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Amazon announced a net profit of 14.3 billion dollars in the last quarter of 2021. Over the past year as a whole, the American giant has earned nearly 470 billion dollars in revenue (+ 22%) and more than 33 billion in profit (+57%).
© Getty – Patrick Pleul
After Facebook’s spectacular collapse on the stock market, Wall Street is picking up steam with Amazon. Despite the severe tension in supply chains, particularly high inflation in the United States and difficulties in hiring, the American giant reassured investors by announcing a net profit of 14.3 billion dollars in the fourth quarter. 2021, double the profits recorded in the same period a year earlier.
At the same time, the turnover of the firm now headed by Andy Jassy increased by 9.4%, to 137.4 billion dollars. Over the whole of 2021, Amazon earned nearly $470 billion in revenue (+22%) and more than $33 billion in profit (+57%). These good results were hailed on the Nasdaq, where the action of the e-commerce specialist climbed 14% in pre-market quotations in New York.
Over the last three months of the past year, Amazon suffered from the logistics crisis in a critical period for the American group since it includes Black Friday and the end-of-year holidays, two highlights that make the fourth quarter the most prolific of the year for the Seattle company. Despite a lack of manpower that cost Amazon $ 4 billion over this period according to Andy Jassy, the giant from across the Atlantic was able to count on the cloud and advertising to compensate for the slight decline in online sales. (–1%).
Advertising revenue revealed for the first time
Cash cow of the group, Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary dedicated to the cloud, saw its turnover jump 40% in one year to reach 17.8 billion dollars between October and December. A world leader in the cloud, AWS generated $5.3 billion in profit over the period. During this, the division notably signed juicy contracts with Meta (Facebook), the car manufacturer Stellantis (ex-PSA) or the pharmaceutical laboratory Pfizer.
In its quarterly results, Amazon innovated by lifting the veil on its performance in advertising. For this first, the American giant revealed that its advertising revenues had enabled it to garner 9.7 billion dollars in three months, up 32% over one year. Over the whole of 2021, this line of activity brought in $31 billion. This is twice less than Google, the world leader in the sector, which recorded $ 61.2 billion in revenue in this area in the last quarter of 2021, but Amazon is progressing quickly in the advertising market, where the group occupies a solid third place. behind Google and Facebook, which monopolize more than half of the world’s digital advertising revenue.
Rivian, an 11.8 billion dollar bonus
In addition to cloud and advertising, Amazon was also able to count on a welcome bonus in the fourth quarter. The American giant has indeed captured a pre-tax gain of $ 11.8 billion from its stake in the manufacturer of electric pickups Rivian, which went public in November. A successful operation that allowed the group to limit the impact of its expenses to meet its promise of rapid deliveries during the crucial end-of-year holiday season, despite a disorganized global supply chain and an increase in workers infected with the arrival of the Omicron variant. During this very important period for the American firm, the latter recruited 140,000 additional employees.
After showing its resilience over the last three months of 2021, Amazon is cautious for the first quarter of 2022 with operating profit expected between 3 and 6 billion dollars, against 8.9 billion generated during the same period last year. This indicator was already down at the end of 2021, to 3.5 billion dollars, against 6.9 billion a year earlier. For the first three months of the year, the American giant is targeting revenues of between 112 and 117 billion dollars. To inflate its turnover, the group has notably decided to increase the price of its Prime offer, whose subscription will go from 119 to 139 dollars per year in the United States. It’s the first time since 2018 that Amazon has raised the price of its service, which has more than 200 million members worldwide.