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I think it was mainly losing money since it was pumping all its revenues into future growth, rather than having anything left over at the end of each year. Fairly common in the tech world (though Amazon was probably a pioneer of it at that scale).
Assume only reason they aren't still doing this is that it's no longer possible to spend money at the rate they're making it.
abr
Amazon lost money for its first 14 years, so it’s not like this is a normal business. If your local corner shop lost money for 14 years you wouldn’t expect it to then turn into the biggest shop in town.