Mall CEO Walks Back Remarks About Amazon's Brick-and-mortar Bookstore Plans

Sandeep Mathrani, chief executive of mall owner and operator General Growth Properties Inc. , issued a release Wednesday to clarify comments he made about Amazon.com Inc.'s plans to open hundreds of brick-and-mortar bookstores. "General Growth Properties, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP's earnings conference call held on February 2, 2016, was not intended to represent Amazon's plans," reads the statement. During the company's earnings call, Mathrani said Amazon's "goal is to open, as I understand, 300 to 400 bookstores." The Wall Street Journal first reported on the remarks. GPP closed down about 2% on Wednesday and is down 8% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 6.7% for the last year.