Amazon’s streak of record profits comes to an end

Amazon’s streak of record profits has come to an end.

Amazon on Thursday reported making a profit of $2.6 billion for the three months ending in June — up slightly from the year prior, but well below its record of $3.6 billion set in the first three months of this year. That ends Amazon’s impressive streak of four consecutive quarters of record profits.

The weaker-than-expected profit comes as Amazon is investing heavily in expediting deliveries. The company previously announced that it would spend $800 million during this quarter to make free one-day shipping standard for its Prime customers, effectively halving the usual shipping window.

The move is thought to be key to renewing Amazon’s sales growth at a time when the company is running up against the law of large numbers. Amazon posted revenue of $63.4 billion for the most recent quarter, up 20% from the same period a year ago.

“Customers are responding to Prime’s move to one-day delivery — we’ve received a lot of positive feedback and seen accelerating sales growth,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “Free one-day delivery is now available to Prime members on more than ten million items, and we’re just getting started.”

Shares of Amazon were down nearly 3% in after hours trading Thursday following the earnings report’s release.

More to come…