A massive global outage that took critical systems offline wasn’t enough to stop Amazon Web Services (AWS) from posting impressive growth. The cloud division’s revenue climbed 20% year-over-year to $33bn, beating Wall Street estimates of $32.42bn.
This was the first financial disclosure since the outage, and the results show the division’s fundamental strength. CEO Andy Jassy noted this was the fastest growth AWS has seen since 2022, powering Amazon’s overall strong quarter.
The parent company’s stock jumped 9% after it reported total revenue of $180.17bn and $1.95 earnings per share, easily beating analyst forecasts.
The earnings report also highlighted Amazon’s desire to compete in the AI boom. Executives touted the Rufus shopping assistant and the expansion of the Zoox autonomous driving service as key examples of its AI integration.
Meanwhile, the company is cutting 14,000 corporate jobs to “strengthen” its organization. CEO Andy Jassy denied this was a financial or AI-driven decision, claiming it was a “culture” move to foster startup-like agility.
