Amazon Revenues Up 14 Percent to $170 Billion

Amazon reported a net income of $10.6 billion on revenues of $170 billion in the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Those numbers were much better than expected—revenues were up 14 percent year-over-year (YOY)—sending the e-commerce giant’s stock price soaring in after-hours trading.

“This Q4 was a record-breaking Holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. “While we made meaningful revenue, operating income, and free cash flow progress, what we’re most pleased with is the continued invention and customer experience improvements across our businesses.”

Amazon, as always, was big on product milestones in the quarter. Among the vaguer claims, it noted that its U.S. fulfillment network had its fastest-ever delivery speeds for Prime members in the quarter and that it did so while lowering costs. The AI advancements it’s delivering via AWS have “resonated with customers.” And its advertising business continues to grow and is “progressing nicely.”

More concretely, Amazon experienced a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping event, with customers buying over 500 million items in the U.S. and over 1 billion items worldwide. Amazon MGM Studios released 16 movies and TV series in the quarter, including the second season of Reacher.

Even more concretely, revenue from Amazon’s e-commerce business—which includes its online stores, physical stores, and third-party seller services—came in at $119.3 billion in revenues collectively, up 19 percent YOY. Its Advertising services business grew 27 percent to $14.7 billion. AWS delivered revenues of $24.2 billion in the quarter, up 11.7 percent from the $21.4 billion it provided in the year-ago quarter. And its Subscription services business added another $10.5 billion, up 14 percent YOY.