Amazon.com’s CEO Jeff Bezos has condemned a report by a financial analyst that suggested the internet retailer is running out of cash. The report triggered a stock market plunge in Amazon shares, taking them down almost 20%.

Addressing the PC Expo conference last week, Bezos said:

“There was a single analyst who wrote a report which isn’t correct, without even calling us – predicting we would be out of cash by I think December, or something like that.”

He said that the company has a billion dollars in cash and expects to generate, not use, a cash flow from operations during the remainder of this year. He added: “Encourage analysts to call the companies before they make such comments.”

Bezos was referring to a report of 23rd June by analysts Lehman Brothers, saying the company has a weak balance sheet, poor working capital management and massive negative cash flow. Further, it claims that since 1997, Amazon has received 99 cents in funding for every dollar of merchandise sold.

Bezos did not comment on when he expects the company to make a profit, but said that the US sales of books, CDs, DVDs and videos is expected to show a profit for this year.

The company’s shares have fallen over 65% in the past six months.

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