Amazon's Earnings Soar, Stock Jumps 13%... Market Cap Surpasses $1 Trillion

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] On the 30th (local time), Amazon's stock price surged by as much as 13% in after-hours trading, pushing its market capitalization beyond $1 trillion (approximately 109 trillion KRW). According to Amazon's Q4 earnings announced after the market closed that day, net profit increased by 8% year-on-year to $3.268 billion, which appears to have positively influenced the stock price.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Amazon's Q4 revenue reached $87.437 billion, a 21% increase compared to the same period last year. Among this, e-commerce, which accounts for half, achieved $45.657 billion, up 15% during the same period.

This is interpreted as a result of intensified competition among large franchise retailers and the expansion of paid Prime member-exclusive next-day delivery services centered in the United States.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, emphasized in a statement that "the number of Prime members has increased." Currently, the number of Prime members is estimated to have increased by 150 million. This represents a 50% increase over two years since April 2018. Amazon announced that it earned $5.2 billion from membership fees alone during the same period, a 32% increase.

In particular, Amazon is analyzed to have enjoyed a holiday season boom (typically from Thanksgiving to the end of the year and early next year) at the end of last year. According to Amazon, "Sales of electronics and toys increased during this period," and "especially, orders for Amazon's artificial intelligence (AI) speakers surged."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.