关于亚马逊的业务近况，你需要知道的四件事

如果你没有关注最近亚马逊的第四季度收益电话会议，看完这篇文章，你就知道亚马逊去年的成绩如何了。

收益增长不错，但还不够好

2016年第四季度，亚马逊的云计算部门——亚马逊网络服务（Amazon Web Services）实现了35.6亿美元的营收，在上年同期24亿美元的基础上增长了47%。略有遗憾的是，当季营收仍略低于业界给出的36亿美元的预期。

亚马逊公司的当季总收入为437.4亿美元，环比增长了22%，但仍未达到汤森路透此前给出的446.8亿美元的预期。由于营收增幅弱于预期的缘故，上周五上午，亚马逊股价下跌了3.5个百分点，收于每股810.96美元。

大量招聘员工

亚马逊公司的员工总数从去年四季度的306,800人的基础上增长了48%，达到341,400人，这其中包括全职和兼职员工，但不包括临时人员和承包商。2015年第四季度，亚马逊的员工还只有230,800人。如果这还不足以说明亚马逊的招聘速度，请看下面这个数据：据科技媒体Geekwire报道，五年前亚马逊的全球员工总数只有32,000人。

目前看来，亚马逊的大规模招聘势头还将持续一段时间。几周前亚马逊就宣称要在未来18个月里在全美范围内招聘10万名全职员工。亚马逊CEO杰夫·贝索斯表示，这些新增员工将帮助公司“开设新的订单履行中心，以及在云计算、机器学习和高级物流等领域继续创新。”

亚马逊ECHO成为一款明星产品

按照惯例，亚马逊并未披露智能音箱Echo的销量数据。但是在与股东和分析师的电话会议上，亚马逊的财务总监布莱恩·奥萨瓦斯基反复强调了一点：在今年的假日季期间，Echo音箱的销量比去年同期增长了9倍。奥萨瓦斯基还介绍到，Echo音箱自带的智能软件Alexa目前已经拥有了大约4000个“技能”。所谓的“技能”就是用户通过Alexa软件能够实现的用途——比如从达美乐（Domino）预订一份披萨，或是替你在第一资本（Capital One）的银行账户上存钱等等。

根据市场研究机构消费者情报研究伙伴公司（Consumer Intelligence Research Partners）估算，Echo智能音箱广泛推出后不到两年，它在全美的安装量就已达到820万部左右。

AWS云服务迅猛发展

虽然亚马逊云服务的营收没能达到分析师们的预期。但从35.6亿美元的季度营收来看，AWS的业务规模今年有望能够达到140亿美元。

虽然坊间有很多关于AWS业务停止降价的传闻，但这种情况并未发生。2016年第四季度，亚马逊仍然宣布了针对多项AWS服务的7种降价措施。奥萨瓦斯基还表示，包括Salesforce和Workday等知名软件公司在内的许多新客户都打算将来更多地使用AWS。

与此同时，包括微软Azure和谷歌在内的一些重磅竞争对手也都竞相在云计算平台上发力。最近，社交应用Snapchat的母公司Snap Inc披露了一份递交给美国证监会的文件，表示该公司计划在未来五年内，向谷歌购买价值20亿美元的云服务。

亚马逊PRIME的用户群正在增长

Prime是亚马逊推出的一项高级会员服务，用户只要每年缴纳99美元就能享受这项服务，而且还可以享受到视频服务以及其它特权。亚马逊称Prime用户对视频和音乐内容的消费量已经增长了一倍多，但依然没有透露任何实际数字。目前，亚马逊Prime视频服务已在全球200多个国家开通。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

If you missed Amazon's fourth quarter earnings call recently, here's what you need to know about how Amazon ended 2016.

REVENUE GROWTH WAS GOOD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Amazon Web Services, the retail giant's cloud computing unit, logged revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, up 47% from $2.4 billion a year ago. Small problem: Consensus estimate from FactSet was for $3.6 billion.

Overall revenue at the company came in at $43.74 billion, up 22% year over year. But analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $44.68 billion. As a result of the misses, Amazon's stock price Friday morning was off about 3.5% to $810.96 per share.

IT'S HIRING

Total employee headcount—including full- and part-time people but not temps or contractors—was up 48% to 341,400 for the quarter compared to 306,800 for the fourth quarter last year. For context, there were 230,800 such employees during the fourth quarter of 2015. And, as Geekwire points out, total Amazon headcount worldwide five years ago was a mere 32,000 employees.

It looks like that trajectory will continue. A few weeks ago Amazon pledged to add 100,000 new full-time workers in the U.S. over the next 18 months. In a statement Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said that the additional people will help the company "open new fulfillment centers, and continue to invent in areas like cloud technology, machine learning, and advanced logistics."

AMAZON ECHO IS A STAR

Amazon, per usual, did not break out sales numbers for Echo, its connected home speaker. But during the call with shareholders and analysts, Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavksy reiterated a claim from the earnings release that unit sales grew nine times during the holiday period compared to the year prior's numbers. Olsavksy also touted that Alexa—Amazon's smart software within Echo—now has approximately 4,000 "skills." A "Skill" is Amazon speak for an application that lets users tell Alexa what to do—whether that's ordering a Domino's pizza, or making a deposit in your Capital One bank account.

New numbers from market research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, estimate that 8.2 million Echo units have been installed in the U.S. since the product became broadly available less than two years ago.

AWS IS ON A TEAR

Analysts expected more cloud revenue than they got for the quarter. But based on that $3.56 billion in quarterly revenue, AWS is on pace to be a $14 billion business over the next year.

And all that talk about the end of cloud price cuts? It didn't happen. The company announced seven price cuts to various AWS services in the quarter, Olsavsky noted. He also pointed to new customers—including software companies like Salesforce.com and Workday—that plan to use AWS more in the future.

All of this at a time when big cloud competitors, like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform are beefing up. Recently, Snap Inc., the parent company of ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, disclosed in its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to buy $2 billion worth of Google cloud services over five years.

BONUS: PRIME IS GROWING

Amazon Prime members, who pay $99 a year for the shopping service plus access to video and other perks, tapped into more content than ever, according to the company. Amazon claimed that consumption of video and music more than doubled, but again without providing actual numbers.

Amazon Prime Video is now available in 200 countries.