Amazon Reports Record Q4 Sales; Forecasts $200 Billion Capital Expenditure for 2026

Amazon has released its fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings report for 2025. The e-commerce giant set a record with $213.4 billion in revenue, surpassing Wall Street expectations. However, the company’s shares declined after it announced that it expects to increase its capital expenditures by 50% to $200 billion in 2026 as it seeks to ramp up its competition in the AI space.

Amazon closed the final quarter of the year with a strong 14% increase in net sales. The company’s net income for the quarter was $21.2 billion, reflecting a 5.9% year-over-year increase and translating to $1.95 per share. Despite these positive figures, earnings slightly missed analyst expectations.

The e-commerce giant’s advertising revenues grew by 23% in the quarter, reaching $21.32 billion, slightly exceeding projections. This revenue includes ads on Prime Video and various other digital advertising products. Additionally, Amazon’s subscription services, including Prime memberships and digital content offerings, grew by 14%, reaching $13.12 billion for the quarter.

Amazon’s Capital Expenditure Increase and Layoffs

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company plans to significantly increase its capital expenditures for 2026, forecasting a 50% increase to $200 billion. A large portion of this investment will be directed toward Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing division, to expand in AI, robotics, and other high-tech innovations.

“We expect to invest $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026 and anticipate strong long-term returns on these investments,” Jassy stated. In 2025, Amazon reported a total capital expenditure of $131.82 billion, with a significant portion allocated toward expanding its AI infrastructure.

However, this ambitious expansion plan comes after major layoffs. A week ago, Amazon announced it had laid off 16,000 corporate employees following a previous round of 14,000 job cuts. These 30,000 layoffs represent nearly 10% of Amazon’s previous corporate workforce.

Prime Video, NFL, and Delivery Milestones

Amid these changes, Amazon continues to make significant investments in content and services. The company highlighted that Prime Video now reaches 315 million monthly viewers globally, up from 200 million in mid-2024. Ads on Prime Video are now active in 16 countries.

In the world of sports, Amazon announced that its fourth season of NFL streaming on Prime Video has achieved the highest viewership to date. The Packers-Bears wildcard playoff game became the most-watched NFL game on Prime Video, reaching 31 million viewers.

Additionally, Amazon reported that its delivery times for Prime members reached their fastest levels ever in 2025. This marks the third consecutive year of improvements in delivery speed. In the U.S., over 8 billion items were delivered to Prime members the same or next day in 2025, showing a 30% increase compared to 2024.

Focusing on AI, robotics, and satellite technologies, Amazon continues to pursue growth and innovation despite challenges in its workforce and market expectations.

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