What is it that makes Amazon different from other large companies?

Certainly, the sheer range of the products it sells and its market power are unmatched in corporate America. The recent frenzy over its HQ2 pick is another expression of its outsize influence on the economy.

But there is another difference that is much less appreciated yet has been more significant in shaping its path: Amazon’s resource-allocation strategy — in particular, how it chooses to use the profits that it earns . It is one of very few large American corporations that is choosing to retain its profits and reinvest them rather than cutting payrolls and distributing corporate cash to shareholders as dividends and buybacks.

Most Americans know Amazon through the consumer end of its business, with tens of thousands of low-wage workers handling orders at distribution sites around the country. It would be a mistake, however, to see Amazon’s growth as driven primarily by low-wage employment. While most of Amazon’s revenues come from the sale of low-priced products, most of its profits come from its cloud computing operation, Amazon Web Services .

This high-tech division, which has made Amazon the world leader in cloud computing, accounted for less than 10 percent of Amazon’s revenues in 2017 but generated $4.3 billion in operating income. By comparison, North American web sales, which accounted for 60 percent of revenue, generated only $2.8 billion in profit.