Stellar results: Jeff Bezos
Amazon raked in sales of £81billion in just three months as the pandemic continued to boost online shopping.
The internet giant, whose founder Jeff Bezos recently blasted into space, saw revenues soar 27 per cent between April and June from the same time last year.
But the second-quarter figures disappointed investors, as they missed Wall Street estimates of £82billion.
The company, which was a pioneer in internet shopping, has been facing increased competition in recent months as Covid lockdowns have forced other retailers to improve their online presence.
Amazon predicted that its revenues would be even lower over the next three months, between £76billion and £80billion.
The rare miss on expectations will be a disappointment for chief executive Andy Jassy, who formally took the reins from Bezos just this month. But Amazon’s profits climbed from £3.7billion to £5.6billion, helped along by Amazon Web Services (AWS), its most profitable division.
The high-tech AWS arm does everything from analytics, helping Formula One teams plan their race strategy, to so-called cloud computer hosting, allowing companies like banks to run their operations more smoothly online.
Over the second quarter of this year, the unit brought in revenue of £10billion – up 37 per cent.
Amazon’s bread-and-butter online shopping arm made £38billion, while it also pulled in £18bn through third-party seller services.
Jassy said: ‘Over the past 18 months, our consumer business has been called on to deliver an unprecedented number of items, including PPE, food, and other products that helped communities around the world cope with the difficult circumstances of the pandemic.
‘At the same time, AWS has helped so many businesses and governments maintain business continuity, and we’ve seen AWS growth re-accelerate as more companies bring forward plans to transform their businesses and move to the cloud.’
Bezos, who made a brief foray into space this month through his separate company Blue Origin, officially stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive at the start of July.
The 57-year-old founded Amazon as an online bookseller in 1994, and is now its executive chairman.
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