Infographic: Amazon Posted Record Earnings For The Fourth Consecutive Quarter

Amazon announced its first quarter earnings on Thursday, beating analyst expectations by posting its fourth consecutive record profit. The Seattle-based e-commerce behemoth reported total sales of $59.7 billion for the three months ending March 31, up from $51.0 billion in Q1 2018. Net profit more than doubled from $1.6 billion in Q1 2018 to $3.6 billion this year.

Amazon’s new-found profitability can largely be traced back to strong growth of its higher-margin businesses. Amazon Web Services, the company’s highly profitable cloud business, grew by 41 percent, while digital subscriptions and advertising sales also saw growth rates exceeding those of the traditionally low-margin online and offline retail segments.

The recent surge in profit is a pleasant surprise to Amazon’s shareholders and a change in what has long been standard operating procedure for the Seattle-based company. For many years, Amazon had reinvested nearly every dollar it made with a relentless focus on long-term growth. Considering that the company's profit just soared to an all-time high for the fourth quarter in a row, it seems like even Jeff Bezos is running out of ideas to reinvest all of the money flowing in.