Internet retail giant Amazon posted a 24 per cent increase in third-quarter revenues on Thursday but still lost money as it geared up for the holiday shopping season.
The Seattle-based company said that it had $17.09 billion in sales, up from $13.8 billion a year earlier. Expenses also rose 24 per cent from a year ago to $17.12 billion, leaving the company with a loss of $41 million, down from $274 million in the third quarter of 2012.
Analysts had expected the loss as the company invests billions in new technology and distribution centres to service major cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco with faster, cheaper deliveries.
Amazon has invested heavily in developing its line of Kindle tablet computers, which have proven an attractive low-cost alternative to Apple’s iPads.
For the fourth quarter, Amazon expected revenue of between $23.5 billion and $6.5 billion, with an operating result of between a $500 million loss and a $500 million profit.