AWS is the real cash cow

Significantly higher margins and bigger government contracts, particularly with state security services. So no surprise there.

But Amazon, as a retail business venture, generates significant profits on its own. What’s more, it is gradually supplanting the USPS, which puts the business at the logistical center of a critical piece of US infrastructure. A classic “Too Big To Fail” setup that also guarantees Amazon a customer base indefinitely and lets them freeze out competitors as the USPS decays.

AWS is a bigger funnel of money, but Amazon retail and wholesale is an enormous economic footprint with lots of downstream political consequences.