Amazon shares spiked in early trading Friday after the online retailer blew past quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, boosted by growth in the North American market and cloud computing segment. Shares rose 20 percent, giving the retailer a larger market capitalization than bricks-and-mortar behemoth Wal-Mart.
The surge also generated a huge windfall for CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns 83,921,121 shares of the company. At Friday's early prices, his fortune rose some $8.05 billion—a gain that by itself would be enough to put him in the world's 200 richest people.
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People are even buying non-perishable foods from Amazon in larger quantities. Order on your phone, laptop, or desktop, and within three days (with Amazon Prime), a delivery is made right to your front door. No hassle with risking your life with a mugging or car wreck in a WalMart parking lot. No waiting in lines or begging a WalMart employee to try and help you find what aisle the ear plugs are located on.
The impact on WalMart has been huge. They are closing stores and cutting their 24/7 hours (in some stores at first, the rest will follow) from 7 to midnight.
This bubble will quickly burst after the next presidential election cycle (if we make it that long).
Congress has itched and begged to tax the internet to feed the federal and state tax monster's insatiable appetites for private wealth.
It will all come tumbling down.