Amazon’s 20% stake in the underperforming Rivian is seen as the primary reason for losses in 2022|Phil Murphy|CC BY-NC 2.0
Amazon reported its first unprofitable year since 2014 and lost $2.7 billion last year, despite surging profits during pandemic-era-driven online shopping and holiday sales.
The net loss was mentioned in Amazon’s fourth quarter report for 2022 released Thursday.
Why the loss?
The Big Tech company’s 20% stake in the underperforming Rivian is seen as the primary reason for losses in 2022. Amazon reported a $12.7 billion pre-tax valuation loss due to investing in the California-based EV maker.
Amazon’s international business and IT service AWS (Amazon Web Services) also underperformed last year, contributing to losses.
Big Tech earnings have been disappointing recently, indicating challenging economic conditions. Apple and Meta posted a sales decline, it was the third straight quarter of revenue decline for Meta.