Amazon’s revenue rises 13% to $143.1 BILLION – after cutting 27,000 jobs in the past year
- The e-commerce giant reported quarterly profit of $9.9 billion, exceeding analyst estimates
- The company has made cuts over the past year, laying off 27,000 employees since last fall
- It comes as the US economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years last quarter, thanks to a surge in consumer spending
Tech giant Amazon saw its turnover increase by 13 percent last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations.
The e-commerce giant reported revenues of $143.1 billion for the three months to September – a 13 percent increase on the same period last year.
The company also reported quarterly profit of $9.9 billion, which was higher than expected.
Another bright spot was sales in North America, which rose to $87.9 billion – an increase of 11 percent year over year.
It comes as the company has been in cost-cutting mode for the past year – after demand started to fall following a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since last fall, Amazon has laid off 27,000 employees.
The e-commerce giant reported sales of $143.1 billion for the three months to September (Photo: Workers at an Amazon distribution center in New York)
Chief executive Andy Jassy, who took over from founder Jeff Bezos in 2021, suggested in a statement Thursday that the company’s belt-tightening efforts may be starting to pay off.
“We had a strong third quarter as our cost of service and speed of delivery in our Stores business continued to advance, our AWS growth continued to stabilize, our advertising revenue grew strongly and overall operating income and free cash flow increased significantly, ‘ he said.
Zak Sambor, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, said in a note after Amazon’s earnings results were announced: “The retail giant’s slowdown last year appears to be in the rearview mirror as the company has implemented significant cost cuts throughout the year and its policy has been tightened. the focus on key growth areas such as the online marketplace and high-margin advertising.”
Earlier this year, the company said its summer Prime Day sale was its biggest sales day ever.
Bargain-hunting consumers raked in $6.4 billion on the first day of the three-day event alone.
Chief executive Andy Jassy took over from founder Jeff Bezos in 2021
The latest earnings report comes as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 states sued Amazon last month, accusing the company of adopting a secret algorithm to raise prices in a way that competitors would follow to improve their increase revenues.
Amazon has denied the allegations, claiming the FTC misunderstands how online pricing and competition work.
In a statement, attorney David Zapolsky said on behalf of the company: “If they were successful in this lawsuit, the result would be anti-competitive and anti-consumer because we would have to stop many of the things we do to offer low prices and draw attention to it. prices – a perverse result that would directly conflict with the objectives of antitrust law.”
Amazon’s upbeat earnings report comes as the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years last quarter, thanks to a surge in consumer spending.
Gross domestic product rose 4.9 percent annually from July to September, according to preliminary figures released by the Commerce Ministry on Thursday.
Consumer spending rose 4 percent, compared with just 0.8 percent last quarter, Commerce Department figures revealed Thursday
That was an increase from 2.1 percent in the second quarter and the largest growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Consumer spending rose 4 percent, compared to just 0.8 percent last quarter. Americans have so far defied analysts’ expectations of a recession by maintaining strong spending.
This summer they spent record amounts on blockbuster movies and concert tours, including Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and the Barbie Movie, starring Margot Robbie.