Amazon’s $21.3 billion of revenue over the holiday season was higher than ever, according to the company’s latest quarterly report. But with Amazon, record revenue—really, revenue of any kind—is no guarantee that the company will actually make any money.
Amazon made $97 million in profit in this, the fourth quarter of 2012. That’s a profit margin of 0.45%, which is even less than the previous yearly average (below).
It’s hard to say it better than Slate’s Moneybox just did: ”Amazon, as best I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers.”