Amazon shares dropped as much as 8.8% Friday after European regulators imposed a heavy fine for the company. They also reported second-quarter earnings results, which failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations. This put the long-standing market leader in the market for the worst day in over one year.
“Consumers’ online shopping levels return to more normal levels as some spend to other entertainment sources,” Dan Romanoff, Morningstar analyst, said in a Friday morning note. Romanoff noted that Amazon has almost doubled its footprint in the last 18 months while adding capacity and costs.
Amazon shares are now down over 10% from their record closing high of $3719 earlier this year.
Amazon performed far worse than the broader market Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (which doesn’t include Amazon) fell by 0.2%, while the S&P 500, which provides Amazon as its third-largest component, dropped 0.4%.
“Maintaining customer trust and data security is our top priority. There has not been a data breach, and customer data has never been disclosed to any third party. These facts cannot be denied,” Amazon said Friday in a statement. “The decision about how we show customers relevant advertisements is based upon subjective and untested European privacy laws, and the proposed fine does not reflect that interpretation.”
