That's actually complete wrong. Amazon did have 2 years of somewhat heavy losses (around 1999 to 2002), with one pretty dramatic loss the quarter the dotcom bubble exploded.

But after that, they turned a profit almost every quarters, generally very small compared to their revenue, but a profit, and when they lost money, it was also quite small compared to their revenue (apart from 2 isolated quarters in 2012 and 2014).

Basically, apart from it first 2 or 3 years, and some isolated losses, Amazon was, for most of its existence, targeting a slightly above 0% net margin, and succeeded at it, proving it was self-sustainable.

It's not the same as Tesla which is consistently losing around 10 to 20% of its revenue for nearly the past 10 years.

Tesla Net Income, Millions... Q1 2019: -702 2018: -976 2017: -1,961 2016: -675 2015: -889 2014: -294 2013: -74 2012: -396 2011: -254 2010: -154 2009: -56 2008: -82 2007: -78

Amazon had losses for 5 years in the beginning of their existence, and then showed profit

Ugh stupid HN formatting. Sorry about that

you’re confusing a company with no growth to a company that reinvested to become an industry titan

Tesla has no network effects as a marketplace and doesn't drive competitors out of the market. Both things Amazon traded their profits in for.

There are network effects, maybe not as strong, but they're there. Theres the supercharger network, if you have one car of a certain brand in your house hold, the others are probably disproportionately likely to be of the same brand, and this can radiate out to friends, family and work colleagues. Theres probably a 'no one got fired for buying IBM' element also. Tesla is kind of the default electric car, you aren't going to be judged harshly for buying one because most ev buyers do.

I'm struggling to think of any individual car manufacturer that has driven other manufacturers out of the market. The market doesn't really work in a way, capital requirements are too high, lead times too long, to make that possible. Its still reasonable for them to forgo short term profits, just not quite to the same extent as the winner takes all nature of the internet.

It has both those things. It’s literally devouring market share from similar class vehicles of competitors. The network effect is also happening slowly.

From my point of view Tesla hasn't driven BMW, Audi or Mercedes out of business in the last 15 years, but I didn't take a look at their recent numbers, perhaps they already have.

And Amazon didn't drive Walmart out of business. That's missing the point.