Amazon delivered strong results for its fourth quarter of 2024, with earnings per share smashing Wall Street expectations and overall net sales in line with estimates and growing 10% year over year.
The results were bolstered by an 18% increase in advertising sales services revenue to $17.3 billion, which includes sales to sellers, vendors, publishers, authors and others through programs such as sponsored ads, display and video advertising.
Net sales for its subscription services segment, which includes annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, grew 10% to $11.5 billion during the fourth quarter. That segment includes digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book and other non-Amazon Web Services subscription services.
Here are the top-line results:
Net income: $20 billion, compared to $$10.6 billion a year ago. For the full year, net income was $59.2 billion in 2024, compared to $30.4 billion in 2023.
Earnings per share: $1.86 per diluted share, compared to $1.52 expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. For the full year, EPS came in at $5.53 per diluted share, compared to $2.90 per diluted share in 2023.
Net sales: $187.8 billion, up 10% year over year, compared to $187.28 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. For the full year, net sales grew 11% to $638 billion, compared to $574.8 billion a year ago.
Operating income: $21.2 billion, compared to $$13.2 billion a year ago. For the full year, 2024 operating income was $68.6 billion, compared with $36.9 billion in 2023.
Shares fell over 4% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the tech giant warned that its net sales in the first quarter of 2025 would incur an unfavorable impact of $2.1 billion due to foreign exchange rates. In comparison, Amazon noted that the additional Leap Year day in the 2024 quarter added approximately $1.5 billion in net sales.
The company expects net sales between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, or growth between 5% and 9% compared with first-quarter 2024. Operating income is expected to be between $14.0 billion and $18.0 billion, compared with $15.3 billion in first-quarter 2024.
Entertainment related highlights for the quarter included the Prime Video film “Red One,” the holiday action-comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, which drew 50 million worldwide viewers in its first four days, making it Amazon MGM Studio’s most-watched film debut ever on the streamer. Amazon also finished its third season of “Thursday Night Football” with a season average of 13.2 million viewers, an 11% increase over 2023, hitting a peak of 24.7 million during the wild card playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens.
In January, Prime Video celebrated the one-year anniversary of launching its ad-supported tier, which is the default for all subscribers. The service has an average monthly ad-supported reach of more than 115 million customers in the U.S., and more than 200 million globally.
“We’re quite pleased with the early progress, and head into this year with momentum,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts on Thursday.
Amazon plans to expand its Prime Video ad tier to new markets in 2025 — including Brazil, India, Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The ad-supported tier is already available in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the U.K.
Currently, Amazon Prime, which includes Prime Video, costs $14.99 per month or $139 a year. A membership that only includes Prime Video and none of the company’s shipping benefits costs $8.99 a month. Those who want an ad-free streaming experience will be charged an additional $2.99 per month.
The company will hold its upfront presentation to advertisers May 12 at The Beacon Theater in New York.
