[jdbernard]

My point was that Amazon is unprofitable by choice and that makes all the difference.

Amazon is putting food on the table for thousands of people. They are facilitating the sale of product for tens (hundreds?) of thousands of businesses. Their technology underpins and enables many of the startups we love. Their cash flow was and is healthy. That is very different than being unable to turn a profit.

edit: What I meant by "a profitable business" is that Amazon is in several different industries. They have profitable business. They offset their profitable business with growth expenses, but they have business that is profitable.