New York, July 29 (BUS): Amazon on Thursday reported its second consecutive quarterly loss but its revenue beat Wall Street expectations, sending its shares soaring.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant also said it was making progress in controlling some of the excess costs from its massive expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AP reports.
Amazon lost $2.03 billion, or 20 cents per share, in the three months ended June 30, driven by a $3.9 billion write-down of its equity investment in electric car startup Rivian Automotive.
That compares to a profit of $7.78 billion a year ago. It posted a $3.84 billion loss in the first quarter of this year, its first quarterly loss since 2015, which was also marked by a significant writedown in Rivian. Analysts had expected a 12 percent profit last quarter, according to FactSet.
But Wall Street was elated by Amazon’s $121.2 billion in revenue, beating expectations of $119 billion.
The results come as the company tries to deal with changing consumer demand and rising costs, while slashing the warehouse glut it gained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stocks in Amazon.com Inc. are up. By almost 14% in post-closing trading. CEO Andy Gacy said in a statement that Amazon is seeing 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.
insult