Seattle –
continued to
rack up strong sales and earnings in the first quarter of 2010.
Net income increased 68 percent to
$299 million for the three months, ended March 31, and net sales rose 46
percent to $7.1 billion.
Excluding the favorable impact of
currency fluctuations, net sales grew 42 percent.
In North America, sales of
electronics and other general merchandise rose 73 percent to $2 billion during
the quarter.
Total North America sales rose 47
percent to $3.8 billion, and operating income increased 82 percent to $273
million.
In a statement, Amazon.com
founder/CEO Jeff Bezos said, “We remain heads-down focused on customers,” and
described the company’s proprietary Kindle e-book reader as its No. 1
best-selling product.
The e-commerce pioneer also
confirmed during a conference call that Target will be
outside Amazon to carry Kindle.
Looking ahead, the
company projected second-quarter net sales growth of between 31 percent and 44
percent.
