Amazon reports record profit with first quarter sales up 17%

Amazon has recorded a record profit of $3.6billion with its first quarter sales up 17% to $59.7billion.

Posting results for its first quarter ended 31st March 2019, Amazon recorded its fourth successive quarter of record profit of $3.6billion, or $7.09 per diluted share, double the same period in 2018. 

Amazon said net sales are expected to grow between 13% and 20% in the second quarter. 

Net sales increased 17% to $59.7 billion in the first quarter, compared with $51.0 billion in the first quarter of 2018 and operating income increased to $4.4 billion in the first quarter, compared with operating income of $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2018.

In books, Amazon did not break out details, other than highlighting the introduction of the updated Kindle. In 2018 the retail giant said its authors earned more than $260m from the Kindle Direct Publishing Select Global Fund, totalling more than $840m since the launch of Kindle Unlimited. 

In a letter to shareholders Jeff Bezos highlighted the Amazon Future Engineering programme which grants scholarships to children and young adults in low-income communities to start careers in computer science.