Amazon reports strong Q1 results driven by cloud-computing unit and Prime Video

Amazon was boosted by Prime Video (AP)

Amazon has reported strong results for the first quarter, driven by growth in its cloud-computing unit and a new surge of advertising dollars from its Prime Video streaming service.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said it brought in $143.31bn in revenue in the first three months of this year, a 13% jump compared with the same period last year.

Net income came to $10.43bn, or 98 cents per share.

It was a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience improvements and financial results

That soundly beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations for 84 cents a share, according to FactSet.

“It was a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience improvements and financial results,” Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy said in a statement.

The biggest online retailer in the US is coming off better-than-expected results for the holiday shopping period, when it saw strong consumer spending aided by discounts and faster shipping speeds.

Amazon held another discount event in late March, right before the end of the first quarter.

Aside from its core retail business, Amazon said first-quarter sales in its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, amounted to $25.04bn, up 17% from the same period last year.

Sales in the company’s online advertising business also spiked 24%, partly driven by an influx of ad dollars coming from Prime Video.

After years of giving Prime subscribers ad-free access to their favourite movies and TV shows, Amazon implemented a new policy in late January that lets viewers avoid ads only if they pay an additional amount a month.

Shares in Amazon rose 3% in after-hours trading.