Amazon has revealed a quarter of stark contrasts, posting record-breaking cloud growth while simultaneously announcing 14,000 corporate job cuts. The company’s stock jumped 9% as investors focused on the financials, which smashed analyst expectations.
The tech giant’s cloud division, AWS, was the standout performer. It reported a 20% year-over-year revenue increase to $33bn, its fastest growth since 2022. This impressive figure came even after a significant global outage that highlighted the internet’s dependence on its services.
Amazon’s overall net sales hit $180.17bn, beating the $177.82bn estimate, with earnings per share at $1.95. The company also used the earnings call to promote its AI efforts, like the Rufus shopping assistant, as it races to keep up with competitors.
However, the earnings celebration was muted by the news of 14,000 layoffs. The company stated it wanted to “operate like the world’s largest startup” and referenced AI advancements in a blog post.
CEO Andy Jassy, however, offered a different take on the investor call. He claimed the cuts were “not really AI-driven” but were instead a “culture” move to make the $2.4tn company more “malleable.”