Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): Master of Its Domain – and Others, Too?

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) – a trendy stock play among hedge funds that we track regularly – has gained full control of its destiny and its e-commerce marketplace, serving as the dominant e-commerce retailer known to man. And woman. And children. And even the pets. Amazon has made a huge impact in the e-book realm since introducing the e-book marketplace and the various Kindle devices on which to read those digital books. Devices like the Paperwhite (pictured) have helped Amazon be the No. 1 source for digital reading materials on the Internet.

Does this mean that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) should be able to claim some new web domains as part of its stable, pushing out publishing houses and authors from using them? After the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) unveiled nearly 2,000 new domain names, and the organization is currently determining where to transfer control of those domains. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is getting some blowback from several rivals because the company is aggressively pursuing the .book, .author and .read domain names presumably for its Kindle products and e-book marketplace.

In a letter to ICANN,The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are urging the organization to not hand over too many domains into the control of a single company. Specifically, in addressing these literary-based domains would allow those companies to “entrench their market power” and could provide dire consequences for the publishing industry as a whole.

But this not all for Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Apparently its bloodlust for domains stretches beyong the literary, as the company is reportedly bidding for such domain names as .amazon, .app, .audible, .cloud, .fire and .map.

What do you think about this? Should these domains go to the highest bidder, or should Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) just share with other companies? Let us know yoru thoughts about this in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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