Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s largest online retailer, has grown rapidly in a broad range of businesses, including its core ecommerce operations, cloud services, and digital advertising. It also sells products such as th👍e Alexa personal assistant and ecosystem, Kindle e-reader, Fire TV, and movies and television shows through its Amazon Prime Video platform.
Amazon’s rivals include Walmart Inc. (WMT) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA).
Key Takeaways
- Amazon makes money through retail, subscriptions, and web services, among other channels.
- Retail remains Amazon’s primary source of revenue, with online and physical stores together accounting for the biggest share.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) currently generates the majority of Amazon’s operating income and is growing at a robust pace.
- Amazon announced that its AWS segment will offer new AI certifications for people looking to improve their skills in AI and machine learning to remain competitive in the job market.
Amazon’s Financials
For Q4 2024, Amazon posted total net sales of $187.8 billion, an increase of 11% from the same period in 2023. The company posted net income of $20 billion, an increase of 88.6%. The increase in net income comes from a growth in net sales without as large of👍 a growth in operating expenses; in short, the company was able to grow net sales while keeping operating expenses down.
For 2024 in full, Amazon posted total net sales of $638 billion, an increase of 11% from 2023. Net income was $59.2 billion, up 94.7% from 2023.
Amazon’s Business Segments
Amazon divides its business into three segments: North America, International, and AWS (Amazon Web Services). The first two of these segments, North America and International, refer to geographical breakdowns of Amazon’s retail business. They generate revenue from retail sales in North America and the rest of the world, as well as from subscriptions, advertising, and export sales for those areas. The AWS segment consists of Amazon’s cloud services business.
Retail can be broken down further into online stores, comprising the bulk of sales, and physical stores. Companywide, online stores accounted for $75.5 billion in sales in Q4 2024, while physical stores generated $5.5 billion in sales.
North America
The North America segment consists of retail sales from consumer products, advertising, and subscription services in North America-focused online and physical stores.
Amazon’s North America segment dominates its net sales, bringing in $115.6 billion for Q4 2024. That is a 10% increase from the same period in 2023. North America net sales made up 61% of the company’s total net sales in Q4 2024. The segment posted operating income of $9.3 billion, an increase of 43% 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:year over year (YOY). The segment made up 43.9% of the total company operating income for the quarter.
For all of 2024, the North America segment brought in $387.5 billion in net sales. That’s up 10% from 2023. North America net sales made up 61% of Amazon’s total net sales in 2024. The segment posted operating income of $25 billion, a YOY increase of 68%. The segment made up 36.4% of the total company operating income for the year.
International
Amazon’s International segment consists of Amazon’s 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:retail business for consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions for internationally focused online stores.
The International segment brought in sales of $43.4 billion for Q4 2024, an increase of 8% YOY and making up 23.1% of company net sales. The segment had operating income of $1.3 billion, which was a significant increase from the $400 million loss from the same period in 2023. The segment made up 6.1% of the company’s operating income for Q4 2024.
For 2024 in full, the International segment brought in sales of $142.9 billion, a 9% increase from 2023 and 22.4% of company net sales. The segment had $3.8 billion in operating income, a marked turnaround from the $2.7 billion loss for 2023. The segment made up 5.5% of the company’s operating income for 2024.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006, provides cloud services to businesses, government agencies, and academic institutions to store information and deliver content. AWS provides an infrastructure platform in the cloud for a variety of solutions such as hosting applications and websites, providing enterprise information technology (IT), and content delivery.
Amazon controls about a third of the global cloud market, substantially more than its next closest competitor. AWS’s biggest rivals are Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Azure and Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL) Google Cloud.
Amazon’s AWS segment generated net sales of $28.8 billion for Q4 2024, an increase of 19%. It accounted for 15.3% of total net sales. Operating income for the segment was $10.6 billion, an increase of 47.2%. The segment accounted for 50% of operating income in Q4 2024.
For all of 2024, the AWS segment generated $107.6 billion in net sales, up 19% from 2023. It accounted for 16.9% of total net sales. AWS operating income was $39.8 billion, a YOY increase of 61.8%. The segment accounted for 58% of operating income in 2024.
Amazon’s Recent Developments
From telehealth to cancer research, Amazon has made a push into healthcare since 2018 by amassing healthcare businesses and launching Amazon Pharmacy.
The subscription service, called RxPass, launched on Jan. 24, 2023, and provides access to commonly prescribed generic medications that treat more than 80 health conditions. The company reports that Amazon pharmacists or support staff will be available at all times to discuss medications and coordinate with a patient’s doctor.
In June 2024, Amazon announced that AWS would be providing two 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) certifications, focused on AI and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:machine learning, so individuals can grow those skills and be competitive in the marketplace for jobs.
In June 2024, Amazon announced that its Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU) took action to dismantle illegal online schemes that were intended to evade Amazon’s product approval process. The unit filed six lawsuits against these perpetrators.
In September 2024, Amazon’s CCU sued defendants who applied for and obtained invalid 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trademarks to access the Amazon Brand Registry, and who submitted false infringement notices to try to have Amazon selling partners and their listings removed.
In December 2024, Amazon’s CCU in collaboration with Cisco announced the dismantling of two illegal counterfeit networks and the sentencing of four people to prison time and fines.
In February 2025, Amazon announced Alexa+, a next-generation personal assistant powered by 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:generative AI, and Ocelot, a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:quantum computing chip that can cut the costs of implementing quantum error correction by up to 90%.
What Is Amazon’s Main Business?
Amazon divides its business into three segments: North America, International, and AWS (Amazon Web Services). “North America” and “International” refer to geographical breakdowns of Amazon’s retail business. These two business segments generate revenue from retail sales, subscriptions, and export sales. AWS provides cloud services to businesses, government agencies, and academic institutions to store information and deliver content.
Is Amazon the Biggest Company in the World?
Amazon ranks as one of the world’s largest companies by 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:market capitalization and revenue. As of March 2025, Amazon has a market capitalization of $2 trillion and reported $575 billion in revenue (TTM as of Dec. 31, 2023), making it the second-largest company by revenue and the fourth by market cap. For context, some of the largest companies in the world have market caps of trillions of dollars. This makes these companies larger and more valuable than some countriesಌ’ entire economies.
How Does Amazon Make Most of Its Money?
Retail is Amazon’s primary source of revenue, with online and physical stores together accounting for the biggest share. In Q4 2024, Amazon reported $187.8 billion in retail sales. Of that, $115.6 billion belongs to its North America business segment and $43.4 billion to its International business segment.
The Bottom Line
Amazon ranks as one of the world’s largest companies by market cap. It dominates the retail space and has grown significantly since its founding as the🔯 internet boomed and people began shopping online. While Amazon started by selling books, it has branched out into selling almost every type of consumer product, as well as offering media services, cloud services, and more.