Amazon Short Update

As I write this (Monday night), the stock market values AMZN at more than Federal Express and United Airlines combined. This could make sense, as I’ve argued several times before, if everything goes right and Amazon becomes one of a handful of companies that control all global e-commerce. Usually that kind of thing doesn’t happen, especially when competition is likely to be fierce. But it could.

I sort of hope it doesn’t, because I foolishly shorted a few shares of AMZN a couple of months ago. But it could.

I shorted it on November 16 at 128 — up from 25 earlier in the year. Thirty days later, I shorted a little more at 290. Not a bad 30-day run. Monday, it closed at 354 (and then split three for one, so now you have to divide all these numbers by three).

In the meantime, for book buying, I’ve begun switching to www.booksamillion.com. It charges about 20% less than Amazon, and when you buy as many books as I do, that mounts up.

Tomorrow: Free Books