Amazon's earnings miss

Amazon released its earnings last night and one of the interesting things is that the company is running out of tax benefits. It seems almost hard to believe that the company that had so many years of losses and had built up so many tax benefits is now profitable and having to pay taxes.

The Seattle-based Internet retailer said net income for the quarter ended March 31 fell to $78 million, or 18 cents a share, from $111 million, or 26 cents a share, from the same period a year ago. Profits for the latest period were affected by $56 million in income tax expense, compared with a $2 million income tax benefit in the same period a year ago.