Summary Total sales jumped to $22.72 billion in the January-March period.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Amazon said Thursday that strong gains in its market-leading cloud computing services helped drive a 15 percent rise in total sales in the first quarter.
But the bottom line was red for the leading US online retailer, with a loss of $57 million, compared to a net gain of $108 million a year ago, due to continued growth in operating overhead.
Total sales jumped to $22.72 billion in the January-March period, compared to $19.74 billion a year ago.
US sales gains offset a fall in the company s international division, hit in part by the strong dollar and weaker foreign currencies.
Sales of electronics and other merchandise in North America were still the company s mainstay, up 31 percent in the year to $10.25 billion. Internationally, the gain was four percent.
Sales in the company s Amazon Web Services division -- cloud computing services -- surged from $1.05 billion in the year-ago quarter to $1.57 billion.
It was the first time Amazon broke out earnings from the division, which has by some estimates a 30 percent share of the rapidly growing industry.
"Amazon Web Services is a $5-billion business and still growing fast -- in fact it s accelerating," said company founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.
"Born a decade ago, AWS is a good example of how we approach ideas and risk-taking."
