Thursday, May 5, 2022

Real Talk From Jeff Bezos

Tech stocks were the standout in trading today, with the Nasdaq Composite up 1.6% on the day, a small step toward recovering from April's 13.3% selloff. 

But shares of Amazon were in negative territory the entire day, save for the last few minutes of trading, when they rebounded to finish up 0.2%. That's not the inspiring buy-the-dip move some might have expected for Amazon after it fell 14% on Friday following its disappointing second-quarter outlook. 

So why was Amazon left out of the enthusiasm today? You can most likely blame founder Jeff Bezos, who offered a rather frank assessment of tech valuations over the weekend. The current Amazon chairman and former CEO tweeted: "Most people dramatically underestimate the remarkableness of this bull run. Such things are unstoppable … until they aren’t. Markets teach. The lessons can be painful."

You don't have to read too far between the lines to wonder if Bezos is referring to his own company's stock. Last week was indeed painful for the e-commerce giant. And the tweet didn't exactly suggest the pain was over. 

My colleague Tae Kim saw Bezos' candor as a refreshing change: 

In a world where most fund managers and company executives mainly “talk their book,” or speak only positively of companies they own, it’s refreshing to hear Bezos talk openly and honestly. The internet entrepreneur is willing to tell it like it is about technology valuation risk—even if it means his large holdings in Amazon may suffer.

You can read the rest of Tae's story here

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