Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
E-commerce giant Amazon reported its fourth-quarter 2020 financial results, confirming net sales of $126 billion, the first quarter in which the retailer has surpassed $100 billion.
In total, the fourth-quarter revenue stands 44 percent above the same period in 2019, in which Amazon saw $87 billion in net sales. Amazon’s net income is $7.2 billion for the fourth quarter, more than double the same period in 2019.
For fiscal year 2020, net sales increased 38 percent to $386.1 billion, compared to $281 billion in 2019. Amazon’s net income for fiscal year 2020 was $21.3 billion, up more than 83 percent from one year ago.
CEO Jeff Bezos Set to Depart
Jeff Bezos will step down as Amazon’s CEO in the third quarter of the year and be replaced by current Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy, reports CNBC.
Bezos will transition to the executive chair of Amazon’s board, according to the report. He founded Amazon in 1994 and since then, has steered it from its origins as an online bookstore to an e-commerce titan. The company is now worth $1.6 trillion, according to CNBC.
“If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive,” Bezos says in a letter to employees. “When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”
Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 and has overseen cloud computing platform AWS since its beginning. The cloud service is a significant contributor to Amazon’s profits, CNBC reports.
Subscribe to Hardware Retailing to receive industry headlines, insightful features and resources to streamline your business each week.
