Amazon, the online shopping giant has become an essential shopping destination after the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to stay-at-home orders across the globe. In the first three months, the company’s revenue grew 26 percent
CEO Jeff Bezos has warned that the company would suffer over the next few months as they are spending entirely of the $4 billion expected earning of second quarter on COVID related expenses. These expenses include getting products to customers and keeping employees safe.
Bezos said the new investments include paying for personal protective equipment for Amazon’s front-line warehouse workforce and extra cleaning in its facilities. Amazon is also working to develop its own Covid-19 testing lab and said it would start by testing some of its front-line workers. The testing initiative will cost Amazon around $300 million over the next three months, and, if successful, nearly $1 billion for the year, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said on a call with reporters.
Amazon registered $75.5 billion in revenue in the first quarter and a net profit of $2.5 billion.
The results reflect only part of the coronavirus’s impact to date, since the financial quarter only runs through the end of March and many stay-at-home orders did not begin until the middle of that month. But the numbers offer a snapshot of the pandemic’s impact on Amazon, which has been transformed from the leader in convenience shopping to an essential service for millions of US residents abiding by stay-at-home orders during the crisis.
