2 weeks Ago By Isabella Alexiou
Amazon has recorded its second consecutive quarter of revenue exceeding $100 billion, boosted by pandemic-driven shifts toward e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital entertainment. The tech giant posted net sales of $108.5 billion in the first quarter of the year, a 44% increase compared to the same period last year, as consumer habits continue to favour online shopping and streaming services.
Net income more than tripled to $8.1 billion, pushing Amazon shares up by 3% in after-hours trading to a record high above $3,590. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud division, generated nearly half of Amazon’s operating income, with $4.
2 billion in the quarter and a 32% year-on-year increase in revenue. The cloud platform benefited from a continued shift to remote work, which has driven demand for digital infrastructure among business clients. “There is little to indicate a slowdown in Amazon’s growth,” said Daniel Newman, analyst at Futurum Research.
“Its businesses across the board, e-commerce, cloud, advertising, devices, are all seeing growth.” Amazon’s advertising arm also emerged as a growing profit centre, with quarterly revenues climbing 77% year-on-year to $6.9 billion, driven by its dominant role in product search and discovery.
Outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos will soon transition to executive chair, with AWS head Andy Jassy set to take over leadership in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Prime Video usage surged, with 175 million Prime members engaging with the service over the past year and streaming hours increasing by 70%. Despite surging digital growth, Amazon’s physical retail stores, primarily Whole Foods, saw a 16% decline in sales, which the company linked to fewer in-person visits near office buildings.
Looking ahead, Amazon forecasts second-quarter revenue between $110 billion and $116 billion, aided by the rescheduled Prime Day event in June. Net income is projected between $4.5 billion and $8 billion, factoring in $1.
5 billion in COVID-related logistics costs. Amazon added over 500,000 workers in 2020 and plans continued investment in its delivery infrastructure, especially in the U.S.
, where operations have not yet returned to pre-pandemic efficiency..
