One of the things Steve Jobs told Tim Cook was not to copy him. Not only is it hard to copy the Lord God King Guru, but you will end up making a fool of yourself. That is exactly what Amazon found out.

When Amazon released its 3rd Q earnings, it missed big trying to copy Apple’s iPad with the Kindle Fire. It cost investor in Amazon $20 billion in market value.

Amazon, is selling the Kindle Fire at a loss to gain market share in the tablet market. The loss has to be offset by profits from other segments. Hence it’s earning took a hit. Earning per share came in at $o.14 vs $o.24 as per expectations. Revenues were $10.88 billion vs. $10.93 billion. Q4 revenues guidance was $16.4-$18.6 billion vs. $18.05 billion as a midpoint and Q4 operating income guidance $200 million to $250 million vs. $669 million as a midpoint. On top of that, Amazon added 8,000 new employees in the quarter, bringing its total to 51,300.

This is the third time that Amazon has guided lower. Investors fled the stock. In after hours, shares of Amazon (AMZN) are down 18% or $32 and change. That is in addition to be being down $10 and change during the trading session. Suffice to say Amazon’s best days are over. What did the company in? Trying to copy Apple’s iPad with the Kindle Fire. It is bleeding the company.