Internet giant posts first profit

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

SEATTLE -- Amazon.com, the pioneering Internet retailer that has symbolized for many the potential and the pitfalls of dot-com commerce, today posted its first-ever profit, beating its own forecasts and Wall Street's expectations.

For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the world's largest Internet retailer said it earned $5 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a loss of $545 million, or $1.53 per share, in the year-ago period.

The results were helped by lowered prices and companywide penny-pinching.

The results were on net sales of $1.12 billion, a 15 percent increase over sales of $972 million in the fourth quarter of 2000, showing the company had healthy sales in the all-important holiday quarter despite what was for many retailers a lackluster season.

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