Amazon’s third-quarter report was a mix of bullish financial growth and stark internal cuts. The company’s stock spiked 9% after it reported $180.17bn in revenue, beating expectations, powered by its cloud division’s best growth since 2022.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue hit $33bn, a 20% year-over-year increase. This came despite a recent, massive global outage, demonstrating the division’s resilience and market dominance.
The company is using the earnings call to signal its aggressive push into AI to compete with rivals. Executives highlighted the Rufus shopping assistant and the expansion of the Zoox robotaxi service.
In sharp contrast to this growth story, Amazon also confirmed 14,000 corporate layoffs. A company blog post titled “Staying nimble” pointed to AI as a transformative technology.
However, CEO Andy Jassy told investors the cuts were “not really AI-driven” but were a “culture” move. He claimed the company was “trying to emphasize a more malleable, startup-style operation.”
