Amazon profits slide down by 26% as investments hit the bottom line in the third quarter as the company upped investment in free shipping and its cloud storage business. Revenues raised by 24% year on year to $70bn for the three months, but profits fell to $2.1bn, from $2.9bn last year. It expects sales to boost between 11% and 20% in the year-end.
The company spent $800m expanding its free single-day delivery service in the U.S., while worldwide shipping costs went up by 46% to $9.6bn. It is investing heavily in Amazon Web Services cloud storage, which saw sales boost up to $9bn.
Amazon reported sales in its ‘other’ business, which comprises advertising, reaching up to $3.58bn, up 45% year on year. Advertising space in multiple newspapers earmarked for the campaign will not feature the messaging, according to iNews. However, the ads will still appear to be running online. The ad activity is considered to have cost at least £100m.
