Story · Amazon
Amazon’s Trillion-Dollar Capex Gamble vs Shopify’s Lean Profitability Strategy
A financial analysis comparing Amazon and Shopify's Q1 2026 results. Amazon reported $181.5B revenue (+16.6%) driven by AWS cloud growth of 28% (fastest in 15 quarters) and a $44.2B capex spend on AI infrastructure, with a P/E of 31. Shopify reported $3.17B revenue (+34.3%), crossed $100B in GMV for the first time, spent only $5M on capex, generated $476M in free cash flow, and has a P/E of 121. The article highlights the contrasting strategies: Amazon's heavy investment in AI backbone versus Shopify's lean merchant tools and lending approach. Key risks include Amazon's capex payback timeline and Shopify's exposure to SMB merchant health.
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