Amazon touts 'millions' of new Prime members, 1,382 new robot workers as it pulls in $17 billion in revenue

Amazon's known for not offering many specific details about its device sales or customers in its earnings reports, and this quarter's is no exception. The company did note, however, that it added "millions" of Prime users during the quarter, a number that's no doubt only set to grow further now that it's finally raised its free shipping threshold to $35. Beyond that, the company announced that its net sales increased 24% year-over-year to 17.09 billion, but it's still not making a profit, reporting a net loss of $41 million for the quarter.

In one detail you don't often see in an earnings report, Amazon also boasted that it's deployed 1,382 Kiva robots in three of its fulfillment centers during the quarter (it bought the company last year), adding another degree of automation to its shipping process. That pales in comparison to the number of new human employees its brought on, though -- Amazon says it has begun hiring and training 70,000 new employees to work in those centers in advance of the holiday season. You can find the rest of the company's numbers at the source link below.

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Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Sales up 24% to $17.09 Billion
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2013-- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2013.

Operating cash flow increased 48% to $4.98 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.37 billion for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2012. Free cash flow decreased 63% to $388 million for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.06 billion for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2012. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2013 includes fourth quarter 2012 cash outflows for purchases of corporate office space and property in Seattle, Washington, of $1.4 billion.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 475 million on September 30, 2013, compared with 469 million one year ago.

Net sales increased 24% to $17.09 billion in the third quarter, compared with $13.81 billion in third quarter 2012. Excluding the $332 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales grew 26% compared with third quarter 2012.

Operating loss was $25 million in the third quarter, compared with an operating loss of $28 million in third quarter 2012. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating loss was $7 million.

Net loss was $41 million in the third quarter, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $274 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, in third quarter 2012. The third quarter 2012 includes a loss of $169 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, related to our equity-method share of the losses reported by LivingSocial, primarily attributable to its impairment charge of certain assets, including goodwill.

"It's been a busy few months-we launched a new Paperwhite and new Kindle Fires to positive reviews and surprised people with the revolutionary Mayday button-average Mayday response times are just 11 seconds!" said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "And that's not all. In the last 90 days, our AWS team got back to work on a big government contract, we brought 8 million square feet of fulfillment center capacity online, deployed 1,382 Kiva robots in three FCs, provided a new venue for artists to reach customers, signed up millions of new Prime members, announced Kindle MatchBook, Login & Pay, and nine new original TV pilots, joined the Code.org coalition, acquired TenMarks-a company that helps kids with math, scored a win for customers who want to use Kindles on airplanes even during takeoff and landing (also, a big hat tip to Nick Bilton on that one), began hiring and training 70,000 new U.S. FC employees to help serve customers this holiday season, and saw the Kindle Million Club grow to include 14 KDP authors."

Highlights

Amazon introduced the third generation of Kindle Fire-the all-new Kindle Fire HDX. The new Kindle Fire HDX tablets combine groundbreaking hardware, the latest version of Fire OS, and exclusive new features and services like X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button.
The new Kindle Fire HDX family features stunning exclusive display with exceptional pixel density (323 ppi for 7", 339 ppi for 8.9"), a powerful quad-core processor running at 2.2 GHz with over 3x the processing power compared to the previous generation, and a startlingly light design-at just 13.2 ounces, the 8.9" Kindle Fire HDX is the lightest large-screen tablet, 34% lighter than the previous generation.
Amazon also introduced the new $139 Kindle Fire HD, with a slimmer and lighter design, HD display, high-performance processor, and dual speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio.
Kindle Fire HDX includes the new Mayday button, delivering revolutionary live tech support-one touch connects you to an Amazon expert who can guide you remotely through any feature-24x7, 365 days a year, and it's free.
Amazon introduced new enterprise and productivity features in Fire OS 3.0 "Mojito,"-the next generation of software and services that powers the Kindle Fire tablets-including encryption, secure Wi-Fi, a native VPN client, Kerberos support for Intranet access, integration with leading Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions, a new email client, built-in OfficeSuite support and wireless printing capabilities. These features will be available on the new Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX.
Amazon announced that the world's best-selling e-reader-Kindle Paperwhite-is getting even better. The all-new Kindle Paperwhite features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers, including Kindle Page Flip, Goodreads, Kindle FreeTime, Smart Lookup, Vocabulary Builder, and more.
Amazon introduced Kindle MatchBook, a new benefit that gives customers the option to buy-for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free-the Kindle edition of the print books they have purchased new from Amazon. Print purchases all the way back to 1995-when Amazon first opened its online bookstore-will qualify once a publisher enrolls a title in Kindle MatchBook.
Amazon launched the Mexico Kindle Store, offering Mexican customers over 2 million titles, hundreds of thousands of which are exclusive, and more than 70,000 in Spanish. In addition, Amazon announced that Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite are now on sale locally in Mexico at Gandhi stores. For more details, visit www.amazon.com.mx.
Building on a successful first round of pilots last April, Amazon announced it has given the green light for the production of six new pilots for kids, as well as three new half-hour pilots created by a mix of Oscar, Emmy and Tony-nominated writers. Customers will be invited to watch, provide feedback and help determine which pilots should be produced as series to air exclusively on Prime Instant Video and Amazon's LOVEFiLM in the UK in 2014.
Amazon launched Appstore Developer Select, a program for developers who optimize their apps and games for Amazon's Appstore and Fire OS. Developers in the Appstore Developer Select program will receive a broad range of marketing and economic benefits that will help improve app discovery and increase sales even further. Appstore Developer Select apps receive premium placement in the Amazon Appstore, 500,000 ad impressions on the Amazon Mobile Ad Network, and automatic inclusion in the Amazon Appstore Coins Reward category. Customers will receive Amazon Coins when they purchase Appstore Developer Select apps, games, and in-app items. Developers in the program also receive credits equaling 25% off their first $2,000 in AWS services annually.
Amazon released Login and Pay with Amazon, a new service that streamlines how customers transact with online merchants, allowing participating companies to empower customers to go from browsing to buying in just a few clicks using their Amazon account information.
Amazon.com, Inc. announced the launch of Amazon Art, a marketplace that gives customers direct access to more than 40,000 works of fine art from over 150 galleries and dealers. The store is one of the largest online collections of original and limited edition artwork for purchase directly from galleries and dealers. The new store features easy-to-use discovery tools to help open the art world to customers and offers detailed information about the works of art from galleries of all sizes.
Amazon is creating more than 70,000 full-time seasonal jobs across its U.S. fulfillment centers this holiday season in order to meet an increase in customer demand. In 2012, Amazon converted thousands of seasonal employees into regular, full-time roles after the holidays, and expects to do the same this year. On average, seasonal employees earn 94 percent of Amazon fulfillment center employee starting wages and are eligible for health care benefits.
Amazon.com, Inc. acquired TenMarks, a company that is helping teachers and parents deliver innovative mathematics curriculum to students across the country.
Since launching the marketplace website Amazon.in last quarter, Amazon has rapidly added more selection to serve customers in India with 10 new categories launched in less than 120 days-Kindle, Consumer Electronics, Mobile Phones & Accessories, Computers & Accessories, Toys, Baby, Personal and Health Care Appliances, Watches, Fashion Jewelry, and Home and Kitchen. With Amazon.in customers can shop with ease and confidence from over nine million books, over 130,000 products from hundreds of brands, and more than 1.9 million eBooks from a constantly expanding group of retailers.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) introduced more than 15 new features and enhancements to its fully managed relational and NoSQL database services. Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) now supports Oracle Statspack performance diagnostics and has expanded MySQL support, including capabilities for zero downtime data migration. Enhancements to Amazon DynamoDB include new cross-region support, a local test tool, and location-based query capabilities.
AWS continued to bolster its management services, making it easier to provision and manage more AWS resources with AWS CloudFormation and AWS OpsWorks, which both added support for Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). AWS also enhanced the AWS Console mobile app and introduced a new Command Line Interface.
AWS continued to gain momentum in the public sector and now has more than 2,400 education institutions and 600 government agencies as customers, including recent new projects with customers such as the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
Financial Guidance

The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com's expectations as of October 24, 2013, and are subject to substantial uncertainty. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce and the various factors detailed below.

Fourth Quarter 2013 Guidance

Net sales are expected to be between $23.5 billion and $26.5 billion, or to grow between 10% and 25% compared with fourth quarter 2012.
Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(500) million and $500 million, compared to $405 million in fourth quarter 2012.
This guidance includes approximately $350 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, restructurings, or legal settlements are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates.
A conference call will be webcast live today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will be available for at least three months at www.amazon.com/ir. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the Company's financial and operating results.

These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, in addition to the factors discussed above, the amount that Amazon.com invests in new business opportunities and the timing of those investments, the mix of products sold to customers, the mix of net sales derived from products as compared with services, the extent to which we owe income taxes, competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating results, international growth and expansion, the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, risks of inventory management, seasonality, the degree to which the Company enters into, maintains, and develops commercial agreements, acquisitions, and strategic transactions, and risks of fulfillment throughput and productivity. Other risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to new products, services, and technologies, system interruptions, government regulation and taxation, payments, and fraud. In addition, the current global economic climate amplifies many of these risks. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Our investor relations website is www.amazon.com/ir and we encourage investors to use it as a way of easily finding information about us. We promptly make available on this website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC, corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics), and select press releases and social media postings.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world's best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7" or 8.9" HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, and www.amazon.com.mx. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.