Amazon shatters Wall Steet Q1 expectations

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon’s first-quarter earnings smashed Wall Street expectations, according to the company. It posted revenues of $35.71bn (£27.59bn), higher than the expected $35.30bn, with a net income of $724m.

The impressive revenue saw earning per share hitting $1.48, far in excess of the expected $1.12. However, despite the success in these areas, operating income saw a six per cent decline to $1bn in the first quarter of the year.

In a statement, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pointed out the importance of India in this impress growth and the opportunities that exist in the South Asian nation.

“Our India team is moving fast and delivering for customers and sellers,” he said. “The team has increased Prime selection by 75 per cent since launching the program nine months ago, increased fulfilment capacity for sellers by 26 per cent already this year, announced 18 Indian Original TV series, and just last week introduced a Fire TV Stick optimized for Indian customers with integrated voice search in English and Hindi.

“We’re grateful that customers are responding — Amazon.in is the most visited and the fastest growing marketplace in India. It’s still Day 1 for e-commerce in India, and I assure you that we’ll keep investing in technology and infrastructure while working hard to invent on behalf of our customers and small and medium businesses in India.”

Earlier this month, eBay, Tencent and Microsoft funded Amazon’s Indian rival to the tune of $1.4bn – which led to Flipkart acquiring eBay India as part of the deal.