A $1,000 investment in Amazon a decade ago is worth $5,966 today, a 497% return that beats the S&P 500's 255% gain. The stock held up despite a roughly 50% fall after the company overbuilt its fulfilment network and posted its first unprofitable year since 2014 in 2022. Cloud growth has returned under chief executive officer Andy Jassy. Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue rose 36.7% to $42.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, its fastest growth in 18 quarters, driven by AI demand. Advertising brought in $19.8 billion, up 26%. Spending is the risk. Amazon expects about $220 billion in capital expenditure in 2026, while trailing free cash flow stands at -$7.6 billion. The stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio near 35. Five-year buyers have trailed the S&P 500.

Amazon earned $135 billion in net income over the four quarters ended June 2026, but its free cash flow was negative $11.6 billion. Free cash flow was $48.3 billion in the twelve months to June 2024 and $13.5 billion a year later. Most of the cash is going to AWS and generative AI data centres. Amazon spent $53.1 billion on capital projects in the June quarter, against $45.4 billion in operating cash. It now expects about $220 billion of capital spending in 2026, up from about $200 billion, because memory costs more. Total debt rose to $223 billion from $134 billion a year earlier. Management points to a $496 billion backlog and 36.7% AWS revenue growth in the June quarter. Third-quarter results, due in October 2026, will show whether spending is easing against operating cash.

The world's six richest people lost a combined $130 billion on Thursday as tech stocks fell on renewed doubts about returns on AI infrastructure spending. Elon Musk lost $74 billion, bringing his net worth to $914.7 billion, as SpaceX shares sank nearly 9%. Investors weighed a $35 billion cash-flow gap and Musk's confirmation that SpaceX is considering a merger with Tesla. Tesla fell 2%, after it cut its full-year capital expenditure guidance to $20 billion from over $25 billion. Mark Zuckerberg lost $18 billion as Meta fell 8%. The company raised the low end of its capital spending forecast by $5 billion, to $135 billion to $145 billion. Jeff Bezos lost $11 billion as Amazon fell nearly 5%. Larry Page and Sergey Brin lost a combined $15 billion, and Michael Dell lost $12 billion as Dell Technologies dropped 7%.