Amazon profits grow despite poor economy

Jan 29, 2009, 21:52 GMT

San Francisco - Leading online retailer Amazon.com defied the poor economy in the fourth quarter, on Thursday posting a 9 per cent rise in profits and an 18 per cent spike in sales.

The Seattle, Washington-based company earned 225 million dollars in the quarter, or 52 cents a share, up from 207 million dollars a year earlier.

Revenue, in what the company had earlier described as its 'best ever holiday season,' was 6.7 billion dollars, easily surpassing Wall Streets estimates of 6.44 billion dollars in sales. Amazon said sales would have grown 24 per cent if not for an unfavorable currency exchange rate.

'We remain relentlessly focused on serving customers with low prices, great selection and free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime,' Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, said in a statement.

The earnings report sent Amazon shares up 12 per cent to 56.70 dollars in after-hours trading.

Looking ahead, Amazon said it expects first-quarter revenue in the range of 4.52 billion dollars to 4.92 billion dollars, again above Wall Street's expectation for sales of 4.54 billion dollars.

The boost in Amazon's performance came in contrast to the earnings of Internet auctioneer eBay, which last week posted lower fourth- quarter sales and offered a weaker-than-expected outlook for the first quarter.