Retail: Amazon soars to record profit

Amazon’s quarterly profits have rocketed to $2 billion for the first time, said Laura Stevens in The Wall Street Journal. The $2.53 billion profit in the second quarter is up more than 10-fold from $197 million in the same period last year. The stellar financial results were “powered by the company’s newer services businesses that are ushering the online retail giant into an era of swelling profitability.” Sectors such as the company’s cloud-computing business, its burgeoning advertising offerings, and its seller services helped hand Amazon its third straight quarter of $1 billion–plus profits.