According to the company it spent heavily to forge new markets in cloud computing and digital media, expects operating results for the current quarter to range from a $200 million loss to a $200 million profit, compared with a $181 million profit a year ago. All that investment has taken a toll on its bottom line. With revenue growth slowing as Amazon achieves unprecedented scale.
Executives on Thursday told analysts they were considering an increase in prices for its "Prime" two-day shipping service in the United States, which also includes free video streaming on demand and a book-lending library. The company posted net income of $239 million compared with $97 million in the year-ago quarter.
Net sales grew 20 percent to $25.6 billion in the fourth quarter, versus expectations for just above $26 billion and slowing from the 24 percent of the previous three months. North American net sales in particular grew 26 percent to $15.3 billion, from 30 percent or more in the past two quarters. International sales rose just 13 percent and the company forecast revenue of $18.2 billion to $19.9 billion in the first quarter, a conservative outlook relative to Wall Street's expectation for about $19.7 billion in sales.
