Amazon’s profit in the first three months of 2021 came in at $8.1bn (£5.8bn) – more than triple what it was in the same period last year.
The online marketplace is among the businesses that have thrived during the various government lockdowns aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus.
As many millions of people were forced to stay in their homes, Amazon was relied on for the delivery of supplies.
Since the pandemic began, the business has posted four consecutive record quarterly profits, attracted more than 200 million Prime loyalty subscribers, and recruited more than 500,000 employees to keep up with the demand.
Revenue was up 44% to $108.5bn (£77bn), making Amazon one of just four US companies to have reported quarterly revenue above $100bn (the others being Apple, Exxon Mobil and Walmart).
Sales at Amazon’s ad business were up 77% and its cloud-computing business – which helps power the online operations of Netflix, McDonald’s and others – grew by 32%.
Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, said many businesses want to outsource their technology infrastructure to Amazon Web Services.
“We expect this trend to continue as we move into the post-pandemic recovery,” he said.
