// Amazon sees its second consecutive quarterly loss, but reports better than expected sales and continued strong growth from Amazon Web Services
// Amazon’s chief financial officer said the company is slowing down its expansion plans for this year and the next to better align with customer demand
Amazon has reported its second-consecutive quarterly loss, however its revenue did top Wall Street expectations, sending its stock sharply higher.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant lost £1.6 billion in the three-month period ended June 30, driven by a £3.2 billion dollar write-down of the value of its stock investment in electric vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive
This is compared to a profit of £6.4 billion a year ago. It posted a loss of £3.15 billion in this year’s first quarter, its first quarterly loss since 2015, which was also marked by a large Rivian write-down.
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The company’s online stores business reported a 4% drop for the quarter as it struggled with slowing consumer demand and higher costs.
Amazon saw sales surge during the height of the coronavirus pandemic as shoppers moved online amid worldwide lockdowns but now the business has said that it expanded too aggressively during the pandemic.
Between 2019 and 2021, Amazon nearly doubled the number of warehouses and data centres it leased and owned to keep up with rising consumer demand.
Amazon’s chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said during a media call on Thursday the company is slowing down its expansion plans for this year and the next to better align with customer demand.
He said the company is also planning to shift capital investments towards its cloud-computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS reported revenues of £16.1 billion or the quarter, better than expected. The company expects to post third-quarter revenue growth of 13% to 17%.
Chief executive Andy Jassy said in a statement that Amazon is seeing its revenue accelerate as it invests in its Prime membership and offers more benefits to members, such as its recent deal to give free access to meal delivery service Grubhub for a year.
Wall Street was cheered by Amazon’s £99.5 billion in revenue, topping expectations of £97.7 billion.
The results came as the the business looks to navigate shifting consumer demand and higher costs, while curtailing the glut of warehouses it acquired during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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