Amazon on the Defensive as Investors Flee Again

You've got to hand it to Amazon.com (AMZN Quote) CEO Jeff Bezos. He sticks with his story.

Even before the company capped a disappointing two days Wednesday by reporting disappointing second-quarter results, analysts downgraded its shares. The site itself went down for 40 minutes. And this followed Tuesday's big bummer: Bezos' second-in-command, Joe Galli, flew the coop for the hotter stock climes of VerticalNet (VERT Quote).

But on the conference call with investors and analysts, Bezos addressed what was on everyone's mind (and what helped to drive the stock down 4% during regular trading Wednesday). When several people called investor relations after hearing of Galli's departure, "they were concerned that Joe was the symbol of Amazon.com's drive to profitability, while I serve as the symbol of growth at any cost," he said. ...