“Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more”, commented Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition”, he concluded.

Fourth Quarter 2020

Net sales increased by 44% to 125.6 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter, compared with 87.4 billion US dollars in fourth quarter 2019. Excluding the 1.7 billion US dollars favourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 42% compared with fourth quarter 2019. Operating income increased to 6.9 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter, compared with operating income of 3.9 billion US dollars in fourth quarter 2019. Net income increased to 7.2 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter, or 14.09 US dollars per diluted share, compared with net income of 3.3 billion US dollars, or 6.47 US dollars per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2019.

Full Year 2020

Net sales increased by 38% to 386.1 billion US dollars, compared with 280.5 billion US dollars in 2019. Excluding the 1.4 billion US dollars favourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales increased by 37% compared with 2019. Operating income increased to 22.9 billion US dollars, compared with operating income of 14.5 billion US in 2019. Net income increased to 21.3 billion US dollars, or 41.83 per diluted share, compared with net income of 11.6 billion US dollars, or 23.01 US dollars per diluted share, in 2019.

Amazon also announced that Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021 and Andy Jassy will become Chief Executive Officer at that time.