KEY TAKEAWAYS
Amazon's fourth-quarter profits beat analysts' expectations. Net income increased to $10.6 billion, or $1.00 per diluted share. Revenue increased 14% to $170.0 billion, driven by sales and growth of Amazon Web Service.
Amazon.com Inc. ( AMZN ) announced better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of 2023, and the news caused the company's shares to rise sharply in after-hours trading. The company's net income rose to $10.6 billion, or $1.00 per diluted share.
Analysts had forecast net income of $8.59 billion, or 83 cents per diluted share. Revenue increased to $170.0 billion, driven by sales and growth of Amazon Web Service.
“This Q4 was a record-breaking Holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in a prepared statement. “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.
Holiday sales were a boon for the e-commerce giant. More than 1 billion items were purchased on their platform during the 11 days of sales the company held for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The company reported a 13% increase in North American sales in the fourth quarter to $105.5 billion and a 13% increase internationally when accounting for foreign exchange rates.
Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud and computing segment, also had a 13% increase in sales over the prior year to total $24.2 billion.