Amazon reports Q3 results with record sales and profit

Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday announced its third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2020 with record sales and profit for the second consecutive quarter.

The company's net sales increased 37 percent to 96.1 billion dollars in the third quarter, compared with 70.0 billion dollars in the third quarter 2019.

According to its financial report, Amazon's net income increased to 6.3 billion dollars in the third quarter, or 12.37 dollars per diluted share, compared with net income of 2.1 billion dollars, or 4.23 dollars per diluted share a year ago.

The company's operating cash flow increased 56 percent to 55.3 billion U.S. dollars for the trailing 12 months, compared with 35.3 billion dollars for the trailing 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2019.

Free cash flow increased to 29.5 billion dollars for the trailing 12 months, compared with 23.5 billion dollars for the trailing 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2019.

"We're proud to have created over 400,000 jobs this year alone. We're seeing more customers than ever shopping early for their holiday gifts, which is just one of the signs that this is going to be an unprecedented holiday season," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

The company expects sales in the current quarter of between 112 billion dollars and 121 billion dollars.