Amazon Surprises with Record Revenues

Amazon offered a rare ray of light in a week of financial disappointments with record revenues that exceeded the headiest expectations.

Amazon reported a net loss of $2 billion on revenues of $121.2 billion for the quarter ending June 30. The loss was due to it recording a $3.9 billion loss related to its investment in Rivian, an electric vehicle maker. Otherwise, it would have earned a profit of $1.9 billion.

“Despite continued inflationary pressures in fuel, energy, and transportation costs, we’re making progress on the more controllable costs we referenced last quarter, particularly improving the productivity of our fulfillment network,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. “We’re also seeing revenue accelerate as we continue to make Prime even better for members, both investing in faster shipping speeds, and adding unique benefits such as free delivery from Grubhub for a year, exclusive access to NFL Thursday Night Football games starting September 15, and releasing the highly anticipated series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on September 2.”

Amazon’s revenues grew by 7 percent year-over-year, and it expects another $125 billion to $130 billion in revenues in the current quarter. The firm had lowered its employee base by 99,000 people to 1.52 million after nearly doubling the number of employees during the pandemic. To combat softness in e-commerce, it improved ad revenues by 18 percent in the quarter, and AWS revenues jumped 33 percent YOY to $19.74 billion, above projections.