No laser light shows or rock bands to whip the shareholders of Amazon.com into feeling good about the e-commerce site that is making money on a regular basis.

Instead, Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos gave the 50 or so shareholders at Benaroya Hall a sneak peek of the new look for A9.com, the company's search engine. Beginning today, users of A9.com Beta can customize their searches and display multiple screens of information side-by-side, such as the traditional text, pictures and encyclopedia information.

During the question-and-answer period, a shareholder asked Bezos how the company planned to make money off the A9 service. Bezos, who often repeated the company's mantra that buying Amazon stock is a long-term investment, said the service will be supported by text ads. "With a sufficient amount of traffic, it can become profitable," he said.