AMZN AMAZON COM INC
Amazon operates through three segments — North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — serving consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, content creators, and advertisers. It sells products directly and through third-party sellers via online and physical stores, manufactures devices such as Kindle, Fire TV, Echo, Ring, and eero, offers the Amazon Prime subscription program, and provides cloud computing services through AWS including compute, storage, database, analytics, and AI/machine learning offerings.
How the business makes money
Revenue comes from product sales (direct retail and digital media sold on a gross basis) and service sales, which include third-party seller fees (commissions, fulfillment, and shipping), AWS sales, advertising services, Amazon Prime membership fees, and certain digital media subscriptions. In the most recent quarter, North America contributed 58% of consolidated net sales, International 21%, and AWS 21%, with AWS growing fastest at 37% year-over-year for the quarter. Amazon is not the seller of record for third-party transactions but earns fixed fees, a percentage of sales, per-unit activity fees, or interest from seller programs.
Revenue reported to the SEC
| Fiscal year | Revenue (USD) |
|---|---|
| FY2021 | 469.8B |
| FY2022 | 514.0B |
| FY2023 | 574.8B |
| FY2024 | 638.0B |
| FY2025 | 716.9B |
What the filings support
AWS net sales grew 37% year-over-year in the most recent quarter and 33% for the first six months of 2026, reaching $42.2 billion in the quarter, outpacing growth in the North America and International retail segments.
The company operates across three diversified segments (North America, International, AWS) with a broad product and service base spanning retail, devices, media, advertising, and cloud infrastructure, reducing reliance on any single revenue stream.
Amazon Prime membership and subscription services, combined with owned and operated fulfillment networks in North America and International, support recurring revenue and customer retention through fast, free shipping and content benefits.
Consolidated net sales grew 20% in the most recent quarter and 18% for the six months ended June 30, 2026, with growth reported across all three segments.
The company reported approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees as of December 31, 2025, reflecting substantial operating scale in fulfillment, retail, and technology operations.
Risks the company discloses
The company faces intense, evolving competition across many industries simultaneously — e-commerce, cloud/infrastructure computing, devices, digital content, advertising, grocery, healthcare, and logistics — from competitors that in some cases have greater resources, longer histories, or stronger brand recognition.
Expansion into new products, services, technologies (including AI and machine learning), and geographic regions carries risk that these newer activities may not achieve profitability or other intended benefits, potentially resulting in written-down or written-off investments.
International operations expose the company to a wide range of risks including local political and economic conditions, tariff and trade policy changes, foreign ownership restrictions, currency exchange limitations, data protection and privacy laws, and geopolitical events such as war; the filing specifically notes regulatory restrictions on foreign investment and content in China and India.
Shipping costs rose to $27.9 billion in the most recent quarter from $23.4 billion a year earlier, and the company expects shipping costs to continue increasing as customers use faster and more expensive shipping methods.
Technology and infrastructure expenses grew 22% in the most recent quarter and 25% for the six-month period, reflecting continued heavy investment, including in artificial intelligence initiatives, with no guarantee these investments will be recouped.
Could not verify
- Specific profitability or margin figures by segment (e.g., operating income for North America, International, or AWS individually) were not included in the supplied text.
- Details on customer or supplier concentration (e.g., percentage of sales from top sellers or vendors) were not provided in the supplied text.
- Specific effects or magnitude of the IEEPA tariff refunds mentioned in cost of sales were not quantified in the supplied text.
- Balance sheet items such as total debt, cash position, or capital expenditure levels were not included in the supplied text.
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