Why Amazon Spending a Quarter's Worth of Profits to Protect Employees From Coronavirus Will Pay Off

On April 30, after technology behemoth Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced first-quarter earnings, its shares dropped about 5% in after-hours trading. In the next few days, investors had taken the stock down nearly 9%. Why were they spooked?

The company's earnings report missed analysts' expectations. Rising costs drove Amazon's earnings per share down 29% year over year to $5.01, well below the $6.23 analysts expected. And labor woes, talk of investigations, and possible congressional testimony have all driven some investors away.

CEO Jeff Bezos. IMAGE SOURCE: AMAZON