Amazon’s Risk Factors make for Bad Corporate Poetry

We face intense competition.

Our expansion places
a significant strain
on our management, operational, financial and other resources.

Our expansion into
new products, services,
technologies and geographic regions
subjects us to
additional business, legal,
financial and competitive risks.

We may experience significant fluctuations
in our operating results
and growth rate.
We may not be successful in our efforts
to expand
into international market segments.

If we do not successfully optimize
and operate
our fulfillment centers,
our business could be harmed.
The seasonality of our business
places increased strain
on our operations.

Our business could suffer
if we are unsuccessful
in making, integrating, and maintaining
commercial agreements, strategic alliances, and other business relationships.
Our business could suffer
if we are unsuccessful
in making, integrating, and maintaining
acquisitions and investments.

We have foreign exchange risk.

The loss of key senior management personnel could
negatively affect our business.
We face risks
related to system interruption
and lack of redundancy.
We face significant inventory risk.
We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights
or may be accused of infringing intellectual property rights of third parties.

We have a rapidly evolving business model
and
our stock price is highly volatile.

Government regulation is evolving and
unfavorable changes could harm our business.
Taxation risks could subject us to liability
for past sales
and
cause our future sales to decrease.
We could be subject to additional income tax liabilities.

Our supplier relationships subject us to
a number of risks.

We may be subject to
risks related to government contracts
and related procurement regulations.
We may be subject to
product liability claims
if people or property are harmed
by the products
we sell.
We are subject to payments-related risks.

We could be liable
for breaches
of security.
We could be liable
for fraudulent or unlawful activities
of sellers.

[from Amazon.com’s 2010 Annual Report (PDF)]