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Amazon has reported its most profitable quarter ever, achieving $513m (£351m) up from $57m (£39m) the previous year.
The first quarter result was better than analysts were expecting and saw the company’s shares shoot up by 12% during after-hours trading.
The profit was achieved on sales of $29.1bn (£19.91bn) on goods and services, up 28% from the same period last year.
Sales were boosted by the company’s own Kindle Fire tablets .
Jeff Bezos, Amazon c.e.o and founder, said: “Amazon devices are the top selling products on Amazon, and customers purchased more than twice as many Fire tablets than first quarter last year.”
He added that the company’s approach was to build “premium products at non-premium prices”, and added he was “thrilled so many customers are responding”.
In its international segment, which includes the UK among other non-North American territories sales were $9.56bn (£6.54bn) for the first quarter, up from $7.75bn (£5.3bn) in the same period last year. Media sales in its international segment, which includes books and e-books, totalled $2.48bn (£1.7bn), up from $2.23bn (£1.53bn) a year earlier.
In the UK, Amazon has said it plans to create over 2,500 new permanent jobs this year, bringing the total number of permanent full-time employees across Britain to more than 14,500 by the end of 2016.
It also said it was “on track” to open its new head office in Principal Place in London’s Shoreditch housing 5,000 employees in 2017. The company has also recently revealed its “thinnest and lightest” e-reader, the Kindle Oasis, costing £270, with reviewers praising the product but questioning the high price tag.
On Wednesday (27th April), Amazon revealed that China country manager Doug Gurr will move to the UK to replace Christopher North as Amazon UK c.e.o in May.