So much for Jeff Bezos being the richest man in the world.
Amazon’s stock fell more than 2% in after hours trading Thursday as the company reported a June quarter profit that fell well below Wall Street estimates.
Amazon posted a profit of $197 million for the quarter, a massive 77% drop from $857 million profit it reported in the same period a year earlier.
Last month, Amazon announced a blockbuster deal to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of this year. The company has also been investing aggressively in original video content, hardware and fulfillment centers in the U.S. and abroad.
Those investments have helped Amazon attract more customers to its Prime membership service and boost sales. Its revenue hit $38 billion for the quarter, up 25% from a year earlier.
“It’s energizing to invent on behalf of customers, and we continue to see many high-quality opportunities to invest,” Bezos said in a statement with the earnings release.
Bezos had narrowly edged out Microsoft founder Bill Gates earlier in the day to briefly become the world’s richest person. Amazon’s stock decline puts Bezos further from that title.
