Amazon's milestone
Amazon hits its first annual profit of $35.3M on sales of $5.26B according to this Wall Street Journal story helped by its free shipping program (for purchases over $25 -- that's the only time I use Amazon myself to buy books):
Amazon said its net income for the fourth quarter jumped to $73.2 million, or 17 cents a share, from $2.7 million, or a penny a share, a year earlier. The strong U.S. holiday season helped put Amazon into the black for the full year, for which it had net income of $35.3 million, or eight cents a share, compared with a net loss of $149.1 million, or 39 cents a share, for 2002.
...Fourth-quarter sales at Amazon rose 36% to $1.95 billion from $1.43 billion a year ago, while full-year sales rose 34% to $5.26 billion from $3.93 billion in 2002.