aws2Amazon.com’s cloud business continues to see big momentum. 

The Seattle tech giant made $2.085 billion in revenue from Amazon Web Services during this past financial quarter, which is up 15 percent from the previous quarter and up 78 percent from the same period last year. 

Amazon, which first revealed how much revenue and profit its AWS business generates earlier this year, made $521 million in operating income from AWS during Q3, which is up from $391 million in the previous quarter and up from $98 million last year — a massive 431 percent increase.

Via Amazon.
Via Amazon.

Amazon beat Wall Street expectations today with a surprise profit of $79 million, immediately sending the stock up more than 10 percent in after hours trading.

AWS, which offers cloud computing and storage services to more than one million customers like Netflix and Airbnb, is a key reason for Amazon’s rare profitability this quarter.

The company told investors on Thursday the business model is still in its “early days,” but Amazon is working to hold onto its industry leading position. The company said it has rolled out more new features so far this year than it did all of last year, at the same time slicing prices eight times since last year.

Amazon has now earned approximately $5.4 billion from AWS this year alone. In April, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called AWS a $5 billion business.

“Born a decade ago, AWS is a good example of how we approach ideas and risk-taking at Amazon,” Bezos said in a statement in April. “We strive to focus relentlessly on the customer, innovate rapidly, and drive operational excellence. We manage by two seemingly contradictory traits: impatience to deliver faster and a willingness to think long term. We are so grateful to our AWS customers and remain dedicated to inventing on their behalf.”

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