Brand Marketing
FMCG firms cut senior roles by 32%; Total headcount shrinks 9.26% in FY25
Amazon reported strong second-quarter results on Wednesday, bolstered by continued growth in its advertising business, alongside gains in its cloud division and broader AI investments.
The Seattle-based company posted $167.7 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 30, a 13 percent increase from the same period last year. Net income jumped to $18.2 billion, or $1.68 per diluted share, from $13.5 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.
Amazon's ad business continues to be one of the company’s fastest-growing and most profitable segments. Revenue from ad services stood at $15.7 billion, up from approximately $14 billion in the previous quarter. The company highlighted deeper integrations with Roku, giving advertisers access to an estimated 80 million U.S. households through the largest authenticated Connected TV footprint in the country.
The gains were also driven by robust performance across Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud computing arm, which reported $30.9 billion in revenue — up 17.5 percent from a year ago. AWS operating income rose to $10.2 billion from $9.3 billion.
“Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out as we’ve expanded Alexa+ to millions of customers, continue to see our shopping agent used by many millions of customers, launched AI models like DeepFleet that optimize productivity paths for our 1M+ robots,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon’s president and CEO.
Retail operations in North America, still Amazon’s largest business segment, generated $100.1 billion in sales and $7.5 billion in operating income. International revenue grew 16 percent to $36.8 billion, boosted in part by favorable foreign exchange rates.
AI remains central to Amazon’s growth strategy. The company introduced new developer tools, voice assistants, logistics models, and generative AI capabilities across its AWS and retail ecosystems. Recent partnerships with clients such as PepsiCo, Airbnb, Nissan, and SAP underscore the increasing relevance of AWS in enterprise AI deployment.
Amazon said its Prime Day in July was its biggest ever, with billions in savings for customers and record-breaking sales for independent sellers. The company has also expanded Same-Day and Next-Day Delivery services to over 4,000 smaller towns and rural communities in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Prime Video continues to expand its sports footprint, drawing roughly 2 million viewers per race for its NASCAR coverage and assembling a star-studded lineup for NBA broadcasts. The company also announced that director Denis Villeneuve will helm the next James Bond film.
Amazon’s operating cash flow rose 12 percent to $121.1 billion over the trailing twelve months, while free cash flow fell to $18.2 billion from $53 billion in the prior-year period.
“We continue to improve our customer experiences, speed of innovation, operational efficiency, and business growth,” Jassy said. “I’m excited for what lies ahead.”
The number of complaints filed under the POSH Act witnessed a sharp increase in FY25 compared to the previous financial year.