Amazon has a mixed Q4, scores at least some profit

This week has been financial reports. The figures give us an idea of how tech companies are doing in the market and against each other. The latest figures to come for its fourth quarter is Amazon. Amazon has just released its fiscal Q4 earnings, reporting US$29.33-billion in revenue, $214 million in net profit representing US$0.45 per share.

For the past two quarters, Amazon unexpectedly posted losses. It’s $29. 33 billion revenue falls short of the $29. 67 billion in revenue which analysts had predicted for the company. Good news for Amazon is that shortly after the report even though it fell short of the analysts’ expectation, shares were trading up 7.86 percent in after-hours trading.

Last year, Amazon reported $25.59 billion in revenue, and earnings per share of $0.51. Today’s release represents a 14.6 percent year over year increase for revenue, and a 11.8 percent decline for earnings.

Read more: Google earnings disappoint analysts while ad revenue continues to grow

Amongst Amazon’s failures of last year has to be its Fire Phone whose dismal performance in the market forced them to bring its price down.

Amazon Prime is doing well, with tens of millions of people around the world subscribe to Prime to get faster delivery and streaming services. Transparent, its Prime exclusive series, received two Golden Globes. The company has already signed Woody Allen for a new series that is yet to be named but scheduled for a 2015 release.

“When we raised the price of Prime membership last year, we were confident that customers would continue to find it the best bargain in the history of shopping. The data is in and customers agree — on a base of tens of millions, worldwide paid membership grew 53% last year — 50% in the US and even a bit faster outside the US,” CEO Jeff Bezos says in the release.

According to Amazon, advertising across its various platforms, including the Amazon Appstore for Android, Amazon Instant Video and the Kindle Store, has also been doing well.

Whatever happens for Amazon this year, it will do it good to avoid another Fire Phone or being up in arms with publishers over the prices of books.