Amazon revenue surges 38.2 percent on holiday season boost

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) reported a 38.2 percent jump in fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday, driven by a surge in online shopping during the holiday season and strong demand for its cloud services.

Amazon, which shipped over 5 billion items worldwide through its subscription-based Prime service in 2017, said its net sales rose to $60.45 billion in the reported quarter from $43.74 billion a year earlier.

Net income rose to $1.86 billion, or $3.75 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31 from $749 million, or $1.54 per share, a year earlier.

The results include a tax benefit of about $789 million related to the new U.S. tax law.

Revenue from Amazon Web Services, the company’s fast-growing cloud services business, surged 44.6 percent to $5.11 billion, beating the average estimate of $5 billion, according Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.