(Adds details on USPS, analyst comments, updates shares)April 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Amazon.com Inc fell 6percent on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump againattacked the online retailer over the pricing of its deliveriesthrough the United States Postal Service and promisedunspecified changes.
"Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing PostOffice makes money with Amazon," Trump tweeted.
"They lose a fortune, and this will be changed. Also, ourfully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over thecountry...not a level playing field!"
Shares of the company were down 5.9 percent at $1,362.48,wiping out nearly $45 billion from its market value.Trump has been vocal about his opposition to Amazon's use ofthe postal service and Monday's tweet adds to investor worriesthat the company could see more regulation.Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for acomment.On Saturday, Trump tweeted that if the post office"increased its parcel rates, Amazon's shipping costs would riseby $2.6 billion."The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in November reported adecline in annual revenue, hurt by a drop in first-class andmarketing mail, offset partly by an increase in packagedelivery.The postal service has also been posting losses mainlybecause of payments, more than $5 billion a year as mandated byCongress to prefund the service's future retirees' healthcare.The passage of postal reform legislation could alleviateUSPS's pension obligations, give it more pricing power and allowthe agency to be more competitive, analysts said. "We believe the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has gained sharefrom Amazon which is helping the USPS stay afloat," MorganStanley analysts wrote.Details of Amazon's payments to the USPS are not publiclyknown, but some Wall Street analysts have estimated it pays thepostal service roughly half what it would to United ParcelService Inc or FedEx Corp to deliver a package."President Trump's comments are consistent with industrysources we have spoken to in the shipping industry, who oftenlabel Amazon's deal with the USPS as a sweetheart deal," DADavidson analyst Tom Forte wrote in a note.
"An argument, however, could be made that the USPS waslosing billions before it expanded its service offerings forAmazon and would, still, likely lose billions if Amazondiscontinued its use of the USPS tomorrow," Forte said.Trump last Thursday accused Amazon of not paying enough tax,making the postal system lose money and putting small retailersout of business. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by ArunKoyyur, Bernard Orr)
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