Amazon profit soars more than 200 pc in Q1 to $8 billion

Amazon's profits more than tripled in the first quarter of 2021 as the pandemic continued to boost its online retail, cloud and advertising businesses, reports CNN.

The tech giant reported 8.1 billion dollars in quarterly net income, up 224 per cent from the same period in the prior year. Earnings hit 15.79 dollars per diluted share.

Total net sales from the quarter grew 44 per cent from the year-ago period to 108.5 billion dollars.

CNN said the company's cloud unit and biggest money maker, Amazon Web Services, posted net sales of 13.5 billion dollars during the quarter, up 32 per cent year-over-year.

That is an acceleration in growth from the prior quarter as more companies adopt the technology to help manage hybrid workforces.

Despite a tough year-over-year comparison because of the surge in demand the pandemic caused in 2020, Amazon still expects net sales between 110 billion and 116 billion dollars, up 24 per cent to 30 per cent from the same period in the prior year during the second quarter of 2021.

A day before the earnings report, Amazon announced it will spend 1 billion dollars to raise wages for more than 500,000 hourly workers by as much as 3 dollars an hour as it continues its hiring push that has elevated its global workforce beyond 1.3 million people globally.

The company will not, however, increase its 15 dollars per hour minimum wage.

( With inputs from ANI )