Amazon is Polluted

I once loved Amazon. I was one of its earliest supporters—because it kept every book in stock.

For the first time in my life, I had easy access to obscure books. And—it’s my curse—I frequently read very obscure books. Before the advent of the worldwide web, I sometimes searched bookstore shelves for years before finding a desired volume. But Amazon made it possible to acquire those hard-to-get books with just the click of a mouse.

I liked this concept so much that I decided to be more than a customer. I also became a shareholder of Amazon, and almost from the start.

The company went public on May 15, 1997. I bought some shares a few weeks later—on July 17, 1997 to be precise. After adjusting for subsequent stock splits, my initial purchase price was eleven cents per share.

Today Amazon shares are trading at $258 per share.

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You do the math and tell me the rate of return. I don’t want to make the calculation—if I did, I might start weeping.

That’s because I sold too early.

I didn’t rush things. I held Amazon shares for more than a decade, but that wasn’t long enough, as this chart makes clear.