Amazon Thrives On Big Q2 For AI, Advertising Revenue Climbs 26% To Near $20 Billion Mark

Amazon shares surged in after-hours trading Thursday after the tech giant posted its first $200 billion quarter and beat Wall Street expectations with its financial results. Growth in advertising and AWS keyed the performance, which boosted shares 9%. Revenue at AWS surged 37%, the biggest quarterly increase in more than four years. Overall earnings per share came in at $5.75, more than triple Wall Street analysts’ consensus forecast, with revenue of $200.6 billion also topping estimates. After a bruising session for rival Meta Platforms, whose stock was punished Wednesday and again Thursday after the company said it would increase its already lavish spending on AI, the quarterly report came as a relief. Many investors have been fretting about questionable returns on the industry’s trillion-dollar buildout of AI capacity. By contrast, Amazon delivered red meat to the Street, signaling both its microchips business and the AI operation at AWS had reached $25 billion annual run rates, establishing in the eyes of many their long-term viability. As Big Tech firms all refine their strategies in the AI race, Amazon has started to solidify its plans to rent out capacity to large players like Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic. It also can supply chips for companies to put in their own data centers. Watch on Deadline Advertising, which has been a major focus at Prime Video over the past several years, notched its best growth in years, rising 26% over the prior-year period to hit $19.8 billion. The earnings release touted new live sports offerings like the NBA and NASCAR, which have delivered strong viewership. On the original series front, Off Campus pulled in 36 million in its first 12 days, becoming the third most-watched series debut in Prime Video history. “There’s a lot to be excited about, and we have much more coming for customers in the second half of the year and beyond,” CEO Andy Jassy said in the release. MORE to come …