The finance-based economy spreads to the Internet (AMZN)

Numerous commentators have pointed out that a record percentage of S&P 500 profits is now accounted for by finance, a risky situation in an environment of rising interest rates. This isn't just due to financial companies, but also purportedly non-financial companies like GE and GM that earn some (or most) of their income from financial activities. Well, here's news for Internet investors:

The same is starting to happen in the Internet space.

I've already highlighted GotAds' post about the percentage of pay-per-click ad revenue from mortgate-related ads.

Now there's more: Have you noticed the recent changes on Amazon.com (ticker: AMZN)? Amazon is now pushing its branded credit card so hard that if you haven't yet signed up for one, every price is quoted before versus after the one-time rebate for signing up for the card. And once  you have signed up, each quoted price then includes the number of rebate points you'll earn if you pay with the card.

Truth be told, the Amazon.com credit card is actually a good deal. But if even Amazon starts to make more money from finance than retailing, we'll know the Internet industry is really messed up.

Grovelling footnote: Signing up for the Amazon credit card through this affiliate link is a great way to pay The Internet Stock Blog for all that hard work (violins play in background). Hey, look, I could be charging five cents a share and flooding your email with PDFs like everyone else.

AMZN chart below.