Amazon profits surge on strong trading season and cloud computing growth

Profits at Amazon have surged on strong seasonal trading and robust growth in its powerhouse cloud computing business. The world's largest retailer generated revenue of 170bn in the three months to December, up 14% on the same period of 2022, and clearing expectations on Wall Street of some 166bn. Net income hit 10.6bn in the fourth quarter, from 278m a year previously, after the company moved to cut costs and draw a line under years of rapid expansion following the onset of the pandemic. Earnings per share hit 1.03. Shares in the business rose 5.5% during out-of-hours trading in New York.