Jeff Bezos touts Kindle at Amazon.com shareholder meeting

If you went to Amazon.com's annual shareholder meeting Thursday expecting to hear Chief Executive Jeff Bezos brag about the company's strong stock price or healthy bottom line amid a terrible recession, you'd have been wrong.

But if you wanted to hear why you should buy the Kindle, Amazon's electronic-book reader, you'd have been in the right place.

Speaking to nearly 100 people at the Seattle Art Museum, Bezos talked up the Kindle's no-glare screen, low-battery consumption and high-speed wireless delivery for downloading books.

Amazon introduced the Kindle a year and a half ago and now offers it in two sizes. The smaller model costs $359, the larger model, $489.

But is it making any money yet?

Bezos' response seemed to be "no."

Amazon's digital-media business is in "investment mode," he said, noting that the Kindle took more than three years to develop.

"If something is successful, it seems to take five to seven years or more before it's a positive contributor" to the company's bottom line, he said.

For now, at least, Bezos isn't likely to get many complaints: Amazon's stock is up 51 percent since the start of this year, compared with a 13 percent increase for the S&P 500 Retailing Index. Shares of Amazon closed up 55 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $77.65 Thursday.

Last month, the Seattle-based company posted a 24 percent increase in its first-quarter profit and sales growth of 18 percent for the three months ended March 31 — a far better performance than the overall retail sector.

Bezos said Amazon is giving its customers what they want: low prices, vast selection and extreme convenience. "To me, it feels like we're doing what we've always been doing," he said.

Bezos held up a windshield-wiper blade as an example of Amazon's broad selection, recalling that when asked 10 years ago what he thought the company might sell besides books, he replied, "It could even be windshield-wiper blades."

"There was a day about two weeks ago when more than 10,000 were sold, so we are selling windshield-wiper blades," he said.

Other points Bezos made during the hourlong talk and subsequent Q&A with reporters:

• Sales of products costing $500 and up are growing more slowly than before the recession. "I think people are being cautious about high-price-point items," he said. "Whether that'll continue I don't know."

• Amazon has been hiring in the recession and — "knock on wood" — will continue to do so across a broad range of departments. As of March, the company employed 20,600 worldwide, up from 17,800 a year ago.

• The company may never release sales figures for the Kindle. "There's a competitive advantage in keeping the numbers close. You may just have to remain curious," Bezos said in response to an audience member's question.

Bezos mentioned that more than 285,000 titles are now available on the Kindle, and where both Kindle and traditional paper versions are available, the Kindle versions account for a little more than a third of all the book's sales — a sign, he said, that the Kindle "is turning into something special."

— Amy Martinez

Today is the last day of business for Cranium in Seattle, where the game brand has 19 employees, 11 of whom are being laid off by parent company Hasbro. Eight local employees have been offered jobs elsewhere in the company; one person will work for Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast in Renton and the others will have to move out of state if they accept the offers.

When publicly traded Hasbro — which makes Monopoly, Scrabble, Tonka and a host of other games and toys — bought Cranium for $69 million in January 2008, the Seattle company had 80 employees. Two months later, about 20 had left for other jobs and Hasbro began to lay off an additional 40 people.

Wayne Charness, spokesman for Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, said Thursday that despite the office's closure, "the Cranium brand is important, and some people will continue with us." — MA

A WineStyles shop has opened in Bothell, the eighth store under that franchise in Washington. The Bothell store, at 22833 Bothell-Everett Highway, is owned by business consultant Lane Scott, who became interested in wine making while living in Italy. — MA

A new book called "The Nordstrom Guide to Men's Style" went on sale this month for $19.95 at Nordstrom stores and on its Web site. Published by Chronicle Books, it is written by Tom Julian, a New York-based consumer trend expert, and includes a foreword by merchandising president Pete Nordstrom. Nordstrom also has worked with Chronicle on three cookbooks and a children's book for the 2007 holiday-sales season. — AM

Good news for cherry-juice marketers came out of the American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Seattle this month. New research presented there by the Oregon Health & Science University showed that people who drank tart cherry juice while training for long-distance runs had significantly less pain after exercising. They drank it twice daily for a week before and on the day of a long-distance relay. The Cherry Marketing Institute says it's thanks to the "natural anti-inflammation power of cherry juice." — MA

The sixth-annual "Shop to Make a Difference" event at University Village this month raised more than $44,000 for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. That's a 38 percent increase from last year and the event's single-biggest total yet. — AM

The Northwest Agriculture Business Center will host a daylong workshop about wine making on July 18 at Skagit Valley College. Experts will discuss production, economics, business plans, risk management and marketing. Register at www.agbizcenter.org. — MA

KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn, which opened in downtown Seattle last year, has created a new limited-edition popcorn flavor that will be sold at Fremont Outdoor Cinema events this summer. Called Fusterclucks, it mixes caramel corn, Jujyfruits candy, purple KuKuRuZa Krackle Korn, marshmallow and Nestle chocolate SnoCaps. — MA

Compendium, a Seattle gift company, won "Card of the Year" at the 21st annual International Greeting Card Awards ceremony this month in New York. Compendium took the $3-and-under category for a thank-you card featuring a quotation by J.M Laurence: "It's not what we have in our life, but who we have in our life that counts." — AM

Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com