$AMZN just posted Q3 numbers: $202B in revenue, up 12% YoY. Solid top-line growth, nothing crazy.
Net income down 2% to $21B — but that's misleading. Last year they booked a $9.5B gain from their Anthropic stake. Strip that out and the underlying business actually improved.
The real story: operating margin hit 14%, up from 11% a year ago. That's the highest they've ever done. They're finally converting scale into actual profitability instead of just reinvesting everything.
Amazon used to be the "growth at all costs" story. Now it's becoming a margin story. Retail is tighter, AWS is printing money, and they're not lighting cash on fire in every new vertical.
This is what mature businesses do — grow revenue at double digits while expanding margins. Boring, but that's how you compound wealth.
Net income down 2% to $21B — but that's misleading. Last year they booked a $9.5B gain from their Anthropic stake. Strip that out and the underlying business actually improved.
The real story: operating margin hit 14%, up from 11% a year ago. That's the highest they've ever done. They're finally converting scale into actual profitability instead of just reinvesting everything.
Amazon used to be the "growth at all costs" story. Now it's becoming a margin story. Retail is tighter, AWS is printing money, and they're not lighting cash on fire in every new vertical.
This is what mature businesses do — grow revenue at double digits while expanding margins. Boring, but that's how you compound wealth.
