Amazon Grows

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its Internet retail empire yet again, this time taking a stake in luxury goods merchant Ashford.com, which sells everything from diamond rings to fine leather accessories on the Web. Under the deal scheduled to be announced today, Amazon will pay $10 million for a 16.6% stake in Houston-based Ashford. The alliance with Ashford is the latest move by Seattle-based Amazon to build itself into an Internet superstore. While sales of high-end goods on the Web are still quite small, there is huge demand for expensive clothing and accessories. In Nasdaq trading, Amazon fell $5.38 to close at $85.06.