Investing

This Is How Much Money Amazon Makes Every Minute

Trey Thoelcke

Published: March 29, 2024 8:50 am

There is no question that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) forever changed the retail landscape. The upstart bookseller has grown into a colossal conglomerate that has made founder Jeff Bezos one of the richest persons in the world. The company’s market capitalization was around $1.8 trillion last year. And its stock is one of the so-called Magnificent Seven that have been driving the stock market for the past year or so.

The question here is how much money Amazon makes every minute. Let’s take a look.

How Does Amazon Make Its Money?

Source: Kativ / E+ via Getty Images

The company was founded in 1994 as an online marketplace for books. It went public in the spring of 1997, and its focus expanded into music, videos, and ultimately just about everything else. It launched its Amazon Web Services (AWS) business in 2002 and its Prime subscription service in 2005.

Today, the retail business, including online and physical stores, accounts for about 44% of the company’s revenue. Subscription and third-party seller services bring in about 31%, while about 16% came from AWS. The United States is by far the largest market, with around $396 billion in sales last year. Germany and the United Kingdom were second and third with $38 billion and $34 billion, respectively.

Here is a look at annual revenue and revenue per minute for the past five years:

How Much Does Amazon Really Make?

Source: Khongtham / iStock via Getty Images

Revenue is not the full picture, of course. Net income, also called profits or earnings, is what is left after expenses such as cost of goods sold, taxes, and interest are subtracted. In other words, it is the bottom line (of the income statement), as opposed to revenue, the top line.

As Amazon’s top line has grown, so too have its operating expenses. At the end of 2019, quarterly operating expenses totaled about $66.25 billion. That has climbed to $79.20 billion most recently, though the rate of growth has slowed in recent quarters. So how has that affected the bottom line?

Here is a look at annual net income and net income per minute for the past five years:

How Has Amazon Stock Fared?

Source: MicroStockHub / iStock via Getty Images

Amazon stock tumbled more than 22% in 2014, in part a reaction to poor quarterly reports and disappointing product releases. Shares ended the year at about $15.50 apiece (split-adjusted). Since then, they are up more than 1,062% and were last seen trading near $180 apiece, after reaching an all-time high of $181.70 last week.

That high is 6% or so less than the consensus price target of $191.11. Note that the high price target is almost $220, and all but four of the 47 analysts who follow the stock recommend buying shares. (If you invested $1,000 in Amazon 10 years ago, here’s how much you’d have today.)