Amazon reported today that net sales increased 22 percent to $21.27 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. The release also noted that eBooks are now a “multi-billion dollar category” for the company.
CEO Jeff Bezos had this comment: “After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast – up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We’re excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle and our ever expanding ecosystem and selection.”
According to CNBC, Wall Street analysts had predicted $22.26 billion in revenue for the quarter. At the same time, Amazon’s net income was down 45 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, falling to $0.21 per diluted share from $0.38 from the same period last year.
