Amazon posts $544m Q3 operating loss as Fire Phone bombs

Online retail leader Amazon has posted an operating loss of over half a billion dollars for Q3 2013.

The total of $544m is over 20 times more than the loss posted in the same period last year. Net losses reached $437m – up ten times year-on-year. Revenues, however, grew 20 per cent to $20.84bn. Furthermore, the company expects its losses in the next quarter to grow to $570m.

The problem? One of the main ones is the failing Fire Phone, which has struggled to make any significant inroads against the established competition in the smartphone sector.

Amazon has admitted that the cost of getting the device out to retailers, and that over $80m worth of stock is still sitting around – and that’s despite having discounted the phone by $200 last month.

There was also the small matter of Amazon’s $1bn acquisition of video streaming site Twitch. This, however, was not enough to appease the markets, with Amazon’s share price tumbling by 13 per cent shortly after the figures were released.