Amazon beats expectations with surge in profits

The world’s largest online retailer topped third-quarter profit and sales expectations, boosted by a sharp rise in cloud and online advertising business.
Amazon, which reported net income of $15.3 billion in the quarter to the end of September compared with $9.9 billion a year ago, said that sales in its Web Services division — the company’s cloud business — rose 19 per cent to $27.5 billion, in line with estimates.
Amazon said that sales in its North America segment rose 9 per cent to $95.5 billion as group revenue came in at $158.9 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $157.20 billion. Its online advertising business improved 19 per cent from the same quarter a year ago to $14.3 billion.
Amazon shares rose by $8.05, or 4.3 per cent, at $194.68 in late trading in New York, leaving them almost 23 per cent higher since the start of the year and valuing the company at $2 trillion.
Based in Seattle, Washington, ­Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who remains the executive chairman of its board and is the company’s largest individual shareholder. It has a range of interests, including in retail, streaming and ­advertising.
Three months ago, Amazon spooked investors after warning that consumers were cautious with their spending and seeking more inexpensive options. It faces heightened competition from ­discount retailers, such as Shein and Temu in China, and is planning a ­competitor to sell a wide range of goods from that country at bargain-basement prices.
Andy Jassy, chief executive, said: “We kicked off the holiday season with our biggest-ever Prime Big Deal Days and the launch of an all-new Kindle line-up that is significantly outperforming our expectations.”
He added that the retailer would ­offer more than 100 new cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities that will be “shared” on AWS after the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month.