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Finance & Markets · Global

Amazon shares fall after company signals higher capital spending

Amazon reported a large third-quarter cash outflow and signaled that capital expenditures next year would exceed the already substantial amount planned for 2026. Amazon shares fell sharply, while the company forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $240.0 billion to $247.0 billion.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 2 independent reports from 6 outlets · Article text read from 1 of 2 reportsHow it's made

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6 outlets3 regionsLatest reporting 2 min read
Coverage: Center OnlyL 0 · C 6 · R 0
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Photo: SounderBruce / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

What happened

Key facts

  • Amazon reported a massive cash burn in the third quarter (per CNA).
  • Amazon shares fell sharply after the company reported its third-quarter results (per CNA).
  • LSEG estimates put fourth-quarter revenue at $244.51 billion, while Amazon's forecast midpoint was $243.5 billion (per CNA).
  • Intel shares fell 23 per cent in after-hours trading (per CNA).
  • Alphabet shares fell 12 per cent during the regular session, its largest single-day percentage decline (per CNA).
  • The headlines described Amazon's cloud growth as its fastest in five years and said AI spending eclipsed that growth (per Reuters, euronext.com, tradingview.com).
  • AOL's headline said AI growth took center stage in its live coverage of Amazon's earnings (per aol.com, CNA).

The brief

Amazon reported a massive cash burn in the third quarter and signaled that its capital expenditures would rise next year beyond the already substantial amount planned for 2026. CEO Andy Jassy told analysts on a conference call that the increase would be “meaningfully more,” but did not give further details. Amazon shares fell sharply after the results.

The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $240.0 billion and $247.0 billion. The midpoint, $243.5 billion, was slightly below the $244.51 billion estimate from LSEG. The forecast therefore placed the midpoint below that estimate, while its range extended to either side of it.

The Reuters headline, also carried by live.euronext.com, TradingView and MarketScreener, characterized Amazon’s cloud growth as its fastest in five years and said AI spending eclipsed that growth. AOL’s headline framed AI growth as the central focus of its live earnings coverage. Those headlines do not supply additional figures about Amazon’s spending or cloud performance.

Amazon’s share decline came during a wider selloff in technology stocks on Thursday. CNA reported that Intel had warned of weak PC revenue through the first half of next year; Intel shares then fell 23 per cent in after-hours trading. The excerpt connects that warning and the broader market decline in its account of the day’s trading.

Alphabet shares dropped 12 per cent during the regular session. CNA described that fall as the company’s largest single-day percentage decline. The excerpt does not give a separate explanation for Alphabet’s move, so it does not establish that Amazon’s results or spending plans caused it.

Jassy’s comments set out the company’s capital-spending outlook but did not specify the planned amount for next year. Amazon’s fourth-quarter revenue forecast and the comparison with LSEG’s estimate provide the other forward-looking figures in the account.

The source does not state a date for Amazon’s next earnings announcement or give a more detailed breakdown of the spending plan.

Why it matters

  • Amazon’s plan to increase capital spending signals a costly race to build the data centres, chips and other infrastructure needed for cloud computing and AI. That investment could strengthen AWS’s capacity to serve customers, but it also raises pressure on Amazon to turn spending into revenue and cash flow, affecting investor confidence and the resources available for other priorities.

What to watch next

  • Whether Andy Jassy or Amazon provides a capital-expenditure figure beyond the statement that next year’s spending would be “meaningfully more” than in 2026.
  • Whether Amazon’s fourth-quarter revenue falls within the company’s forecast range of $240.0 billion to $247.0 billion.
  • Whether Amazon’s cloud growth and AI spending figures are provided alongside the headline framing of the earnings story.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
6 source articles · 6 unique outlets · 2 distinct reports
Outlet political mix: Center Only· 6 Center
Where the outlets are based: Global 33% · US/Canada 17% · Other 50%
Outlet political mix
Center Only
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
6 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
6 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (6 of 6 rated sources); comparatively few Left or Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

One source is from a wire service (AP, Reuters, AFP or Bloomberg), whose reporting other outlets often republish.

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. AWS began in 2006, when Amazon launched cloud-computing services that let businesses rent computing capacity rather than build their own data centers.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. The current investment cycle followed the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, which intensified competition among technology companies to build and supply generative-AI systems.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. Amazon introduced its generative-AI platform, Amazon Bedrock, in 2023.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. In 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy identified generative artificial intelligence as a major opportunity for Amazon Web Services (AWS), as the company expanded cloud infrastructure and AI services.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. Amazon announced an investment of up to $4 billion in Anthropic.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. Amazon announced an additional $2.75 billion investment in Anthropic.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  7. Amazon said it expected capital expenditures of about $100 billion in 2025.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

In 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy identified generative artificial intelligence as a major opportunity for Amazon Web Services (AWS), as the company expanded cloud infrastructure and AI services. Amazon’s 2023 annual report recorded $52.9 billion in cash capital expenditures, including equipment and facilities supporting AWS.

AWS began in 2006, when Amazon launched cloud-computing services that let businesses rent computing capacity rather than build their own data centers. That business became a major part of Amazon’s operations and a platform for later AI services.

Original sources

1 of 6 articles · US/Canada · Show all

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