Amazon’s first-quarter revenue surges 43%, with sales rising to $51 billion
Amazon.com Inc reported first-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday that trounced analysts’ estimates, driven by a surge in online shopping and higher demand for its cloud services.
Amazon, whose shares were up 7.1 per cent in after-hours trading, forecast net sales of between US$51 billion and US$54 billion for the current quarter.
Net sales in North America, its biggest market, jumped 46.4 per cent to US$30.73 billion in the latest quarter.
Amazon, which reported it had over 100 million Prime subscribers last week, said its net sales rose to US$51.04 billion from US$35.7 billion, a year earlier, beating the average analyst estimate of US$49.78 billion.
Revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s fast-growing cloud services business, soared 48.6 per cent to US$5.44 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of US$5.25 billion, according Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Amazon’s total operating expenses rose 41.5 per cent to US$49.12 billion, as the company invests heavily into expanding its Prime program, creating original video content and building its warehouse and delivery infrastructure.
© Thomson Reuters 2018