Amazon slows, but AWS continues to grow

Amazon recorded sales that fell short of market expectations in the second quarter, as the consumption boom due to the COVID-19 pandemic slowed somewhat. In the midst of this, Amazon's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), continued to grow significantly once again.

 

Amazon announced that it posted $113.1 billion in sales and $7.8 billion in net profit in the second quarter.

 

 

In addition, sales in the second quarter grew 27% compared to the same period last year, but fell short of Wall Street's estimate of $115.07 billion. Net income increased by 50% compared to the same period last year, and far exceeded Wall Street's estimate of $5.2 billion.

 

When the sales in the second quarter did not meet the market expectations, it was interpreted that the consumption boom caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was stagnant, and it also affected the stock market. Amazon shares fell 7% in after-hours trading after the earnings announcement.

 

 

Amazon's cloud business, AWS, posted revenue of $14.81 billion in the second quarter. This is a 37% year-on-year growth rate, which is higher than the 32% growth rate in the previous quarter in the first quarter and 29% in the second quarter of last year.

 

"We are seeing strong growth in businesses, governments, educational and research institutions, and startups," said Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's chief financial officer.

 

 

AWS generated $4.19 billion in operating profit in the second quarter, and again accounted for a significant portion of Amazon's total operating profit. Amazon posted an operating profit of $7.7 billion in the second quarter.

 

Andy Jassi, who led AWS and assumed the role of Amazon CEO starting this quarter, said, “AWS has helped many businesses and governments maintain business continuity, and growth is accelerating again as more businesses transform their businesses and drive plans to move to the cloud. there,” he emphasized.