E-commerce firm Amazon, which employs 250 people in Cork, reported fourth quarter revenues of US$5.6bn, up 42pc on the previous year.
For the full year 2007 Amazon’s revenues reached US$14.8bn.
The fourth quarter was marked by the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle wireless portable reader which allows instant downloads of more than 90,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines.
The company also announced DRM-free music downloads from Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
Some 330,000 software developers have signed up to use the Amazon Web Services marketplace, up 30,000 on the previous quarter.
The fourth quarter saw Amazon’s profits jump 112pc to US$207m. Full-year profits were up 150pc to US$476m.
“This quarter showed accelerated sales growth and record operating profits,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
“In our view, these unusual financial results are driven by one thing: continuously improving the customer experience.”
By John Kennedy
