Amazon's third-quarter sales rise 12% to $201.9 billion as operating income jumps to $28.1 billion and AWS grows 39%
Amazon.com, Inc. announced on Thursday 29 October 2026 that third-quarter net sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion and operating income rose to $28.1 billion, a 13.9% operating margin the company calls its highest ever, per Amazon's own third-quarter results release, read in full. AWS segment sales rose 39% to $46.0 billion, a $184 billion annualized run rate and its fastest growth in nearly five years. Net income fell to $20.7 billion, or $1.89 per diluted share, from $21.2 billion a year earlier, a decrease Amazon says was driven primarily by $9.5 billion of pre-tax gains on its Anthropic investments recorded in third-quarter 2025. Barron's reports the sales and per-share figures came in just below Wall Street consensus.
Key points
- Amazon's third-quarter 2026 net sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion and operating income rose to $28.1 billion — a 13.9% margin Amazon calls its highest ever — per the company's own results release, read in full.
- AWS sales rose 39% to $46.0 billion, a $184 billion annualized run rate and its fastest growth in nearly five years; AWS operating income was $17.8 billion of the group's $28.1 billion. North America sales were $112.9 billion; International $43.1 billion.
- Net income fell to $20.7 billion ($1.89 per diluted share) from $21.2 billion ($1.95), a dip Amazon attributes primarily to $9.5 billion of Anthropic investment gains recorded in the year-earlier quarter; Barron's reports both the EPS and sales came in just below Wall Street consensus.
- Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow swung to an outflow of $42.4 billion (from a $14.8 billion inflow) as AI-driven equipment purchases jumped; Amazon kept its 2026 cash capex expectation at about $220 billion and guided fourth-quarter sales to $240–247 billion and operating income to $28.5–33.5 billion.
What happened
These are Amazon's results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2026, released after the US market close on Thursday 29 October 2026. Amazon notes that Prime Day timing shifted this year — the event fell in the second quarter for most large countries, whereas in 2025 it fell entirely in the third quarter — and that excluding that shift, third-quarter year-over-year sales growth would have been approximately 400 basis points higher; that adjustment is the company's own, stated in its release.
The release lands in the same earnings week as Microsoft's and Samsung's results, both published by Vozia as confirmed briefs, and alongside Intel's third-quarter results released the same evening. Across the week the pattern is the same one Amazon's cash-flow statement shows in its own numbers: AI infrastructure spending rising far faster than sales — Amazon's trailing-twelve-month equipment purchases rose by $94.8 billion year over year, on its own figures.
Claim by claim
Why this label: From Amazon.com, Inc.'s own release, 'Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Results' (Seattle, 29 October 2026, Business Wire distribution), read in full for this brief — its headline bullets and its consolidated statements of operations table ($201,944 million total net sales; $28,076 million operating income; $20,685 million net income; $1.89 diluted EPS). MarketWatch's same-evening report likewise gives net income of $20.7 billion against $21.2 billion a year earlier and attributes the year-over-year dip primarily to the $9.5 billion Anthropic gain in the 2025 quarter, as Amazon itself states.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: All segment sales and operating-income figures, the 39.3% AWS growth rate, the 'fastest growth in nearly five years' wording and the $184 billion annualized run rate are from Amazon's own release, read in full — its summary bullets and segment information. AWS operating income of $17.8 billion is about 63% of the group's $28.1 billion operating income, on the release's own figures.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The trailing-twelve-month operating and free cash flow figures, the $94.8 billion increase and its AI attribution are from Amazon's own release, read in full; the $77,259 million third-quarter purchases-of-property-and-equipment figure is from the release's consolidated statements of cash flows table (three months ended 30 September 2026).
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
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Why this label: The fourth-quarter guidance ranges, the foreign-exchange assumption, the maintained approximately $220 billion 2026 cash capital expenditure expectation and the Jassy quotation — including the projected over-40% AWS growth rates for 2027 and 2028, which are the company's own forward-looking statements — are all from Amazon's own release, read in full (its Financial Guidance section and the CEO statement). Barron's reports the shares fell sharply in after-hours trading, that the $1.89 EPS missed the $1.97 FactSet consensus and that sales of $201.9 billion were shy of Wall Street's $202.2 billion call — those consensus figures and the market reaction are Barron's reporting, not Amazon's.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The headline sales, operating income, margin, net income and per-share figures, the segment sales and operating incomes, the cash-flow figures and equipment purchases, the fourth-quarter guidance, the maintained capex expectation and the CEO's statement — from Amazon.com, Inc.'s own third-quarter 2026 results release of 29 October 2026, read in full, cross-checked against MarketWatch (the net-income comparison and the Anthropic point) and Barron's (the same $201.9 billion sales and $1.89 EPS).
What we don't know yet
- What Amazon's executives said on the results conference call — the release says the call was webcast live at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET on 29 October; it had not been heard for this brief at publication.
- The analyst-consensus figures beyond Barron's reporting — the $1.97 EPS consensus and $202.2 billion sales call are Barron's, citing FactSet; other compilers' tallies may differ slightly and are not carried here.
- Whether an official video of the results was available at publication — no official Amazon YouTube video of the results announcement was verified via YouTube's oEmbed endpoint in this run, so the brief is published without an embedded video rather than using a third-party upload.
Why it matters
Amazon is the world's largest online retailer and, through AWS, the largest cloud provider; its quarter is a direct read on both consumer spending and the AI buildout. The two stories in its own numbers point opposite ways: operating profit jumped 61% to a record margin on AWS growth of 39%, while trailing free cash flow swung $57 billion into negative territory because the company is spending on AI infrastructure faster than its operations generate cash — with about $220 billion of cash capital expenditure still expected for 2026 alone.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
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Story published as a confirmed brief, based on Amazon.com, Inc.'s own third-quarter 2026 results release of 29 October 2026, read in full in this run, cross-checked against Barron's and MarketWatch same-evening reports. The results were released after the US market close (first reports timestamped about 20:03–20:08 UTC) inside this scan's window; the previous scan had flagged the release as this scan's FAST candidate.