Amazon reported a highly successful third quarter, with revenue and profits easily beating Wall Street forecasts. The company earned $1.95 per share on $180.17bn in revenue, leading to a 9% stock surge in after-hours trading.
The driving force was Amazon Web Services (AWS), which grew 20% year-over-year to $33bn. This growth, the strongest since 2022, is especially notable as it follows a major global outage that temporarily crippled parts of the internet.
The earnings report highlighted Amazon’s push into AI with tools like the Rufus shopping assistant and the expansion of its Zoox robotaxi business. This comes as Amazon faces intense competition from Microsoft and Google in the AI space.
The strong financial report contrasts with internal turmoil, as Amazon recently confirmed plans to lay off 14,000 corporate employees.
A company blog post attributed the cuts to “staying nimble” amid AI advancements. However, CEO Andy Jassy told investors the layoffs were “not really AI-driven” but rather a “culture” move to operate more like a startup.