Associated Press
SEATTLE — When the romantic comedy "Return to Me" came out in theaters last year, some Amazon.com customers received free movie passes.
Company goodwill? Not exactly. In a deal between the Internet retailer and the movie studio MGM, Amazon searched its databases for customers who bought similar movies on its Web site, and then sent them the passes.
Some of those recipients later posted comments about the movie on Amazon’s Web site, which the company believes helped spur movie ticket sales.
That’s a long way from selling books.
Seattle-based Amazon, already an Internet superbrand, is branching out from its origins as an online superstore to find other ways — perhaps any way — to make money.
After more than five years in business, it has yet to turn a profit.
And Wall Street is getting impatient — company shares that sold for more than $75 a year ago now fetch less than $12.
The pressure is leading Amazon toward deals that would capitalize on its prime assets — its name, its secure online payment system and its detailed knowledge of the spending habits of some 30 million customers.
But the extensive data the company keeps — and what its plans to do with that data — alarms some Internet security watchdogs.
Despite its profitability goals, the company deflects questions about how these projects will be reflected in its bottom line.
"The No. 1 tenet is that it has got to be a positive experience for the customer," said Jason Kilar, Amazon vice president and general manager in charge of video and DVD.
But Kilar concedes the long-term goal is "absolutely financial" and Amazon hopes movie studios will pay the company for such marketing help.
After posting a net loss of about $545 million in the fourth quarter of 2000, Amazon set its sights on recording a pro-forma operating profit by the end of this year.
That doesn’t mean the company will cross over into the black. Rather, it means it will report a profit after excluding many costs, such as stock options, acquisitions or losses from investments. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company reported pro-forma losses of $90.4 million.
The new strategies are somewhat of an about-face for Amazon — instead of customers using Amazon to buy products, Amazon is using its customers to make money.
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