High costs and low sales hit Amazon
A net loss of $3.8 billion in the first-quarter, compared with a profit of $8.1 billion during the same period a year ago, was largely driven by its investment in electric carmaker Rivian
E-commerce giant Amazon on Thursday reported a net loss of $3.8 billion in the first-quarter, as high costs and low sales hit its bottom line.
"The pandemic and subsequent war in Ukraine have brought unusual growth and challenges," chief executive Andy Jassy said.
A net loss of $3.8 billion in the first-quarter, compared with a profit of $8.1 billion during the same period a year ago, was largely driven by its investment in electric carmaker Rivian.
Amazon's operating cash flow decreased 41% to $39.3 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $67.2 billion for previous year.
Net sales increased 7%, driven by the company's cloud-computing division Amazon Web Services.
Jassy said "extraordinary growth" in 2020 saw Amazon double its fulfillment network.
Productivity
"Today, as we're no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfillment network. We know how to do this and have done it before."
He added that the company was facing increased costs, with "ongoing inflationary and supply chain pressures".
For the current quarter, Amazon expects operating income between a loss of $1 billion and a gain of $3 billion, compared with $7.7 billion in the same period of 2021.