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AWSWide moat

Amazon (AMZN) — moat facet

The most profitable part of Amazon, now adding capital five times faster than profit; the question is no longer the margin but the return on the build.

AWS is the segment that pays for Amazon. It sold $128.7 billion in 2025, 18% of the company, and earned $45.6 billion of operating income, a 35.4% margin1. Over the twelve months to September 2026 it earned $61.0 billion on $161.4 billion, 37.8%, and in the third quarter alone it grew 39% to $46.0 billion at a 38.7% margin2. This page is about the line's size, history and economics; why customers stay is argued in AWS Cloud Franchise, who is filling the backlog in AWS: Where the Contracts Live, and the rivals in Cloud Competition.

AWS property and equipment, net, at year end ($B)82015101615171918241932204321602273231112419025Amazon Forms 10-K FY2017-FY2025, segment note
AWS's own property rose from $8.4B to $190.1B, and grew by $79B in 2025 alone.

The 10-K describes the segment in one sentence: "global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services for start-ups, enterprises, government agencies, and academic institutions"3. Inside that sentence now sit two businesses Amazon has begun to size separately. In July 2026 it said AWS's AI business and its chips business, Trainium and Graviton, each had an annual revenue run rate above $25 billion, both growing at triple-digit rates4. The chips matter to the segment's economics because they replace hardware AWS would otherwise buy at someone else's margin. Anthropic has committed to up to five gigawatts of Trainium and OpenAI to about two gigawatts from 20275, so the two laboratories Amazon calls the world's leading are now customers of Amazon's own silicon as well as of its data centres. The segment also sells the models themselves through Bedrock, where Fortune 500 customers spent nearly seven times as much in the third quarter of 2026 as a year earlier and total token volume grew nearly seventeenfold6.

AWS began selling storage and computing by the hour in 20067 and was first reported as a segment for 2015, when it sold $7.9 billion and earned $1.5 billion, a 19.1% margin8. It is paid for usage, mostly by the hour or by the request, and increasingly under commitments: customers promise a level of spending over several years in return for lower prices. The filing names that trade-off in its explanation of growth, which it attributes to "increased customer usage, partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts"9. The committed spending not yet recognised was $496 billion at the end of June 2026, with a weighted-average remaining life of 6.4 years10.

Profitability has improved in two steps. The margin rose from 19% in 2015 to between 26% and 30% from 2018 to 2023, then jumped to 37.0% in 202411. It was 35.4% in 202512. No other part of Amazon comes close, and the segment has supplied more than half of the company's operating income in every year since 2019.

Growth has compounded at 32% a year from 2015 to 202513. The weak year was 2023, at 13%. Growth recovered to 18.5% in 2024 and 19.7% in 2025, then accelerated for six straight quarters to 28% in the first quarter of 2026, 37% in the second and 39% in the third, its fastest in nearly five years14.

The cost of that growth is capital, and it has turned sharply up. AWS's property and equipment was $8.4 billion at the end of 201515, $72.7 billion at the end of 2023 and $190.1 billion at the end of 2025. The segment added $96.5 billion of property and equipment in 2025, against $24.8 billion in 202316. In 2025 its net property grew 72% while its operating income grew 14.5%17. Measured against average property, operating income fell from 43% in 2024 to 30% in 202518. That is what building ahead of demand looks like in the accounts: the depreciation arrives before the revenue the new capacity will earn.

The outlook depends on whether the new capacity fills. The backlog says customers have committed to much of it, and the second quarter's 39.4% margin says the older capacity is earning well. But the filing's own explanation of 2025's profit was "increased sales, partially offset by spending on technology infrastructure"19, and that spending is still rising faster than sales.

The number that decides it is operating income against the segment's property and equipment, which stood at $190.1 billion at the end of 202520. If 2026 operating income grows faster than that base did, the return on the build-out is recovering; if the base keeps growing at 70% while profit grows at 15%, AWS is still the most profitable part of Amazon but a much less profitable one than its margin suggests.

Moat trajectory: Widening

Growth accelerated for a sixth straight quarter, to 39% in September at a 38.7% margin, but segment property grew 72% in 2025 against 14.5% for operating income, so the return on capital fell from 43% to 30%.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
AWS operating income per dollar of average segment property
30% in 2025, from 43% in 2024

Segment property grew 72% in 2025 and operating income 14.5%. If 2026 operating income grows faster than the $190.1B property base, the return on the build-out is recovering.

How it's calculated: Moat Explorer calculation from Amazon's Form 10-K segment tables and the Q2 2026 release.
Source: Amazon Form 10-K FY2025, segment note (Moat Explorer calc) ↗
References
  1. ReportedIt sold $128.7 billion in 2025, 18% of the company, and earned $45.6 billion of operating income, a 35.4% margin.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedOver the twelve months to September 2026 it earned $61.0 billion on $161.4 billion, 37.8%, and in the third quarter alone it grew 39% to $46.0 billion at a 38.7% margin.
    Amazon.com, third-quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) — net sales $201,944M (+12%, +13% excluding a $0.9B unfavorable foreign-exchange impact), operating income $28,076M (+61%) at a 13.9% operating margin, described in the release's own headline as Amazon's highest operating margin ever; net income $20,685M and diluted EPS $1.89, both lower than the $21,187M and $1.95 of third quarter 2025, which the release attributes primarily to $9.5B of pre-tax gains on the investments in Anthropic recorded in that earlier quarter; total non-operating expense of $1,207M in the quarter (interest income $1,187M, interest expense $1,691M against $538M, other expense $703M) against non-operating income of $10,748M a year earlier; segment results North America net sales $112,852M (+6%) and operating income $8,723M (7.7% margin against 4.5%), International $43,108M (+5%, +8% excluding currency) and $1,580M (3.7% against 2.9%, +42% excluding currency), AWS $45,984M (+39%, its fastest growth in nearly five years, a $184 billion annualised revenue run rate) and $17,773M (38.7% margin against 34.6%); net sales mix North America 56%, International 21%, AWS 23%; the Prime Day timing shift, with the event in the second quarter this year for most large countries and entirely in the third quarter in 2025, without which third-quarter growth would have been approximately 400 basis points higher; net sales by product line online stores $68,470M (+2%), third-party seller services $46,492M (+9%, +10% excluding currency), advertising services $19,637M (+11%, +12% excluding currency, after 22% excluding currency in each of Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 and 26% in Q2 2026), subscription services $14,006M (+11%), physical stores $5,710M, other $1,645M; worldwide shipping costs $28,295M (+11%) against worldwide paid unit growth of 12% and a seller unit mix of 61%; employees 1,638,000 (+4%); trailing-twelve-month net sales $797,455M, operating income $104,366M at a 13.1% margin, net income $134,779M and diluted EPS $12.37, operating cash flow $168,300M (+29%), purchases of property and equipment net of proceeds $210,657M (+82%) and free cash flow of minus $42,357M against plus $14,788M a year earlier, with the supplemental table's trailing free-cash-flow series $18,184M, $14,788M, $11,194M, $1,232M, minus $7,604M and minus $42,357M for Q2 2025 to Q3 2026 and North America's trailing operating margin at 8.2%; purchases of property and equipment of $77,259M in the quarter and $175,670M in nine months; nine-month other income of $68,359M and a $78,788M pre-tax change in net unrealized gains on available-for-sale debt securities recorded in other comprehensive income; proceeds from long-term debt of $48,102M in the quarter and $115,100M in nine months, taking long-term debt from $65,648M at December 31, 2025 to $173,125M, total assets from $818,042M to $1,243,390M and other assets from $122,607M to $358,775M; Andy Jassy's statement of projected AWS revenue growth rates “of over 40% both in 2027 and in 2028”; and fourth-quarter 2026 guidance of $240.0-247.0B of net sales (+12% to +16%) and $28.5-33.5B of operating income against $25.0B, with 2026 cash capital expenditures still expected to be approximately $220 billion and fourth-quarter advertising revenue expected to grow in the high teens — Q3 2026 — quarter ended September 30, 2026 · publ. October 29, 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe 10-K describes the segment in one sentence: "global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services for start-ups, enterprises, government agencies, and academic institutions".
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedIn July 2026 it said AWS's AI business and its chips business, Trainium and Graviton, each had an annual revenue run rate above $25 billion, both growing at triple-digit rates.
    Amazon.com, second-quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) — net sales $200.6B (+20%), operating income $27.5B (13.7% margin), AWS sales $42.2B (+37%, fastest growth in 18 quarters, $169B annualized run rate) and operating income $16.6B (39.4% margin, against 32.9% a year earlier), advertising $19.8B (+26%), online stores +15%, third-party seller services +16%, net income $62.6B including $53.4B of non-operating income primarily from investments in Anthropic, TTM operating cash flow $161.4B against net capital purchases $169.0B and free cash flow -$7.6B; AWS AI business and chips business each above a $25B run rate; Trainium commitments from Anthropic and OpenAI; Amazon Leo at nearly 400 satellites, enough to begin initial service this year; Zoox's NHTSA Part 555 exemption to charge for rides; Alexa+ triers signing up for Prime at a nearly 25% higher rate; supplemental table Q1 2025-Q2 2026 (WW shipping cost growth 3%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 14%, 19%; WW paid unit growth 8%, 12%, 11%, 12%, 15%, 17%; seller unit mix 60-62%; North America TTM operating margin 7.4%); Q3 2026 guidance of $197.0-202.0B net sales and $22.5-26.5B operating income, with growth nearly 400 basis points higher excluding Prime Day in both years — Q2 2026 — quarter ended June 30, 2026 · publ. July 30, 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedAnthropic has committed to up to five gigawatts of Trainium and OpenAI to about two gigawatts from 2027, so the two laboratories Amazon calls the world's leading are now customers of Amazon's own silicon as well as of its data centres.
    Amazon.com, first-quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) — AWS backlog $364B; OpenAI commitment to consume approximately two gigawatts of Trainium capacity from 2027; Anthropic to secure up to five gigawatts of Trainium; planned acquisition of Globalstar to add direct-to-device service to Amazon Leo, which will power satellite services for Apple iPhone and Apple Watch; Zoox testing in Austin and Miami, an Uber agreement for Las Vegas and Los Angeles, 350,000+ riders carried — Q1 2026 — quarter ended March 31, 2026 · publ. April 29, 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedThe segment also sells the models themselves through Bedrock, where Fortune 500 customers spent nearly seven times as much in the third quarter of 2026 as a year earlier and total token volume grew nearly seventeenfold.
    Amazon.com, third-quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) - Highlights: AWS “Drove continued rapid growth for Amazon Bedrock, AWS's inference service, with Fortune 500 companies spending nearly 7x more year-over-year and total Bedrock token volume growing nearly 17x year-over-year”, and expanded Bedrock's model selection with OpenAI's GPT-6 family, Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5, Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, SpaceXAI's Grok 4.7 and Z.ai's GLM 5.3 — Q3 2026 - quarter ended September 30, 2026 · publ. October 29, 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedAWS began selling storage and computing by the hour in 2006 and was first reported as a segment for 2015, when it sold $7.9 billion and earned $1.5 billion, a 19.1% margin.
    AWS — launched the modern cloud (S3 and EC2, 2006), years before serious competition — 2006 onward · publ. 2006-2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedAWS began selling storage and computing by the hour in 2006 and was first reported as a segment for 2015, when it sold $7.9 billion and earned $1.5 billion, a 19.1% margin.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2017 — segment results 2015-2017 (North America net sales $63,708M and operating income $1,425M in 2015; International $35,418M and -$699M; AWS $7,880M and $1,507M); property and equipment, net by segment at December 31, 2015 (North America $6,707M, International $2,266M, AWS $8,356M); net sales by country 2015 (Germany $11,816M, United Kingdom $9,033M, Japan $8,264M, rest of world $7,356M); acquisition of Whole Foods Market on August 28, 2017 — FY2015-FY2017 · publ. February 2, 2018 · source ↗
  9. ReportedThe filing names that trade-off in its explanation of growth, which it attributes to "increased customer usage, partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts".
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  10. ReportedThe committed spending not yet recognised was $496 billion at the end of June 2026, with a weighted-average remaining life of 6.4 years.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 — purchases of property and equipment $54,208M in Q2 2026; remaining performance obligations of approximately $496 billion (weighted-average remaining life 6.4 years), after OpenAI expanded its existing $38.0 billion commitment by $100.0 billion over 8.0 years in Q1 2026 and Anthropic expanded its commitment by more than $100.0 billion over 10.0 years in Q2 2026; upward adjustments to private equity investments of $50.5 billion in Q2 2026 and $62.8 billion in the six months, primarily nonvoting preferred stock in Anthropic; about $640 million of IEEPA tariff refunds recorded mainly as a reduction to cost of sales; shipping costs $27.9 billion against $23.4 billion — Q2 2026 — quarter ended June 30, 2026 · publ. July 2026 · source ↗
  11. Moat Explorer calcThe margin rose from 19% in 2015 to between 26% and 30% from 2018 to 2023, then jumped to 37.0% in 2024.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Amazon's Forms 10-K FY2017, FY2018, FY2021 and FY2025 segment tables and the Q2 2026 results release: shares of 2025 sales and operating income (North America $426,305M / $716,924M = 59.5% and $29,619M / $79,975M = 37.0%; International 22.6% and 5.9%; AWS 18.0% and 57.0%); cumulative 2015-2025 operating income (AWS $190.4B, North America $103.5B, International -$10.9B, total $283.0B); compound annual growth 2015-2025 = (2025 / 2015)^(1/10) - 1 (AWS 32.2%, North America 20.9%, International 16.4%); margins = operating income / net sales (North America 2.2% in 2015, 3.7% in 2020, 2.6% in 2021, -0.9% in 2022 on -$2,847M / $315,880M; International -6.6% in 2022 on -$7,746M / $118,007M, sales -7.7%; AWS 19.1% in 2015, 26.3-29.8% in 2018-2023, 37.0% in 2024, 28.5% in 2022); International operating income excluding currency $4,750M - $903M = $3,847M against $3,792M; AWS share of 2025 net additions $96,496M / $142,352M = 67.8%; AWS net property +71.7% and operating income +14.5% in 2025; AWS operating income / average segment property 43.4% (2024) and 30.3% (2025); property per dollar of 2025 sales International $30,632M / $161,894M = 0.19, North America $122,043M / $426,305M = 0.29; fulfilment / store sales 19.4% (2022) and 18.5% (2025), shipping costs / store sales 19.2% and 17.5%; country growth 2015-2025 (rest of world 14.6x, Germany 3.9x, United Kingdom 4.8x, Japan 3.7x) — FY2015-Q2 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the segment tables in Amazon's Forms 10-K and the Q2 2026 results release; see the source line for each operand.
  12. ReportedIt was 35.4% in 2025.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  13. Moat Explorer calcGrowth has compounded at 32% a year from 2015 to 2025.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Amazon's Forms 10-K FY2017, FY2018, FY2021 and FY2025 segment tables and the Q2 2026 results release: shares of 2025 sales and operating income (North America $426,305M / $716,924M = 59.5% and $29,619M / $79,975M = 37.0%; International 22.6% and 5.9%; AWS 18.0% and 57.0%); cumulative 2015-2025 operating income (AWS $190.4B, North America $103.5B, International -$10.9B, total $283.0B); compound annual growth 2015-2025 = (2025 / 2015)^(1/10) - 1 (AWS 32.2%, North America 20.9%, International 16.4%); margins = operating income / net sales (North America 2.2% in 2015, 3.7% in 2020, 2.6% in 2021, -0.9% in 2022 on -$2,847M / $315,880M; International -6.6% in 2022 on -$7,746M / $118,007M, sales -7.7%; AWS 19.1% in 2015, 26.3-29.8% in 2018-2023, 37.0% in 2024, 28.5% in 2022); International operating income excluding currency $4,750M - $903M = $3,847M against $3,792M; AWS share of 2025 net additions $96,496M / $142,352M = 67.8%; AWS net property +71.7% and operating income +14.5% in 2025; AWS operating income / average segment property 43.4% (2024) and 30.3% (2025); property per dollar of 2025 sales International $30,632M / $161,894M = 0.19, North America $122,043M / $426,305M = 0.29; fulfilment / store sales 19.4% (2022) and 18.5% (2025), shipping costs / store sales 19.2% and 17.5%; country growth 2015-2025 (rest of world 14.6x, Germany 3.9x, United Kingdom 4.8x, Japan 3.7x) — FY2015-Q2 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the segment tables in Amazon's Forms 10-K and the Q2 2026 results release; see the source line for each operand.
  14. ReportedGrowth recovered to 18.5% in 2024 and 19.7% in 2025, then accelerated for six straight quarters to 28% in the first quarter of 2026, 37% in the second and 39% in the third, its fastest in nearly five years.
    Amazon.com, third-quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) - Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics, six quarters from Q2 2025 to Q3 2026. North America: net sales $100,068M, $106,267M, $127,083M, $104,143M, $116,177M and $112,852M, growth excluding currency 11%, 11%, 10%, 12%, 16% and 6%; operating income $7,517M, $4,789M, $11,472M, $8,267M, $9,123M and $8,723M; operating margin 7.5%, 4.5%, 9.0%, 7.9%, 7.9% and 7.7%; trailing-twelve-month net sales $404,078M, $414,808M, $426,305M, $437,561M, $453,670M and $460,255M, trailing operating income $28,277M, $27,403M, $29,619M, $32,045M, $33,651M and $37,585M, and trailing margin 7.0%, 6.6%, 6.9%, 7.3%, 7.4% and 8.2%. International: net sales $36,761M, $40,896M, $50,724M, $39,789M, $42,197M and $43,108M, growth excluding currency 11%, 10%, 11%, 11%, 15% and 8%; operating income $1,494M, $1,199M, $1,040M, $1,424M, $1,717M and $1,580M, with operating income growth excluding currency of 324%, (31)%, (45)%, 6%, 18% and 42%; trailing net sales $149,582M, $154,590M, $161,894M, $168,170M, $173,606M and $175,818M, trailing operating income $5,127M, $5,025M, $4,750M, $5,157M, $5,380M and $5,761M, and trailing margin 3.4%, 3.2%, 2.9%, 3.1%, 3.1% and 3.3%. AWS: net sales $30,873M, $33,006M, $35,579M, $37,587M, $42,232M and $45,984M, growth excluding currency 17%, 20%, 24%, 28%, 37% and 39%; operating income $10,160M, $11,434M, $12,465M, $14,161M, $16,621M and $17,773M; operating margin 32.9%, 34.6%, 35.0%, 37.7%, 39.4% and 38.7%; trailing net sales $116,378M to $161,382M and trailing operating income $42,786M to $61,020M. Net sales by product line: online stores $61,485M, $67,407M, $82,988M, $64,254M, $70,432M and $68,470M; advertising services $15,694M, $17,703M, $21,317M, $17,243M, $19,809M and $19,637M; subscription services $12,208M, $12,574M, $13,122M, $13,427M, $13,730M and $14,006M. Worldwide shipping costs $23,370M, $25,384M, $31,492M, $25,709M, $27,873M and $28,295M, growing 6%, 8%, 10%, 14%, 19% and 11% against worldwide paid-unit growth of 12%, 11%, 12%, 15%, 17% and 12% and a seller unit mix of 62%, 62%, 61%, 60%, 61% and 61%; employees 1,546,000 to 1,638,000. Trailing operating cash flow $121,137M to $168,300M, trailing purchases of property and equipment net of proceeds $102,953M to $210,657M, and trailing free cash flow $18,184M, $14,788M, $11,194M, $1,232M, $(7,604)M and $(42,357)M — Q2 2025 - Q3 2026 · publ. October 29, 2026 · source ↗
  15. ReportedAWS's property and equipment was $8.4 billion at the end of 2015, $72.7 billion at the end of 2023 and $190.1 billion at the end of 2025.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2017 — segment results 2015-2017 (North America net sales $63,708M and operating income $1,425M in 2015; International $35,418M and -$699M; AWS $7,880M and $1,507M); property and equipment, net by segment at December 31, 2015 (North America $6,707M, International $2,266M, AWS $8,356M); net sales by country 2015 (Germany $11,816M, United Kingdom $9,033M, Japan $8,264M, rest of world $7,356M); acquisition of Whole Foods Market on August 28, 2017 — FY2015-FY2017 · publ. February 2, 2018 · source ↗
  16. ReportedThe segment added $96.5 billion of property and equipment in 2025, against $24.8 billion in 2023.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  17. Moat Explorer calcIn 2025 its net property grew 72% while its operating income grew 14.5%.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Amazon's Forms 10-K FY2017, FY2018, FY2021 and FY2025 segment tables and the Q2 2026 results release: shares of 2025 sales and operating income (North America $426,305M / $716,924M = 59.5% and $29,619M / $79,975M = 37.0%; International 22.6% and 5.9%; AWS 18.0% and 57.0%); cumulative 2015-2025 operating income (AWS $190.4B, North America $103.5B, International -$10.9B, total $283.0B); compound annual growth 2015-2025 = (2025 / 2015)^(1/10) - 1 (AWS 32.2%, North America 20.9%, International 16.4%); margins = operating income / net sales (North America 2.2% in 2015, 3.7% in 2020, 2.6% in 2021, -0.9% in 2022 on -$2,847M / $315,880M; International -6.6% in 2022 on -$7,746M / $118,007M, sales -7.7%; AWS 19.1% in 2015, 26.3-29.8% in 2018-2023, 37.0% in 2024, 28.5% in 2022); International operating income excluding currency $4,750M - $903M = $3,847M against $3,792M; AWS share of 2025 net additions $96,496M / $142,352M = 67.8%; AWS net property +71.7% and operating income +14.5% in 2025; AWS operating income / average segment property 43.4% (2024) and 30.3% (2025); property per dollar of 2025 sales International $30,632M / $161,894M = 0.19, North America $122,043M / $426,305M = 0.29; fulfilment / store sales 19.4% (2022) and 18.5% (2025), shipping costs / store sales 19.2% and 17.5%; country growth 2015-2025 (rest of world 14.6x, Germany 3.9x, United Kingdom 4.8x, Japan 3.7x) — FY2015-Q2 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the segment tables in Amazon's Forms 10-K and the Q2 2026 results release; see the source line for each operand.
  18. Moat Explorer calcMeasured against average property, operating income fell from 43% in 2024 to 30% in 2025.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Amazon's Forms 10-K FY2017, FY2018, FY2021 and FY2025 segment tables and the Q2 2026 results release: shares of 2025 sales and operating income (North America $426,305M / $716,924M = 59.5% and $29,619M / $79,975M = 37.0%; International 22.6% and 5.9%; AWS 18.0% and 57.0%); cumulative 2015-2025 operating income (AWS $190.4B, North America $103.5B, International -$10.9B, total $283.0B); compound annual growth 2015-2025 = (2025 / 2015)^(1/10) - 1 (AWS 32.2%, North America 20.9%, International 16.4%); margins = operating income / net sales (North America 2.2% in 2015, 3.7% in 2020, 2.6% in 2021, -0.9% in 2022 on -$2,847M / $315,880M; International -6.6% in 2022 on -$7,746M / $118,007M, sales -7.7%; AWS 19.1% in 2015, 26.3-29.8% in 2018-2023, 37.0% in 2024, 28.5% in 2022); International operating income excluding currency $4,750M - $903M = $3,847M against $3,792M; AWS share of 2025 net additions $96,496M / $142,352M = 67.8%; AWS net property +71.7% and operating income +14.5% in 2025; AWS operating income / average segment property 43.4% (2024) and 30.3% (2025); property per dollar of 2025 sales International $30,632M / $161,894M = 0.19, North America $122,043M / $426,305M = 0.29; fulfilment / store sales 19.4% (2022) and 18.5% (2025), shipping costs / store sales 19.2% and 17.5%; country growth 2015-2025 (rest of world 14.6x, Germany 3.9x, United Kingdom 4.8x, Japan 3.7x) — FY2015-Q2 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the segment tables in Amazon's Forms 10-K and the Q2 2026 results release; see the source line for each operand.
  19. ReportedBut the filing's own explanation of 2025's profit was "increased sales, partially offset by spending on technology infrastructure", and that spending is still rising faster than sales.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
  20. ReportedThe number that decides it is operating income against the segment's property and equipment, which stood at $190.1 billion at the end of 2025.
    Amazon.com Inc., Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment definitions (North America: 'retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and advertising and subscription services through North America-focused online and physical stores'; International: the same through internationally-focused online stores, including export sales; AWS: 'global sales of compute, storage, database, and other services'); segment results 2023-2025 (net sales North America $352,828M / $387,497M / $426,305M, International $131,200M / $142,906M / $161,894M, AWS $90,757M / $107,556M / $128,725M; operating income $14,877M / $24,967M / $29,619M, -$2,656M / $3,792M / $4,750M, $24,631M / $39,834M / $45,606M); net sales by product line, not split by segment; net sales by country 2025 (United States $489,657M, Germany $45,900M, United Kingdom $43,212M, Japan $30,688M, rest of world $107,467M); property and equipment, net by segment (2023-2025: North America $93,632M / $103,041M / $122,043M, International $24,357M / $25,618M / $30,632M, AWS $72,701M / $110,683M / $190,055M) and net additions (2025: North America $35,919M, International $7,617M, AWS $96,496M, consolidated $142,352M); MD&A: sales growth of 10%, 13% and 20% and their drivers, AWS growth 'partially offset by pricing changes primarily driven by long-term customer contracts', and foreign exchange effects (International net sales +$4.9 billion, International operating income +$903 million) — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. February 6, 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated October 30, 2026