Amazon.com Inc. posted a surge in third-quarter profit, lifted by accelerating cloud demand and investment gains, even as hefty legal and restructuring costs weighed on operations.
Strong earnings drove Amazon shares 9.6 percent higher to USD244.22, and helped lift the stock market.
Net income jumped to USD21.2 billion in the third quarter, up from USD15.3 billion a year earlier. The quarter included USD9.5 billion in gains from Amazon’s investment in AI startup Anthropic, highlighting the company’s growing exposure to artificial intelligence ventures.
Revenue climbed 13 percent to USD180.2 billion, led by a 20 percent rise in Amazon Web Services (AWS) sales to USD33 billion. The North America segment delivered USD106.3 billion in revenue, while international sales rose 14 percent to USD40.9 billion.
Operating income was USD17.4 billion, unchanged from last year, but included USD4.3 billion in special charges tied to a Federal Trade Commission legal settlement and severance costs. Excluding those, operating income would have reached USD21.7 billion.
Despite higher capital spending that cut free cash flow to USD14.8 billion, Amazon’s operating cash flow rose 16 percent year-over-year to USD130.7 billion.
Chief executive officer Andy Jassy said Amazon’s transformation is being fueled by AI integration across its businesses. “AI is driving meaningful improvements in every corner of our business,” Jassy said. “AWS is growing at a pace we haven’t seen since 2022.”
AWS remains Amazon’s profit engine, contributing USD11.4 billion in operating income—more than two-thirds of total operating profit—as enterprises ramp up spending on generative AI and core infrastructure.
