Increased turnover, decreased losses for Amazon

Unexpectedly large turnover

A 17.09 billion dollar (12.4 billion
euro) turnover in the third quarter of 2013 was quite a bit higher than
analyst expectations of 16.69 billion dollars (12.1 billion euro). The loss
incurred was lower than expected and more importantly, a whole lot better than
the 274 million dollar (199 million euro) drumming Amazon received last year.

Amazon expects the growth to continue into the fourth quarter: this festive,
and financially important, quarter should
result in a 23.5 to 26.5 billion dollar turnover (17 to 19 billion euro),
according to Amazon. Analysts are expecting a 25.9 billion dollar turnover
(18.8 billion euro).

No more negative quarters?

It is the third quarter in a row
Amazon has had to endure a net loss, but it is working on solution, Amazon
has stated. An increase in the amount of Kindle products and its cloud services
should help, while additional logistics centres should decrease shipment costs.
These centres should also help Amazon lowering costs as they use more efficient
robots.

The stock market did not seem to have an issue with Amazon’s losses, because
the revelation of the numbers resulted in a 9.6 % spike for Amazon’s share on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Translated by Gary Peeters)