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Amazon reports first $200 billion quarter as advertising revenue rises 26% toward $20 billion, shares jump after-hours
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Culture/The Apex Times/Jul 30, 4:49 PM EDT

Amazon reports first $200 billion quarter as advertising revenue rises 26% toward $20 billion, shares jump after-hours

Amazon says growth from advertising and AWS drove results for the quarter ended in the company’s most recent reporting period, sending shares up roughly 9% in after-hours trading Thursday.

2 min readEditor-approved Apex article

Amazon shares rose in after-hours trading Thursday after the company reported results for a big second quarter that topped $200 billion for the first time, beating Wall Street expectations and citing strong performance tied to its advertising business and Amazon Web Services. Deadline reported the stock gained about 9% following the release, with investors focusing on the company’s artificial intelligence-linked product momentum and its expanding ad revenue stream.

According to Deadline, Amazon’s advertising revenue increased 26% to nearly the $20 billion mark, making advertising a key driver of overall sales growth for the quarter. The report framed the rise as part of Amazon’s broader ability to monetize its retail and technology platforms through ads, including placements that reach shoppers and businesses using Amazon’s services.

The company also highlighted AWS as a major contributor. Deadline reported that AWS revenue surged 37% for the quarter, which it described as the largest quarterly increase in more than four years. That acceleration, Deadline said, helped power Amazon’s larger earnings and revenue performance.

Deadline further reported that the quarter’s earnings per share beat expectations. The reporting package described the results as the first time Amazon has reached a $200 billion quarter, placing additional emphasis on Amazon’s dual engine of cloud services and advertising tied to its retail and media ecosystem.

While the immediate reaction in markets came after the earnings release, the longer-term operational implications for culture-related business dynamics are likely to center on how advertising spending and cloud capacity translate into content discovery, shopping experiences, and production workflows. Amazon’s advertising growth can affect how brands purchase visibility across its platforms, while AWS growth can influence how media and other digital companies run data-intensive applications at scale, Deadline indicated by tying the performance to AI activity and broader platform demand.

Amazon is expected to follow through with further detail in its official earnings materials, including segment disclosures for AWS and advertising, and explanations of demand trends and operating costs. For investors and media-adjacent businesses that rely on Amazon’s ad tools and cloud services, the next step is reviewing the company’s full results and guidance to determine which drivers are likely to persist beyond the quarter.

Because the reporting in Deadline’s account summarizes headline figures rather than reproducing full filings, readers may want to consult the company’s investor presentation and quarterly earnings release for the complete breakdown, including any commentary about customer demand, pricing, and AI-related deployment. For now, Deadline’s reported figures establish the central narrative for Thursday’s market move: an advertising surge near $20 billion, a sharp AWS rebound, and an overall quarter that reached $200 billion for the first time.

Why It Matters

  • Advertising growth near $20 billion indicates continued expansion of Amazon’s monetization of its consumer and business platforms during a high-spending period for digital ads.
  • A 37% AWS revenue increase suggests cloud demand and capacity utilization trends that can affect media, tech, and other data-heavy industries using Amazon services.
  • A quarter topping $200 billion for the first time highlights the scale of Amazon’s role in both commerce advertising and cloud computing, which can influence pricing power and budget allocations across the ad and cloud markets.
  • For businesses that sell through Amazon and for enterprises running applications on AWS, the quarter’s results are likely to inform budgeting, partner planning, and spending priorities after the company’s disclosures.

Sources

Key Facts

  • Deadline reported Amazon posted its first $200 billion quarter in its most recent earnings results.
  • Deadline said Amazon’s advertising revenue rose 26% to nearly $20 billion.
  • Deadline reported AWS revenue grew 37% in the quarter, described as the biggest quarterly increase in more than four years.
  • Deadline reported Amazon beat Wall Street expectations on earnings per share.
  • Deadline reported Amazon shares rose about 9% in after-hours trading following the results release.
Amazon reports first $200 billion quarter as advertising revenue rises 26% toward $20 billion, shares jump after-hours | The Apex Times