Amazon beats profit forecasts

Online retailer Amazon has beaten analystsÔÇÖ forecasts with a 68 percent jump in profits from a year earlier.  The companyÔÇÖs profits reached $199 million for the period July to September, with total sales rising to $5.45 billion. AnalystsÔÇÖ estimates were for around $5 billion in sales for the period.  The 45 cents per share profits far exceeded analystsÔÇÖ average estimates of 30 cents per share.  North American revenue rose by 23 percent during the quarter.  The companyÔÇÖs success was largely due to sales of its Kindle electronic book reader, which has now become the number one bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars across all product categories.  The volume of international Kindle sales has been so high that the company has announced it is cutting the price of the gadget from $279 before tax to $259, in line with the prior cost of the US-only version.  Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said the Kindle was the companyÔÇÖs most wished-for and gifted item. ÔÇ£We are grateful for and energized by this customer response,ÔÇØ he commented.  Seattle-based Amazon has said that it intends to release software next month that allows people buy Kindle books and read them on a computer, even if they do not own a Kindle device. The move represents an attempt to rival Barnes & NobleÔÇÖs similar product, the Nook. Revenue from books, CDs, DVDs and other media rose 17 percent to $2.93 billion, with revenue from electronics and other general merchandise performing particularly strongly, leaping 44 percent to $2.36 billion. Strong international sales of other products also boosted results, with the overseas market now accounting for 48 percent of AmazonÔÇÖs income. Its revenue increased a total of 35 percent outside of North America.  Amazon said it also expects strong trading over the Christmas period, expecting fourth quarter revenue to grow between 21 percent and 36 percentÔÇöequating to between $8.13 billion and $9.13 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $8.11 billion. The company announced four acquisitions this year, including online shoe retailer Zappos.com, in a move to diversify its offering and expand its customer base still further.  Amazon, which was founded in 1995, ended the third quarter with more than 98 million active customer accountsÔÇöa rise of 17 percent from a year ago. *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *