 15.Exhibits,Financial Statement Schedules72Item 16.Form 10-K Summary74Signatures752AMAZON.COM,INC.PART IItem 1.BusinessThis Annual Report on

155、Form 10-K and the documents incorporated herein by reference contain forward-looking statements based on expectations,estimates,and projections as of the date of this filing.Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements.See Item 1A of Part I “Ri

156、sk Factors.”As used herein,“A,”“we,”“our,”and similar terms include A,Inc.and its subsidiaries,unless the context indicates otherwise.GeneralWe seek to be Earths most customer-centric company.We are guided by four principles:customer obsession rather than competitor focus,passion for invention,commi

157、tment to operational excellence,and long-term thinking.In each of our segments,we serve our primary customer sets,consisting of consumers,sellers,developers,enterprises,content creators,advertisers,and employees.We have organized our operations into three segments:North America,International,and Ama

158、zon Web Services(“AWS”).These segments reflect the way the Company evaluates its business performance and manages its operations.Information on our net sales is contained in Item 8 of Part II,“Financial Statements and Supplementary Data Note 10 Segment Information.”ConsumersWe serve consumers throug

159、h our online and physical stores and focus on selection,price,and convenience.We design our stores to enable hundreds of millions of unique products to be sold by us and by third parties across dozens of product categories.Customers access our offerings through our websites,mobile apps,Alexa,devices

160、,streaming,and physically visiting our stores.We also manufacture and sell electronic devices,including Kindle,Fire tablet,Fire TV,Echo,Ring,Blink,and eero,and we develop and produce media content.We seek to offer our customers low prices,fast and free delivery,easy-to-use functionality,and timely c

161、ustomer service.In addition,we offer subscription services such as Amazon Prime,a membership program that includes fast,free shipping on millions of items,access to award-winning movies and series,and other benefits.We fulfill customer orders in a number of ways,including through:North America and I

162、nternational fulfillment networks that we operate;co-sourced and outsourced arrangements in certain countries;digital delivery;and through our physical stores.We operate customer service centers globally,which are supplemented by co-sourced arrangements.See Item 2 of Part I,“Properties.”SellersWe of

163、fer programs that enable sellers to grow their businesses,sell their products in our stores,and fulfill orders through us.We are not the seller of record in these transactions.We earn fixed fees,a percentage of sales,per-unit activity fees,interest,or some combination thereof,for our seller programs

164、.Developers and EnterprisesWe serve developers and enterprises of all sizes,including start-ups,government agencies,and academic institutions,through AWS,which offers a broad set of on-demand technology services,including compute,storage,database,analytics,and machine learning,and other services.Con

165、tent CreatorsWe offer programs that allow authors,independent publishers,musicians,filmmakers,Twitch streamers,skill and app developers,and others to publish and sell content.AdvertisersWe provide advertising services to sellers,vendors,publishers,authors,and others,through programs such as sponsore

166、d ads,display,and video advertising.3CompetitionOur businesses encompass a large variety of product types,service offerings,and delivery channels.The worldwide marketplace in which we compete is evolving rapidly and intensely competitive,and we face a broad array of competitors from many different i

167、ndustry sectors around the world.Our current and potential competitors include:(1)physical,e-commerce,and omnichannel retailers,publishers,vendors,distributors,manufacturers,and producers of the products we offer and sell to consumers and businesses;(2)publishers,producers,and distributors of physic

168、al,digital,and interactive media of all types and all distribution channels;(3)web search engines,comparison shopping websites,social networks,web portals,and other online and app-based means of discovering,using,or acquiring goods and services,either directly or in collaboration with other retailer

169、s;(4)companies that provide e-commerce services,including website development and hosting,omnichannel sales,inventory and supply chain management,advertising,fulfillment,customer service,and payment processing;(5)companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services for themselves or for third p

170、arties,whether online or offline;(6)companies that provide information technology services or products,including on-premises or cloud-based infrastructure and other services;(7)companies that design,manufacture,market,or sell consumer electronics,telecommunication,and electronic devices;(8)companies

171、 that sell grocery products online and in physical stores;and(9)companies that provide advertising services,whether in digital or other formats.We believe that the principal competitive factors in our retail businesses include selection,price,and convenience,including fast and reliable fulfillment.A

172、dditional competitive factors for our seller and enterprise services include the quality,speed,and reliability of our services and tools,as well as customers ability and willingness to change business practices.Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources,longer histories,mor

173、e customers,greater brand recognition,and greater control over inputs critical to our various businesses.They may secure better terms from suppliers,adopt more aggressive pricing,pursue restrictive distribution agreements that restrict our access to supply,direct consumers to their own offerings ins

174、tead of ours,lock-in potential customers with restrictive terms,and devote more resources to technology,infrastructure,fulfillment,and marketing.The Internet facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping,which enhances the ability of new,smaller,or lesser-known businesses to compete against

175、us.Each of our businesses is also subject to rapid change and the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors.Other companies also may enter into business combinations or alliances that strengthen their competitive positions.Intellectual PropertyWe regard our

176、trademarks,service marks,copyrights,patents,domain names,trade dress,trade secrets,proprietary technologies,and similar intellectual property as critical to our success,and we rely on trademark,copyright,and patent law,trade-secret protection,and confidentiality and/or license agreements with our em

177、ployees,customers,partners,and others to protect our proprietary rights.We have registered,or applied for the registration of,a number of U.S.and international domain names,trademarks,service marks,and copyrights.Additionally,we have filed U.S.and international patent applications covering certain o

178、f our proprietary technology.SeasonalityOur business is affected by seasonality,which historically has resulted in higher sales volume during our fourth quarter,which ends December 31.Human CapitalOur employees are critical to our mission of being Earths most customer-centric company.As of December

179、31,2022,we employed approximately 1,541,000 full-time and part-time employees.Additionally,we use independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement our workforce.Competition for qualified personnel is intense,particularly for software engineers,computer scientists,and other technical sta

180、ff,and constrained labor markets have increased competition for personnel across other parts of our business.As we strive to be Earths best employer,we focus on investment and innovation,inclusion and diversity,safety,and engagement to hire and develop the best talent.We rely on numerous and evolvin

181、g initiatives to implement these objectives and invent mechanisms for talent development,including competitive pay and benefits,flexible work arrangements,and skills training and educational programs such as Amazon Career Choice(funded education for hourly employees)and the Amazon Technical Academy(

182、software development engineer training).Over 100,000 Amazon employees around the world have participated in Career Choice.We also continue to inspect and refine the mechanisms we use to hire,develop,evaluate,and retain our employees to promote equity for all candidates and employees.In addition,safe

183、ty is integral to everything we do at Amazon and we continue to invest in safety improvements such as capital improvements,new safety technology,vehicle safety controls,and engineering ergonomic solutions.Our safety team is dedicated to using the science of safety to solve complex problems and estab

184、lish new industry best practices.We also provide mentorship and support resources to our employees,and have deployed numerous programs that advance employee engagement,communication,and feedback.4Available InformationOur investor relations website is and we encourage investors to use it as a way of

185、easily finding information about us.We promptly make available on this website,free of charge,the reports that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission(“SEC”),corporate governance information(including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics),and select press releases.Executive

186、 Officers and DirectorsThe following tables set forth certain information regarding our Executive Officers and Directors as of January 25,2023:Information About Our Executive OfficersNameAgePositionJeffrey P.Bezos59Executive Chair Andrew R.Jassy55President and Chief Executive OfficerDouglas J.Herrin

187、gton56CEO Worldwide Amazon StoresBrian T.Olsavsky59Senior Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerShelley L.Reynolds58Vice President,Worldwide Controller,and Principal Accounting OfficerAdam N.Selipsky56CEO Amazon Web ServicesDavid A.Zapolsky59Senior Vice President,General Counsel,and SecretaryJef

188、frey P.Bezos.Mr.Bezos founded A in 1994 and has served as Executive Chair since July 2021.He has served as Chair of the Board since 1994 and served as Chief Executive Officer from May 1996 until July 2021,and as President from 1994 until June 1999 and again from October 2000 to July 2021.Andrew R.Ja

189、ssy.Mr.Jassy has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since July 2021,CEO Amazon Web Services from April 2016 until July 2021,and Senior Vice President,Amazon Web Services,from April 2006 until April 2016.Douglas J.Herrington.Mr.Herrington has served as CEO Worldwide Amazon Stores since J

190、uly 2022,Senior Vice President,North America Consumer from January 2015 to July 2022,and Senior Vice President,Consumables from May 2014 to December 2014.Brian T.Olsavsky.Mr.Olsavsky has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since June 2015,Vice President,Finance for the Global

191、 Consumer Business from December 2011 to June 2015,and numerous financial leadership roles across Amazon with global responsibility since April 2002.Shelley L.Reynolds.Ms.Reynolds has served as Vice President,Worldwide Controller,and Principal Accounting Officer since April 2007.Adam N.Selipsky.Mr.S

192、elipsky has served as CEO Amazon Web Services since July 2021,Senior Vice President,Amazon Web Services from May 2021 until July 2021,President and CEO of Tableau Software from September 2016 until May 2021,and Vice President,Marketing,Sales and Support of Amazon Web Services from May 2005 to Septem

193、ber 2016.David A.Zapolsky.Mr.Zapolsky has served as Senior Vice President,General Counsel,and Secretary since May 2014,Vice President,General Counsel,and Secretary from September 2012 to May 2014,and as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Litigation and Regulatory matters from April 200

194、2 until September 2012.5Board of DirectorsNameAgePositionJeffrey P.Bezos59Executive Chair Andrew R.Jassy55President and Chief Executive OfficerKeith B.Alexander71CEO,President,and Chair of IronNet,Inc.Edith W.Cooper61Former Executive Vice President,Goldman Sachs Group,Inc.Jamie S.Gorelick72Partner,W

195、ilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLPDaniel P.Huttenlocher64Dean,MIT Schwarzman College of ComputingJudith A.McGrath70Former Chair and CEO,MTV NetworksIndra K.Nooyi67Former Chief Executive Officer,PepsiCo,Inc.Jonathan J.Rubinstein66Former co-CEO,Bridgewater Associates,LPPatricia Q.Stonesifer66For

196、mer President and Chief Executive Officer,Marthas TableWendell P.Weeks63Chief Executive Officer,Corning IncorporatedItem 1A.Risk FactorsPlease carefully consider the following discussion of significant factors,events,and uncertainties that make an investment in our securities risky.The events and co

197、nsequences discussed in these risk factors could,in circumstances we may or may not be able to accurately predict,recognize,or control,have a material adverse effect on our business,growth,reputation,prospects,financial condition,operating results(including components of our financial results),cash

198、flows,liquidity,and stock price.These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face;our operations could also be affected by factors,events,or uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present significant risks to our operations.In addition to the

199、 factors discussed in Item 7 of Part II,“Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsOverview,”and in the risk factors below,global economic and geopolitical conditions and additional or unforeseen circumstances,developments,or events may give rise to or ampli

200、fy many of the risks discussed below.Many of the risks discussed below also impact our customers,including third-party sellers,which could indirectly have a material adverse effect on us.Business and Industry RisksWe Face Intense CompetitionOur businesses are rapidly evolving and intensely competiti

201、ve,and we have many competitors across geographies,including cross-border competition,and in different industries,including physical,e-commerce,and omnichannel retail,e-commerce services,web and infrastructure computing services,electronic devices,digital content,advertising,grocery,and transportati

202、on and logistics services.Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources,longer histories,more customers,and/or greater brand recognition,particularly with our newly-launched products and services and in our newer geographic regions.They may secure better terms from vendors,ado

203、pt more aggressive pricing,and devote more resources to technology,infrastructure,fulfillment,and marketing.Competition continues to intensify,including with the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors,and as our competitors enter into business combination

204、s or alliances and established companies in other market segments expand to become competitive with our business.In addition,new and enhanced technologies,including search,web and infrastructure computing services,digital content,and electronic devices continue to increase our competition.The Intern

205、et facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping,which enhances the ability of new,smaller,or lesser known businesses to compete against us.As a result of competition,our product and service offerings may not be successful,we may fail to gain or may lose business,and we may be required to in

206、crease our spending or lower prices,any of which could materially reduce our sales and profits.Our Expansion into New Products,Services,Technologies,and Geographic Regions Subjects Us to Additional RisksWe may have limited or no experience in our newer market segments,and our customers may not adopt

207、 our product or service offerings.These offerings,which can present new and difficult technology challenges,may subject us to claims if customers of these offerings experience,or are otherwise impacted by,service disruptions,delays,setbacks,or failures or quality issues.In addition,profitability,if

208、any,in our newer activities may not meet our expectations,and we may not be successful enough in these newer activities to recoup our investments in them,which investments are often significant.Failure to realize the benefits of amounts we invest in new technologies,products,or services could result

209、 in the value of those investments being written down or written off.In addition,our sustainability initiatives may be unsuccessful for a variety of 6reasons,including if we are unable to realize the expected benefits of new technologies or if we do not successfully plan or execute new strategies,wh

210、ich could harm our business or damage our reputation.Our International Operations Expose Us to a Number of RisksOur international activities are significant to our revenues and profits,and we plan to further expand internationally.In certain international market segments,we have relatively little op

211、erating experience and may not benefit from any first-to-market advantages or otherwise succeed.It is costly to establish,develop,and maintain international operations and stores,and promote our brand internationally.Our international operations may not become profitable on a sustained basis.In addi

212、tion to risks described elsewhere in this section,our international sales and operations are subject to a number of risks,including:local economic and political conditions;government regulation(such as regulation of our product and service offerings and of competition);restrictive governmental actio

213、ns(such as trade protection measures,including export duties and quotas and custom duties and tariffs);nationalization;and restrictions on foreign ownership;restrictions on sales or distribution of certain products or services and uncertainty regarding liability for products,services,and content,inc

214、luding uncertainty as a result of less Internet-friendly legal systems,local laws,lack of legal precedent,and varying rules,regulations,and practices regarding the physical and digital distribution of media products and enforcement of intellectual property rights;business licensing or certification

215、requirements,such as for imports,exports,web services,and electronic devices;limitations on the repatriation and investment of funds and foreign currency exchange restrictions;limited fulfillment and technology infrastructure;shorter payable and longer receivable cycles and the resultant negative im

216、pact on cash flow;laws and regulations regarding privacy,data use,data protection,data security,data localization,network security,consumer protection,payments,advertising,and restrictions on pricing or discounts;lower levels of use of the Internet;lower levels of consumer spending and fewer opportu

217、nities for growth compared to the U.S.;lower levels of credit card usage and increased payment risk;difficulty in staffing,developing,and managing foreign operations as a result of distance,language,and cultural differences;different employee/employer relationships and the existence of works council

218、s and labor unions;compliance with the U.S.Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other applicable U.S.and foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials and other third parties;laws and policies of the U.S.and other jurisdictions affecting trade,foreign investment,loans,and taxes;andg

219、eopolitical events,including war and terrorism.As international physical,e-commerce,and omnichannel retail,cloud services,and other services grow,competition will intensify,including through adoption of evolving business models.Local companies may have a substantial competitive advantage because of

220、their greater understanding of,and focus on,the local customer,as well as their more established local brand names.The inability to hire,train,retain,and manage sufficient required personnel may limit our international growth.The Peoples Republic of China(“PRC”)and India regulate Amazons and its aff

221、iliates businesses and operations in country through regulations and license requirements that may restrict(i)foreign investment in and operation of the Internet,IT infrastructure,data centers,retail,delivery,and other sectors,(ii)Internet content,and(iii)the sale of media and other products and ser

222、vices.For example,in order to meet local ownership,regulatory licensing,and cybersecurity requirements,we provide certain technology services in China through contractual relationships with third parties that hold PRC licenses to provide services.In India,the government restricts the ownership or co

223、ntrol of Indian companies by foreign entities involved in online multi-brand retail trading activities.For www.amazon.in,we provide certain marketing tools and logistics services to third-party sellers to enable them to sell online and deliver to customers,and we hold indirect minority interests in

224、entities that are third-party sellers on the www.amazon.in marketplace.Although we believe these structures and activities comply with existing laws,they involve unique risks,and the PRC and India may from time to time consider and implement additional changes in their regulatory,licensing,or other

225、requirements that could impact these structures and activities.There are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation of PRC and Indian laws and regulations,and it is possible that these governments will 7ultimately take a view contrary to ours.In addition,our Chinese and Indian businesses

226、 and operations may be unable to continue to operate if we or our affiliates are unable to access sufficient funding or,in China,enforce contractual relationships we or our affiliates have in place.Violation of any existing or future PRC,Indian,or other laws or regulations or changes in the interpre

227、tations of those laws and regulations could result in our businesses in those countries being subject to fines and other financial penalties,having licenses revoked,or being forced to restructure our operations or shut down entirely.The Variability in Our Retail Business Places Increased Strain on O

228、ur OperationsDemand for our products and services can fluctuate significantly for many reasons,including as a result of seasonality,promotions,product launches,or unforeseeable events,such as in response to global economic conditions such as recessionary fears or rising inflation,natural or human-ca

229、used disasters(including public health crises)or extreme weather(including as a result of climate change),or geopolitical events.For example,we expect a disproportionate amount of our retail sales to occur during our fourth quarter.Our failure to stock or restock popular products in sufficient amoun

230、ts such that we fail to meet customer demand could significantly affect our revenue and our future growth.When we overstock products,we may be required to take significant inventory markdowns or write-offs and incur commitment costs,which could materially reduce profitability.We regularly experience

231、 increases in our net shipping cost due to complimentary upgrades,split-shipments,and additional long-zone shipments necessary to ensure timely delivery for the holiday season.If too many customers access our websites within a short period of time due to increased demand,we may experience system int

232、erruptions that make our websites unavailable or prevent us from efficiently fulfilling orders,which may reduce the volume of goods we offer or sell and the attractiveness of our products and services.In addition,we may be unable to adequately staff our fulfillment network and customer service cente

233、rs during these peak periods and delivery and other fulfillment companies and customer service co-sourcers may be unable to meet the seasonal demand.Risks described elsewhere in this Item 1A relating to fulfillment network optimization and inventory are magnified during periods of high demand.As a r

234、esult of holiday sales,as of December 31 of each year,our cash,cash equivalents,and marketable securities balances typically reach their highest level(other than as a result of cash flows provided by or used in investing and financing activities)because consumers primarily use credit cards in our st

235、ores and the related receivables settle quickly.Typically,there is also a corresponding increase in accounts payable as of December 31 due to inventory purchases and third-party seller sales.Our accounts payable balance generally declines during the first three months of the year as vendors and sell

236、ers are paid,resulting in a corresponding decline in our cash,cash equivalents,and marketable securities balances.We Are Impacted by Fraudulent or Unlawful Activities of SellersThe law relating to the liability of online service providers is currently unsettled.In addition,governmental agencies have

237、 in the past and could in the future require changes in the way this business is conducted.Under our seller programs,we maintain policies and processes designed to prevent sellers from collecting payments,fraudulently or otherwise,when buyers never receive the products they ordered or when the produ

238、cts received are materially different from the sellers descriptions,and to prevent sellers in our stores or through other stores from selling unlawful,counterfeit,pirated,or stolen goods,selling goods in an unlawful or unethical manner,violating the proprietary rights of others,or otherwise violatin

239、g our policies.When these policies and processes are circumvented or fail to operate sufficiently,it can harm our business or damage our reputation and we could face civil or criminal liability for unlawful activities by our sellers.Under our A-to-z Guarantee,we may reimburse customers for payments

240、up to certain limits in these situations,and as our third-party seller sales grow,the cost of this program will increase and could negatively affect our operating results.We Face Risks Related to Adequately Protecting Our Intellectual Property Rights and Being Accused of Infringing Intellectual Prop

241、erty Rights of Third PartiesWe regard our trademarks,service marks,copyrights,patents,trade dress,trade secrets,proprietary technology,and similar intellectual property as critical to our success,and we rely on trademark,copyright,and patent law,trade secret protection,and confidentiality and/or lic

242、ense agreements with our employees,customers,and others to protect our proprietary rights.Effective intellectual property protection is not available in every country in which our products and services are made available.We also may not be able to acquire or maintain appropriate domain names in all

243、countries in which we do business.Furthermore,regulations governing domain names may not protect our trademarks and similar proprietary rights.We may be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring domain names that are similar to,infringe upon,or diminish the value of our trademarks and other pro

244、prietary rights.We are not always able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our proprietary rights.Actions taken by third parties that license our proprietary rights may materially diminish the value of our proprietary rights or reputation.The protection of our intellectual

245、 property requires the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources.Moreover,the steps we take to protect our intellectual property do not always adequately protect our rights or prevent third 8parties from infringing or misappropriating our proprietary rights.We also cannot be cert

246、ain that others will not independently develop or otherwise acquire equivalent or superior technology or other intellectual property rights.We have been subject to,and expect to continue to be subject to,claims and legal proceedings regarding alleged infringement by us of the intellectual property r

247、ights of third parties.Such claims,whether or not meritorious,have in the past,and may in the future,result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources,injunctions against us,or significant payments for damages,including to satisfy indemnification obligations or to obtain li

248、censes from third parties who allege that we have infringed their rights.Such licenses may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all.These risks have been amplified by the increase in third parties whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims.Our digital content offerings depen

249、d in part on effective digital rights management technology to control access to digital content.Breach or malfunctioning of the digital rights management technology that we use could subject us to claims,and content providers may be unwilling to include their content in our service.We Have Foreign

250、Exchange RiskThe results of operations of,and certain of our intercompany balances associated with,our international stores and product and service offerings are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations.Due to these fluctuations,operating results may differ materially from expectations,and we m

251、ay record significant gains or losses on the remeasurement of intercompany balances.As we have expanded our international operations,our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations has increased.We also hold cash equivalents and/or marketable securities in foreign currencies such as British Pounds,Canadi

252、an Dollars,Euros,and Japanese Yen.When the U.S.Dollar strengthens compared to these currencies,cash equivalents,and marketable securities balances,when translated,may be materially less than expected and vice versa.Operating RisksOur Expansion Places a Significant Strain on our Management,Operationa

253、l,Financial,and Other ResourcesWe are continuing to rapidly and significantly expand our global operations,including increasing our product and service offerings and scaling our infrastructure to support our retail and services businesses.The complexity of the current scale of our business can place

254、 significant strain on our management,personnel,operations,systems,technical performance,financial resources,and internal financial control and reporting functions,and our expansion increases these factors.Failure to manage growth effectively could damage our reputation,limit our growth,and negative

255、ly affect our operating results.We Experience Significant Fluctuations in Our Operating Results and Growth RateWe are not always able to accurately forecast our growth rate.We base our expense levels and investment plans on sales estimates.A significant portion of our expenses and investments is fix

256、ed,and we are not always able to adjust our spending quickly enough if our sales are less than expected.Our revenue growth may not be sustainable,and our percentage growth rates may decrease.Our revenue and operating profit growth depends on the continued growth of demand for the products and servic

257、es offered by us or our sellers,and our business is affected by general economic,business,and geopolitical conditions worldwide.A softening of demand,whether caused by changes in customer preferences or a weakening of the U.S.or global economies,may result in decreased revenue or growth.Our sales an

258、d operating results will also fluctuate for many other reasons,including due to factors described elsewhere in this section and the following:our ability to retain and increase sales to existing customers,attract new customers,and satisfy our customers demands;our ability to retain and expand our ne

259、twork of sellers;our ability to offer products on favorable terms,manage inventory,and fulfill orders;the introduction of competitive stores,websites,products,services,price decreases,or improvements;changes in usage or adoption rates of the Internet,e-commerce,electronic devices,and web services,in

260、cluding outside the U.S.;timing,effectiveness,and costs of expansion and upgrades of our systems and infrastructure;the success of our geographic,service,and product line expansions;the extent to which we finance,and the terms of any such financing for,our current operations and future growth;9the o

261、utcomes of legal proceedings and claims,which may include significant monetary damages or injunctive relief and could have a material adverse impact on our operating results;variations in the mix of products and services we sell;variations in our level of merchandise and vendor returns;the extent to

262、 which we offer fast and free delivery,continue to reduce prices worldwide,and provide additional benefits to our customers;factors affecting our reputation or brand image(including any actual or perceived inability to achieve our goals or commitments,whether related to sustainability,customers,empl

263、oyees,or other topics);the extent to which we invest in technology and content,fulfillment,and other expense categories;increases in the prices of transportation(including fuel),energy products,commodities like paper and packing supplies and hardware products,and technology infrastructure products,i

264、ncluding as a result of inflationary pressures;constrained labor markets,which increase our payroll costs;the extent to which operators of the networks between our customers and our stores successfully charge fees to grant our customers unimpaired and unconstrained access to our online services;our

265、ability to collect amounts owed to us when they become due;the extent to which new and existing technologies,or industry trends,restrict online advertising or affect our ability to customize advertising or otherwise tailor our product and service offerings;the extent to which use of our services is

266、affected by spyware,viruses,phishing and other spam emails,denial of service attacks,data theft,computer intrusions,outages,and similar events;anddisruptions from natural or human-caused disasters(including public health crises)or extreme weather(including as a result of climate change),geopolitical

267、 events and security issues(including terrorist attacks and armed hostilities),labor or trade disputes(including restrictive governmental actions impacting us and our third-party sellers in China or other foreign countries),and similar events.We Face Risks Related to Successfully Optimizing and Oper

268、ating Our Fulfillment Network and Data CentersFailures to adequately predict customer demand or otherwise optimize and operate our fulfillment network and data centers successfully from time to time result in excess or insufficient fulfillment or data center capacity,service interruptions,increased

269、costs,and impairment charges,any of which could materially harm our business.As we continue to add fulfillment and data center capability or add new businesses with different requirements,our fulfillment and data center networks become increasingly complex and operating them becomes more challenging

270、.There can be no assurance that we will be able to operate our networks effectively.In addition,failure to optimize inventory or staffing in our fulfillment network increases our net shipping cost by requiring long-zone or partial shipments.We and our co-sourcers may be unable to adequately staff ou

271、r fulfillment network and customer service centers.For example,productivity across our fulfillment network currently is being affected by regional labor market and global supply chain constraints,which increase payroll costs and make it difficult to hire,train,and deploy a sufficient number of peopl

272、e to operate our fulfillment network as efficiently as we would like.Under some of our commercial agreements,we maintain the inventory of other companies,thereby increasing the complexity of tracking inventory and operating our fulfillment network.Our failure to properly handle such inventory or the

273、 inability of the other businesses on whose behalf we perform inventory fulfillment services to accurately forecast product demand may result in us being unable to secure sufficient storage space or to optimize our fulfillment network or cause other unexpected costs and other harm to our business an

274、d reputation.We rely on a limited number of shipping companies to deliver inventory to us and completed orders to our customers.An inability to negotiate acceptable terms with these companies or performance problems,staffing limitations,or other difficulties experienced by these companies or by our

275、own transportation systems,including as a result of labor market constraints and related costs,could negatively impact our operating results and customer experience.In addition,our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship completed orders to customers also may be negatively affected

276、 by natural or human-caused disasters(including public health crises)or extreme weather(including as a result of climate change),geopolitical events and security issues,labor or trade disputes,and similar events.10We Could Be Harmed by Data Loss or Other Security BreachesBecause we collect,process,s

277、tore,and transmit large amounts of data,including confidential,sensitive,proprietary,and business and personal information,failure to prevent or mitigate data loss,theft,misuse,or other security breaches or vulnerabilities affecting our or our vendors or customers technology,products,and systems,cou

278、ld:expose us or our customers to a risk of loss,disclosure,or misuse of such information;adversely affect our operating results;result in litigation,liability,or regulatory action(including under laws related to privacy,data use,data protection,data security,network security,and consumer protection)

279、;deter customers or sellers from using our stores,products,and services;and otherwise harm our business and reputation.We use third-party technology and systems for a variety of reasons,including,without limitation,encryption and authentication technology,employee email,content delivery to customers

280、,back-office support,and other functions.Some of our systems have experienced past security breaches,and,although they did not have a material adverse effect on our operating results,there can be no assurance that future incidents will not have material adverse effects on our operations or financial

281、 results.Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer data and prevent such incidents,including systems and processes designed to reduce the impact of a security breach at a third-party vendor or customer,such measures cannot provide absolute security and ma

282、y fail to operate as intended or be circumvented.We Face Risks Related to System Interruption and Lack of RedundancyWe experience occasional system interruptions and delays that make our websites and services unavailable or slow to respond and prevent us from efficiently accepting or fulfilling orde

283、rs or providing services to customers and third parties,which may reduce our net sales and the attractiveness of our products and services.Steps we take to add software and hardware,upgrade our systems and network infrastructure,and improve the stability and efficiency of our systems may not be suff

284、icient to avoid system interruptions or delays that could adversely affect our operating results.Our computer and communications systems and operations in the past have been,or in the future could be,damaged or interrupted due to events such as natural or human-caused disasters(including public heal

285、th crises)or extreme weather(including as a result of climate change),geopolitical events and security issues(including terrorist attacks and armed hostilities),computer viruses,physical or electronic break-ins,operational failures(including from energy shortages),and similar events or disruptions.A

286、ny of these events could cause system interruption,delays,and loss of critical data,and could prevent us from accepting and fulfilling customer orders and providing services,which could make our product and service offerings less attractive and subject us to liability.Our systems are not fully redun

287、dant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient.In addition,our insurance may not provide sufficient coverage to compensate for related losses.Any of these events could damage our reputation and be expensive to remedy.The Loss of Key Senior Management Personnel or the Failure to Hire a

288、nd Retain Highly Skilled and Other Personnel Could Negatively Affect Our BusinessWe depend on our senior management and other key personnel,including our President and CEO.We do not have“key person”life insurance policies.We also rely on other highly skilled personnel.Competition for qualified perso

289、nnel in the industries in which we operate,as well as senior management,has historically been intense.For example,we experience significant competition in the technology industry,particularly for software engineers,computer scientists,and other technical staff.In addition,changes we make to our curr

290、ent and future work environments may not meet the needs or expectations of our employees or may be perceived as less favorable compared to other companies policies,which could negatively impact our ability to hire and retain qualified personnel.The loss of any of our executive officers or other key

291、employees,the failure to successfully transition key roles,or the inability to hire,train,retain,and manage qualified personnel,could harm our business.We also rely on a significant number of personnel to operate our stores,fulfillment network,and data centers and carry out our other operations.Fail

292、ure to successfully hire,train,manage,and retain sufficient personnel to meet our needs can strain our operations,increase payroll and other costs,and harm our business and reputation.In addition,changes in laws and regulations applicable to employees,independent contractors,and temporary personnel

293、could increase our payroll costs,decrease our operational flexibility,and negatively impact how we are able to staff our operations and supplement our workforce.We are also subject to labor union efforts to organize groups of our employees from time to time.These organizational efforts,if successful

294、,decrease our operational flexibility,which could adversely affect our operating efficiency.In addition,our response to any organizational efforts could be perceived negatively and harm our business and reputation.Our Supplier Relationships Subject Us to a Number of RisksWe have significant supplier

295、s,including content and technology licensors,and in some cases,limited or single-sources of supply,that are important to our sourcing,services,manufacturing,and any related ongoing servicing of merchandise and content.We do not have long-term arrangements with most of our suppliers to guarantee avai

296、lability of merchandise,content,11components,or services,particular payment terms,or the extension of credit limits.Decisions by our current suppliers to limit or stop selling or licensing merchandise,content,components,or services to us on acceptable terms,or delay delivery,including as a result of

297、 one or more supplier bankruptcies due to poor economic conditions,as a result of natural or human-caused disasters(including public health crises),or for other reasons,may result in our being unable to procure alternatives from other suppliers in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable term

298、s,or at all.In addition,violations by our suppliers or other vendors of applicable laws,regulations,contractual terms,intellectual property rights of others,or our Supply Chain Standards,as well as products or practices regarded as unethical,unsafe,or hazardous,could expose us to claims,damage our r

299、eputation,limit our growth,and negatively affect our operating results.Our Commercial Agreements,Strategic Alliances,and Other Business Relationships Expose Us to RisksWe provide physical,e-commerce,and omnichannel retail,cloud services,and other services to businesses through commercial agreements,

300、strategic alliances,and business relationships.Under these agreements,we provide web services,technology,fulfillment,computing,digital storage,and other services,as well as enable sellers to offer products or services through our stores.These arrangements are complex and require substantial infrastr

301、ucture capacity,personnel,and other resource commitments,which may limit the amount of business we can service.We may not be able to implement,maintain,and develop the components of these commercial relationships,which may include web services,fulfillment,customer service,inventory management,tax co

302、llection,payment processing,hardware,content,and third-party software,and engaging third parties to perform services.The amount of compensation we receive under certain of our commercial agreements is partially dependent on the volume of the other companys sales.Therefore,when the other companys off

303、erings are not successful,the compensation we receive may be lower than expected or the agreement may be terminated.Moreover,we may not be able to enter into additional or alternative commercial relationships and strategic alliances on favorable terms.We also may be subject to claims from businesses

304、 to which we provide these services if we are unsuccessful in implementing,maintaining,or developing these services.As our agreements terminate,we may be unable to renew or replace these agreements on comparable terms,or at all.We may in the future enter into amendments on less favorable terms or en

305、counter parties that have difficulty meeting their contractual obligations to us,which could adversely affect our operating results.Our present and future commercial agreements,strategic alliances,and business relationships create additional risks such as:disruption of our ongoing business,including

306、 loss of management focus on existing businesses;impairment of other relationships;variability in revenue and income from entering into,amending,or terminating such agreements or relationships;anddifficulty integrating under the commercial agreements.Our Business Suffers When We Are Unsuccessful in

307、Making,Integrating,and Maintaining Acquisitions and InvestmentsWe have acquired and invested in a number of companies,and we may in the future acquire or invest in or enter into joint ventures with additional companies.These transactions involve risks such as:disruption of our ongoing business,inclu

308、ding loss of management focus on existing businesses;problems retaining key personnel;additional operating losses and expenses of the businesses we acquired or in which we invested;the potential impairment of tangible and intangible assets and goodwill,including as a result of acquisitions;the poten

309、tial impairment of customer and other relationships of the company we acquired or in which we invested or our own customers as a result of any integration of operations;the difficulty of completing such transactions,including obtaining regulatory approvals or satisfying other closing conditions,and

310、achieving anticipated benefits within expected timeframes,or at all;the difficulty of incorporating acquired operations,technology,and rights into our offerings,and unanticipated expenses related to such integration;the difficulty of integrating a new companys accounting,financial reporting,manageme

311、nt,information and data security,human resource,and other administrative systems to permit effective management,and the lack of control if such integration is delayed or not successfully implemented;losses we may incur as a result of declines in the value of an investment or as a result of incorpora

312、ting an investees financial performance into our financial results;12for investments in which an investees financial performance is incorporated into our financial results,either in full or in part,or investments for which we are required to file financial statements or provide financial information

313、,the dependence on the investees accounting,financial reporting,and similar systems,controls,and processes;the difficulty of implementing at companies we acquire the controls,procedures,and policies appropriate for a larger public company;the risks associated with businesses we acquire or invest in,

314、which may differ from or be more significant than the risks our other businesses face;potential unknown liabilities associated with a company we acquire or in which we invest;andfor foreign transactions,additional risks related to the integration of operations across different cultures and languages

315、,and the economic,political,and regulatory risks associated with specific countries.As a result of future acquisitions or mergers,we might need to issue additional equity securities,spend our cash,or incur debt,contingent liabilities,or amortization expenses related to intangible assets,any of which

316、 could reduce our profitability and harm our business or only be available on unfavorable terms,if at all.In addition,valuations supporting our acquisitions and strategic investments could change rapidly.We could determine that such valuations have experienced impairments or other-than-temporary dec

317、lines in fair value which could adversely impact our financial results.We Face Significant Inventory RiskIn addition to risks described elsewhere in this Item 1A relating to fulfillment network and inventory optimization by us and third parties,we are exposed to significant inventory risks that may

318、adversely affect our operating results as a result of seasonality,new product launches,rapid changes in product cycles and pricing,defective merchandise,changes in customer demand and consumer spending patterns,changes in consumer tastes with respect to our products,spoilage,and other factors.We end

319、eavor to accurately predict these trends and avoid overstocking or understocking products we manufacture and/or sell.Demand for products,however,can change significantly between the time inventory or components are ordered and the date of sale.In addition,when we begin selling or manufacturing a new

320、 product,it may be difficult to establish vendor relationships,determine appropriate product or component selection,and accurately forecast demand.The acquisition of certain types of inventory or components requires significant lead-time and prepayment and they may not be returnable.We carry a broad

321、 selection and significant inventory levels of certain products,such as consumer electronics,and at times we are unable to sell products in sufficient quantities or to meet demand during the relevant selling seasons.Any one of the inventory risk factors set forth above may adversely affect our opera

322、ting results.We Are Subject to Payments-Related RisksWe accept payments using a variety of methods,including credit card,debit card,credit accounts(including promotional financing),gift cards,direct debit from a customers bank account,consumer invoicing,physical bank check,and payment upon delivery.

323、For existing and future payment options we offer to our customers,we currently are subject to,and may become subject to additional,regulations and compliance requirements(including obligations to implement enhanced authentication processes that could result in significant costs and reduce the ease o

324、f use of our payments products),as well as fraud.For certain payment methods,including credit and debit cards,we pay interchange and other fees,which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and lower profitability.We rely on third parties to provide certain Amazon-branded payment method

325、s and payment processing services,including the processing of credit cards,debit cards,electronic checks,and promotional financing.In each case,it could disrupt our business if these companies become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us.We also offer co-branded credit card programs,wh

326、ich could adversely affect our operating results if renewed on less favorable terms or terminated.We are also subject to payment card association operating rules,including data security rules,certification requirements,and rules governing electronic funds transfers,which could change or be reinterpr

327、eted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply.Failure to comply with these rules or requirements,as well as any breach,compromise,or failure to otherwise detect or prevent fraudulent activity involving our data security systems,could result in our being liable for card issuing banks costs

328、,subject to fines and higher transaction fees,and loss of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from our customers,process electronic funds transfers,or facilitate other types of online payments,and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.In addition,we provide

329、regulated services in certain jurisdictions because we enable customers to keep account balances with us and transfer money to third parties,and because we provide services to third parties to facilitate payments on their behalf.Jurisdictions subject us to requirements for licensing,regulatory inspe

330、ction,bonding and capital maintenance,the use,handling,and segregation of transferred funds,consumer disclosures,maintaining or processing data,and authentication.We are also subject to or voluntarily comply with a number of other laws and regulations relating to payments,money laundering,internatio

331、nal money transfers,privacy,data use,data protection,data security,data localization,network security,consumer 13protection,and electronic fund transfers.If we were found to be in violation of applicable laws or regulations,we could be subject to additional requirements and civil and criminal penalt

332、ies,or forced to cease providing certain services.We Have a Rapidly Evolving Business Model and Our Stock Price Is Highly VolatileWe have a rapidly evolving business model.The trading price of our common stock fluctuates significantly in response to,among other risks,the risks described elsewhere in

333、 this Item 1A,as well as:changes in interest rates;conditions or trends in the Internet and the industry segments we operate in;quarterly variations in operating results;fluctuations in the stock market in general and market prices for Internet-related companies in particular;changes in financial estimates by us or decisions to increase or decrease future spending or investment levels;changes in f