Amazon reports first quarterly loss since 2015

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Amazon posted its slowest revenue growth to date in the first quarter, due to falling online retail sales and high costs, causing its stock to tumble about 10% in aftermarket trading.

The company also posted its first quarterly loss since 2015.

Sales in Amazon’s online store segment reached US$51.1 billion (R$252.43 billion) in the January-March period, down from US$52.9 billion (R$261.33 billion) in the same period. last year.

Operating profit was US$3.7 billion (R$18.28 billion) in the first quarter, compared to US$8.9 billion (R$43.97 billion) in 2021, falling short of analysts’ expectations, of US$ 5.3 billion.

The company reported total revenue of US$ 116.4 billion (R$ 575 billion) in the quarter, 7% more than last year. For the current quarter, Amazon forecasts similarly slow revenue growth, between 3% and 7%.

The underperformance comes as the company faces supply chain problems, high personnel costs and inflation.

Overall, Amazon posted a net loss of US$3.8 billion (R$18.77 billion) for the quarter, including a loss of US$7.6 billion (R$37.54 billion) related to the value of its participation in the electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.

“The pandemic and the subsequent war in Ukraine brought unusual growth and challenges,” said Andy Jassy, ​​Amazon’s chief executive, although he said the company was now in control of its goals of adding staff and capacity to its warehouse network.

“Today, as we are no longer looking for physical or personnel capacity, our teams are fully focused on improving productivity and cost efficiency across the entire service network. We know how to do this and have done it before,” he said.

Jassy added that the speed and consistency of delivery is “approaching levels not seen since the months immediately preceding the pandemic in early 2020.”

Despite the rapid rise in operating costs in its e-commerce business, Amazon’s balance sheet has been underpinned this year by strong growth in cloud computing.

In the first quarter, Amazon Web Services revenue was $18.4 billion, up 37% from last year. The cloud division’s operating income was US$6.5 billion (R$32.11 billion), compared to a loss of US$2.8 billion (R$13.83 billion) for the company’s retail business. Amazon in the US and internationally. Cloud revenues topped analysts’ expectations of $18.27 billion, according to FactSet data.

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