Amazon surges $135 billion in biggest boost to market value ever

Bezos pockets about $20 bn; e-commerce giant lifts veil off YouTube-sized advertising business, hikes Prime membership fee in US, citing rising wages, costs

Amazon.com is giving the market back what Meta Platforms just took away — or at least a big chunk of it. 

The e-commerce giant rose 9.6 per cent, adding more than $135 billion in market value, after climbing as much as 12 per cent at Friday’s open. That would be among the biggest single-day gains in US stock market history, and would come just a day after Facebook parent Meta Platforms entered the other end of the record book with a $251 billion wipeout. 

 Amazon’s move could come close to Apple ’s US record from last week —the iPhone maker added about $179 billion in value on the day after its earnings report. The global record for a daily gain in market capitalisation was set by PetroChina, which added $597 billion on one day in November 2007.

The surge in Amazon’s stock price came after sales in its cloud computing business beat Wall Street estimates and the company raised the price of Amazon Prime subscriptions, alleviating some concerns about the impact of cost increases on profitability. Those elements overshadowed forecasts for sales and operating profit in the current quarter that fell short of expectations.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos added almost $20 billion to his personal valuation after Amazon’s blockbuster earnings.

Amazon on Thursday suffered its worst day since March 2020, as Meta’s earnings flop raised fears about results for other big technology companies. The 7.8 per cent decline in the regular session wiped out $119 billion in market value for the Seattle-based company.

Challenges at SoftBank Group as valuations slide (Reuters)
 

Storm clouds hang over SoftBank Group as it prepares to report third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, with the valuations of top portfolio firms slipping and heavyweights departing the Japanese tech conglomerate. Major SoftBank assets that went public over the last year and are now trading below their listing price include ridehailing firm Didi Global, e-commerce firm Coupang and used-car platform Auto1 Group. In the quarter that ended December 31, artificial intelligence firm SenseTime was a bright spot but others, such as Paytm parent One 97 Communications, have disappointed.  The new year has offered little respite to Chief Executive Masayoshi Son: January was a bruising month, as investors turned away from growth stocks.