Exploding sales in AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing business, led to a 14% increase in sales in the fourth quarter with revenue hitting $213.4 billion. Net income rose to $21.2 billion from $20.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
AWS had its biggest increase in 13 quarters, with sales up 24% the fourth quarter, to $35.6 billion. Amazon’s online business had a 10% increase in fourth quarter sales, to $83 billion, and sales in its third-party seller business rose 11%, to $52.8 billion.
For the full year, Amazon’s sales increased 12%, to $716.9 billion in 2025, compared with $638.0 billion in 2024. Net income increased to $77.7 billion in 2025 compared with $59.2 billion, a year ago.
In its long list of highlights for the year, Amazon did manage to sneak in a reference to one of the businesses that helped Amazon get its start, the Kindle, noting that during the year its redesigned Kindle Scribe lineup featured its “first-ever color Scribe” whose new features include an AI-powered notebook search.
Despite the outsized overall results, investors seemed spooked by CEO Andy Jassy’s announcement that Amazon plans to invest $200 billion in new initiatives this year in such areas as AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites. The company’s stock price was down in early trading Friday. No mention was made of the 14,000 employees Amazon laid off in October, or the 16,000 jobs it is in the midst of cutting.
Earlier this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos laid off more than 300 employees at the Washington Post, which he owns, and cut its book review section.
