Amazon Q2 2026: AWS profit and an unusual investment gain
Amazon.com, Inc. · AMZN. AWS provided most segment operating income; a large investment remeasurement also inflated reported net income.
- Research updated
- Latest filing analyzed
- 10-Q for period ended 2026-06-30, filed 2026-07-31
- SEC filing cutoff
- Publication version
- amzn-reviewed-2026-09-18
Business and reporting model
Amazon runs consumer stores and related services in North America and internationally, while AWS sells cloud compute, storage, database and related services. Its three reportable segments make it possible to separate retail scale from cloud profitability. Amazon also holds investments whose accounting gains can affect net income without representing sales from either business.
Provenance: Original Arqaris synthesis of Amazon's 2025 Form 10-K business discussion and Q2 2026 Form 10-Q segment and other-income notes. Read the SEC-hosted annual filing.
What the latest filing shows
These findings describe three months ended june 30, 2026 and 2025. Each reported fact is drawn from the latest SEC filing analyzed; calculations use the unrounded reported values. Interpretation and limits are Arqaris analysis.
Reported fact: AWS sales were $42,232 million against $30,873 million in the prior-year quarter; AWS operating income was $16,621 million against $10,160 million. SEC source ↗
Calculation: AWS sales rose about 37%; its operating income accounted for about 61% of consolidated operating income of $27,461 million.
Interpretation: Cloud was much more important to quarterly operating profit than its roughly 21% share of consolidated sales suggests.
Limit: Segment profit includes Amazon's segment allocation rules and is not equivalent to cash generation.
Reported fact: North America sales reached $116,177 million and International sales $42,197 million, compared with $100,068 million and $36,761 million. SEC source ↗
Interpretation: Retail remained the larger sales base even as AWS produced more operating income than either retail segment.
Reported fact: Other income, net was $53,415 million, compared with $1,117 million; the filing attributes much of the 2026 amount to upward valuation adjustments on its Anthropic investment. SEC source ↗
Interpretation: The jump in net income to $62,647 million cannot be read as purely a change in the stores or AWS operating performance.
Limit: A valuation adjustment is not the same as cash received from customers.
Comparable financial evidence
Reported values are USD millions for three months ended june 30, 2026 and 2025. Changes are Arqaris calculations: (current ÷ prior − 1) × 100, rounded to one decimal place. The note column identifies reporting boundaries that matter for this company.
| Measure | Current | Prior | Calculated change | Reporting note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS sales | 42,232 | 30,873 | 36.8% | Reportable segment |
| AWS operating income | 16,621 | 10,160 | 63.6% | Reportable segment |
| North America sales | 116,177 | 100,068 | 16.1% | Reportable segment |
| International sales | 42,197 | 36,761 | 14.8% | Reportable segment |
| Consolidated operating income | 27,461 | 19,171 | 43.2% | Company total, before other income |
| Other income, net | 53,415 | 1,117 | 4682.0% | Investment and other non-operating items |
How to read the change
Amazon's segment disclosure exposes a sharp difference between where sales are made and where operating profit is earned. The North America and International businesses together produced far more sales than AWS, yet AWS supplied the largest segment operating-income contribution.
This quarter also needs an accounting boundary. The sizeable Anthropic-related remeasurement sits below operating income. Keeping it separate avoids describing a valuation event as improved retail or cloud unit economics; its future value and realization are uncertain.
What this research cannot establish
- AWS operating income is affected by shared infrastructure and expense allocation.
- Reported segment sales do not establish retail unit growth, marketplace gross merchandise value or cloud usage volume.
- Investment valuation gains can reverse or differ from eventual cash proceeds.
This is selected filing analysis, not a valuation, recommendation, live price or forecast. It does not cover every risk or event after the SEC cutoff. Read the full filings before relying on any selected figure. Why net income and operating income differ and review Arqaris methodology.
Primary sources and method
- Amazon.com, Inc. 10-Q, period ended 2026-06-30; accession 0001018724-26-000026, filed 2026-07-31. Source for the current and comparable values and filing-specific findings.
- Amazon.com, Inc. 10-K, period ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001018724-26-000004, filed 2026-02-06. Source for the business and reporting-model context.
Business explanations and interpretations are original Arqaris text. Historical facts are attributed to SEC-hosted issuer filings; percentage changes and selected shares are Arqaris calculations. No commercial company-profile description is reproduced.