Death by Amazon

No investor has as much money in Amazon as its founder, Jeff Bezos. Since its inception the company pays no dividends, but just plows cash back into the company’s core. Returns? $83,00 if you invested $1,000 in Amazon in July 2002 compared to $4,100 for the same $1,000 invested in Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index. Amazon’s wealth creation machine has caused Bespoke Investment Group, a stock market research firm, to build the Death by Amazon Index to track the performance of the companies most affected by the rise of amazon.com. According to The New York Times, 54 companies, many of real estate’s prime ‘anchor tenants,’ are on the list, including Barnes & Noble, Costco, Best Buy, GameStop, Macy’s Nordstrom, Sears, Target, CVS/Caremark, Rite Aid and Walmart. Will grocery stores soon be added to the index? Wonder if real estate deals’ cash flow and leasing projections will soon add a ‘Death by Amazon’ factor?