Amazon sales fall short despite e-book surge
![zd-defaultauthor-sam-diaz.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/9f4a6924336160d99f56819272b4624a15380cef/2014/12/04/58676caf-7b70-11e4-9a74-d4ae52e95e57/zd-defaultauthor-sam-diaz.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Amazon has reported a fourth-quarter profit that exceeded Wall Street's estimates but fell short in revenue.
![Amazon Kindle e-book e-reader](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/02/017c2352-4a0d-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/amazon-kindle-300.jpg)
Amazon's fourth-quarter profits execeeded estimates as e-books sales outstripped paperback sales on its website.
For the fourth quarter, the company reported net income of $416m (£216m), or 91 cents per share, an increase from the 85 cents reported for the same quarter a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had been expecting 88 cents. Sales were up 36 percent from last year, coming in at $12.95bn, but missed analysts' estimate of $13bn.
For the year, the company reported net income of $1.15bn, or $2.53 per share, on sales of $34.2bn, a 40 percent jump over 2009. "Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones," said founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos in a statement. "We had our first $10bn quarter, and, after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com."
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Amazon earnings: Shares tumble as holiday sales fall short on ZDNet.com.
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