SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 ― Amazon yesterday posted its first quarterly loss since 2015, as it was dragged down by its investment in electric truck maker Rivian, and warned of continuing challenges in the months ahead.
Sales at the online retail colossus were in line with analyst expectations, but chief executive Andy Jassy warned of testing times in the months ahead.Amazon also faces pressure from inflation and rising labour costs. The tech titan's AWS cloud computing unit, not yet a major revenue source for the company, grew at a cooling pace to US$116.4 million from US$108.5 million in the first three months of last year.
Amazon continues to invest in its logistics network for fast deliveries of online purchases, but is facing the same inflation and rising labour costs afflicting the broader market, Jassy said.