Amazon's sales volume reached $170 billion in the fourth quarter – E24

Amazon shares rose sharply in after-market trading, after the online shopping giant reported stronger-than-expected sales.

Amazon reported its fourth-quarter 2023 numbers on Thursday evening after the trading day ended on Wall Street.

This is what the numbers show:

• Revenue was $170 billion, versus $166.21 billion expected, according to Bloomberg estimates. Trading value increased by 14% compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.
• Earnings per share (EPS) $1, versus 0.78 expected.
• Operating profit was $13.2 billion, compared to the expected $10.49 billion.

• Trading volume in Amazon Web Services (AWS) rose to 24.2 percent in the quarter. It was as expected. The cloud services segment is now what drives much of the company's growth, and has thus taken over Amazon's core business — online shopping, according to Bloomberg.

Amazon shares rose sharply in after-market trading after the numbers were released. At 11 pm Norwegian time, the stock rose 9.5 percent.

Amazon President: – Record quarter

– This fourth quarter broke records for the Christmas shopping season and marked the end of a strong 2023 for Amazon, says company CEO Andy Jassy in an Amazon press release.

Jassy says the company feels most satisfied with driving innovation and improving the customer experience across businesses.

– Now that we are in 2024, our teams are performing at a rapid pace and we have a lot to be excited about, he says.

Amnesty International's review is pending

Regarding the publication of third-quarter results, Amazon said that it expects to achieve sales ranging between $160 and $167 billion in the important Christmas quarter.

Amazon has long tried to cut costs on a large scale to increase profitability, and has laid off several thousand employees. Meanwhile, US competition authorities have accused Amazon of abusing its powerful position.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Thursday of last week that it would look into the billion-dollar investments made by Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet in artificial intelligence startups OpenAI and Anthropic.

Microsoft has invested several billion dollars in OpenAI, which is behind ChatGPT, while Amazon and Google have invested in Anthropic.

The FTC says it is requesting the information to get a better understanding of the relationships between different companies and what that means for competition.