2004年7月22日，亚马逊公布了其2004年第二季度的收益状况。尽管公司的季度收益低于华尔街专业人士的预测值，但这个网上最大的零售商仍坚称要继续实行免费送货的激励机制，消息传出后公司股票在几小时内狂跌。

外电有这样的报道：

he company's forecasts for the third quarter were weaker than analysts expected. "The outlook for the near term, in the September quarter, implies a fairly significant drop in operating margins," Mark Mahaney, an analyst with American Technology Research said.

operating margin的意思是“营运利润率”，指公司扣除非现金支出因素前的利润率。计算方法是用利息、税项、折旧、摊销前收益除以收入，然后乘以百分之百。该比率是衡量企业运营效率的指标.