Amazon Q1 Net Income Triples to $10.4B, AWS Hits $100B Run Rate

May 1, 2024, 01:05 AM

Amazon reported a significant increase in its first-quarter earnings, driven by strong performance in its cloud-computing unit, AWS, and gains in advertising, including Prime Video ad dollars. The company's net income tripled to $10.4 billion, with total sales up 12.5% to $143.3 billion compared to the same period last year. AWS achieved a milestone by reaching a $100 billion annual revenue run rate, growing 17% year-over-year, and reported the highest margin since at least 2014 at nearly 38%. The growth in AWS was attributed to increased demand for cloud services and significant investments in artificial intelligence, which also reached a multi-billion dollar run rate. Generative AI revenues contributed to AWS cloud-revenue growth. Amazon's capital expenditures were substantial, totaling $14 billion in the quarter, primarily to support AWS infrastructure and generative AI efforts.