Amazon Third-Quarter Sales Rise 12% to $201.9 Billion as AWS Jumps 39% and Operating Income Hits a Record $28.1 Billion
SEATTLE — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) on October 29 announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2026. Net sales increased 12% to $201.9 billion, compared with $180.2 billion in the third quarter of 2025; excluding a $0.9 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, net sales rose 13%. The company noted that Prime Day shifted to the second quarter this year in most large countries, whereas in 2025 it fell entirely in the third quarter; excluding that shift, third-quarter sales growth would have been about 400 basis points higher.
By segment, North America sales rose 6% to $112.9 billion. International sales rose 5% to $43.1 billion, or 8% excluding foreign-exchange changes. AWS segment sales jumped 39% to $46.0 billion, the segment's fastest growth in nearly five years, reaching a $184 billion annualized revenue run rate.
Operating income increased to $28.1 billion, compared with $17.4 billion a year earlier, and the operating margin of 13.9% was the highest in the company's history. North America operating income was $8.7 billion, versus $4.8 billion a year earlier; International operating income was $1.6 billion, versus $1.2 billion; and AWS operating income was $17.8 billion, versus $11.4 billion.
Net income decreased to $20.7 billion, or $1.89 per diluted share, compared with $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per diluted share, a year earlier. Amazon said the decrease was driven primarily by $9.5 billion in pre-tax gains recorded in the prior-year quarter in non-operating income from its investments in Anthropic.
Operating cash flow increased 29% to $168.3 billion for the trailing twelve months. Free cash flow, however, swung to an outflow of $42.4 billion, versus an inflow of $14.8 billion a year earlier, driven primarily by a $94.8 billion year-over-year increase in purchases of property and equipment, which the company said primarily reflects investments in its infrastructure, including data centers.
President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said Amazon's AWS investment in functionality and infrastructure is working, with revenue growth of over 39% in the quarter and projected AWS revenue growth rates of over 40% in both 2027 and 2028. He said broader selection and faster delivery are helping Amazon capture more retail market share with improving margins, and that newer businesses, from Grocery to Pharmacy to Amazon Leo to Zoox, are progressing encouragingly.
Since its last earnings announcement, Amazon said AWS signed new agreements with customers including Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Salesforce, Oracle, Qualcomm, Verizon and Stripe. The company also said it plans to hire more than 300,000 seasonal, part-time and full-time employees across its U.S. operations for the holiday season.
For the fourth quarter, Amazon expects net sales between $240.0 billion and $247.0 billion, up 12% to 16% from a year earlier, anticipating an unfavorable foreign-exchange impact of about 60 basis points. Operating income is expected to be between $28.5 billion and $33.5 billion, compared with $25.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the company continues to expect 2026 cash capital expenditures of approximately $220 billion.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 亚马逊西雅图总部的 Amazon Spheres（资料图）。Andy Li 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Amazon Spheres at Amazon's Seattle headquarters (file photo). Photo by Andy Li, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
