Amazon kept clicking on all cylinders in the second quarter of 2016, with revenue up 31%, to $30.4 billion, over the second quarter of 2015, and operating income jumping to $1.3 billion from $464 million. Net income soared to $857 million from $92 million in the first half of 2015.
Amazon’s cloud service, AWS, led the increase with sales up 58%, to $2.89 billion, and operating income jumping 135%, to $718 million.
In its North American media category, which includes print and e-books, revenue rose 12%, to $2.93 billion, while international media sales rose 9%, to $2.28 billion.
In its press release, chairman Jeff Bezos ticked off 25 highlights, only a few off which had any bearing on books. Among the second-quarter achievements Bezos pointed to were the launch of the $79.99 Kindle and a 60% increase in order on Prime Order Day, Initiatives in India and at AWS drew the most attention from Bezos.
Amazon expects rapid growth to continue in the third quarter, projecting sales to rise between 22% and 32%.
