Amazon’s quarterly profits soar to $2.5 billion

Amazon.com’s quarterly profits hit a record $2.5 billion (all figures US), the technology giant announced Thursday, as it races to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company.

Profits rose 12-fold from a year earlier, while second-quarter revenue increased 39 per cent to $52.9 billion.

This marks the 13th consecutive quarter of profits for Amazon, which didn’t turn a profit for years as it reinvested in its business.

Amazon is going toe-to-toe with Apple and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to become the first company with a $1-trillion market capitalization. Amazon’s is currently $861 billion. Apple, meanwhile, has a market cap of $946 billion, while Alphabet’s is $877 billion.

Shares of Amazon spiked about 3 per cent in after-hours trading following the news. The company’s stock, currently valued at about $1,808 a share, is up 57 per cent so far this year.

The results do not include sales from last week’s Prime Day, the company-created discount event that now brings in billions of dollars for Amazon. This year, the company said it sold more than 100 million items during the 36-hour sale, though it did not disclose sales figures.

Overall for the three-month period ending June 30, profits totalled $2.5 billion, or $5.21 per share, up from $197 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier.

The retail behemoth has been growing at breakneck speed as it expands into new industries.