Tech giants' shares soar as companies benefit from Covid-19 pandemic
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google reported positive quarterly results even as overall US economic growth fell by 32.9{998ff540fe94a59c7c9828c4dd5223100610db67cea90947d11644c77e05f5f4}
Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google released results on Thursday that showed just how richly the sector has benefited from the coronavirus pandemic, sending their already sky-high share prices soaring in after-hours trading.
On a day when the US announced economic growth overall had collapsed by a record-setting 32.9{998ff540fe94a59c7c9828c4dd5223100610db67cea90947d11644c77e05f5f4}, Amazon reported a profit of $5.2bn for the quarter and sales of $88.9bn, 40{998ff540fe94a59c7c9828c4dd5223100610db67cea90947d11644c77e05f5f4} higher than the same period last year. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing division, reported revenues of $10.8bn for the quarter – boosted as companies and consumers shifted online during the pandemic.