Bezos was unconcerned about what he called “short-term” profitability:
I believe that if we’re investing in something and it works, then we should invest
more. Profitability is important to us, but it’s long-term profitability that’s
important, not short-term profitability. I don’t want to leave anyone with the
impression that we don’t care about it. But if what you’re trying to optimize for is
long-term success, then that causes you to make different decisions in the short
term. It would be a mistake to optimize for profitability in the short term, because
that would mean you weren’t investing aggressively in the things that were
working and the things that we really, really believe in