Amazon posted stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and forecast a sharp increase in capital spending, citing surging demand across its retail, cloud and emerging technology businesses.
The company reported a 14% increase in net sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, with revenue reaching $213.39 billion, topping Wall Street estimates of $211.33 billion.
It marked the first time Amazon has surpassed $200 billion in quarterly revenue.
Amazon also said it expects to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, significantly above analyst expectations and up from roughly $131 billion in 2025.
“With such strong demand for our existing offerings and seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, low earth orbit satellites, we expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026, and anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital,” CEO Andy Jassy said.
Net income rose to $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per share, narrowly missing estimates, compared with $20.0 billion, or $1.86 per share, a year earlier.
Related Story
Amazon’s core e-commerce business generated $83 billion in sales, up 10% year over year. Sales at physical stores increased 5% to $5.8 billion.
North America sales climbed 10% to $127.1 billion, while international sales rose 17% to $50.7 billion.
Amazon Web Services delivered its fastest growth in 13 quarters, with revenue rising 24% to $35.6 billion. AWS operating income totaled $12.47 billion.
Advertising revenue increased 23% to $21.32 billion, exceeding expectations, while subscription services revenue grew 14% to $13.12 billion.
“AWS growing 24%, advertising growing 22%, stores growing briskly across North America and International, our chips business growing triple-digit percentages year over year — this growth is happening because we’re continuing to innovate at a rapid rate and knock down customer problems,” Jassy said.
The earnings report follows Amazon’s announcement last week that it would lay off 16,000 corporate employees.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
