Amazon Sales Soar in 4Q

New York City Amazon.com said that its fourth-quarter profit rose 9% amid the struggling economy.

Revenue rose 18% to $6.7 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $6.4 billion. If not for the strengthening dollar, which diminishes the value of sales in other currencies, Amazon said its revenue would have risen 24%.

In December, Amazon called the holiday season its “best ever.”

Amazon said its profit in the fourth quarter was $225 million, compared with $207 million in the same quarter last year.

Amazon said its revenue in the current quarter should be between $4.53 billion and $4.93 billion, while analysts are expecting $4.57 billion.

Sales of items such as books, CDs and DVDs climbed 9% to $3.64 billion, and sales of electronics and other merchandise rose 31% to $2.89 billion.

The recession's effects may have shown up in one key figure — Amazon's gross profit margin. It declined to 20.1%, from 20.6% in the fourth quarter of 2007.

For the full year, Amazon earned $645 million on $19.2 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, the company earned $476 million on revenue of $14.8 billion during 2007.