Amazon news and updates: Cloud Business Lifts Its Profit to a Record

"SEATTLE - Amazon delivered a blowout quarter on Thursday, joining Facebook as one of the rare bright spots in a technology sector that has recently produced a string of disappointing earnings reports." The New York Times.

The tech giant jumped to the most profitable quarter in its nearly 22-year history. The first quarter, which ended March 31, Amazon reported net income of $513 million, or $1.07 a share, up from a loss of $57 million, or 12 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue at the company rose to $29.13 billion from $22.72 billion a year ago.

Amazon's share price jumped more than 12 percent in after-hours trading after the results were released. Investors were happy to see the company show profits after the disappointing run of reports from Apple, Google, Microsoft and Intel.

"The fact that they're profitable is a big deal," said Christian Magoon, chief executive of Amplify Investments, a fund manager that counts Amazon as atop holding. "It's more of a big deal after some of the disappointing numbers from Apple and others."

"I saw the number, and I thought, 'O.K., did I read this wrong?'" Mr. Magoon added. "The beat was big. On the income side, it was fantastic."

For the last four quarters, Amazon has run in the black, even if it is still not quite as profitable as some technology companies. Facebook, by contrast, reported that its net income for the first three months of the year tripled to$1.5 billion from a year earlier.

Cloud computing is also much more profitable than Amazon's North American retail business, which runs on thinner margins, and its international retail business, which runs at a loss.

Amazon said revenue in the current quarter is expected to be between $28 billion and $30.5 billion, with operating income between $375 million and$975 million.