Amazon Primed For Holidays After Q3 Profit Soars

For the third quarter ended September 30, Amazon.com posted net income of $79 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, versus a net loss of $437 million, or 95 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.

Total net sales came in at $25.36 billion, with product sales at $18.46 billion and service sales at $6.9 billion, the company reported, versus total sales of $20.58 billion, with product sales at $16.02 billion and service sales at $4.56 billion, in the prior year quarter.

Amazon stated that operating income was $406 million in the third quarter versus an operating loss of $544 million in the 2014 period.

Highlighted initiatives in the third quarter, according to Amazon, included:

• Introduction of Handmade at Amazon, featuring handcrafted products sold directly from artisans around the world.
• Debut of Amazon Underground, a new app for Android phones that includes the same functionality available from the Amazon mobile shopping application plus apps, games and in-app items for free.
• Addition of eight metro areas to Amazon Prime, which allows members to choose from thousands of daily essentials with free two-hour and paid one-hour delivery.
• The Amazon Dash Button has received positive customer response, the company said, and selection continues to grow. Customers can now choose from over 500 products from 29 brands. 

Amazon added that it expects to create more than 100,000 jobs in North America for the holidays and more than 40,000 seasonal positions across its European fulfillment network.