Online retail giant Amazon reported first-ever financial results for its cloud-based Amazon Web Services Thursday, showing skyrocketing sales that brightened the quarter's 57-million-dollar net loss, according to dpa. Net sales for Amazon Web Services rose 49 per cent to 1.56 billion dollars, from 1.05 billion a year ago. Net income for the company's cloud-based business rose from 245 million dollars to 265 million dollars. The numbers, the first time Amazon has disclosed sales data for its cloud sector, suggest Amazon's cloud storage and software business is ahead of Google and Microsoft, according to Bloomberg News. "Amazon Web Services is a 5-billion-dollar business and still growing fast," Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a press release announcing first quarter results. "In fact it's accelerating." Amazon shares gained more than 6 per cent in after-hours trading.
