Would anybody argue today about how smart Amazon was? So let's take the mathematical view of Xero's fiscal 2014 which is that it lost 50.6 cents for every dollar of sales, compared to losing 37.5 cent on every dollar 2013. Revenue for the most recently ended year was about $65 million, an increase of about 83 percent over 2013. The New Zealand-based company lost roughly $17.4 million, a 147-percent rise in red ink. The expense column also shows the spend-to-grow approach with operating expenses up 106 percent. A prepared statement from CEO Rod Drury outlined the strong growth in staff during the last year, although he might want to change his phrasing for use for the market in the U.S. Drury wrote that "376 new Xeros joined the Company, resulting in 758 staff globally by year end." The numbers that count are in user growth. Xero closed 2014 with 18,000 North American users, three times the 6,000 at the end of fiscal 2013. Worldwide there are 284,000, an 18-percent increase from 157,000. North America produced $3.3 million in revenue for 2014, up 81 percent. Market share for North America was reported at less than one percent and 1,408 partners compared to an estimated 500,000 bookkeeping and accounting firms in the region.