An Amazon delivery worker in San Francisco (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Amazon CEO Jassy on tariffs: “It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen”

Tariff uncertainty and slowing revenue growth cloud a strong earnings beat.

5/2/25 11:39AM

Amazon beat Wall Street estimates for revenue for the first quarter, but tariffs are making the future hazy, and revenue growth is slowing.

On last night’s earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said:

“It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen with tariffs right now. It’s hard to tell where they’re going to settle and when they’re going to settle.”

The company isn’t seeing any significant signs of selling prices shooting up or demand dropping so far, though that could change, Jassy said:

“We haven’t seen any attenuation of demand yet. To some extent, we’ve seen some heightened buying in certain categories that may indicate stocking up in advance of any potential tariff impact.”

Jassy made the case that in times of uncertainty (like the pandemic), retail shoppers turn to brands they can trust, and a recently survey showed that 80% of Americans would consider buying from Amazon.

Jassy said:

“Given our really broad selection, low pricing, and speedy delivery, we have emerged from these uncertain eras with more relative market segment share than we started and better set up for the future. I’m optimistic this could happen again.”

Some of the ways that Amazon execs on the call described the current moment:

“...external environment remains complex...”

“We’re closely monitoring the macroeconomic environment”

“...uncertain environments...”

“....periods of discontinuity...”

There were also some warning signs related to Amazon’s impressive revenue growth. Revenue for its North America unit grew 7.6%, the lowest year-on-year growth since Q1 2022. Amazon’s AWS cloud computing unit, which has been a big growth area for the company, came in slightly below expectations with 17% growth.

Investors were disappointed with Amazon’s guidance for operating income for the current quarter. The FactSet analyst consensus was $17.62 billion, but the company offered a huge range from $13 billion up to $17.5 billion — entirely below expectations.

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eBay stock slumps on gloomy Q4 outlook despite solid Q3 earnings

Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

The company has been facing macroeconomic challenges since the US ended the de minimis tariff exemption in late August, with the online marketplace reliant on shipments. One small silver lining? CFO Peggy Alford highlighted a “less durable trend” on a post-earnings call: that as commodity prices for precious metals boomed, demand for bullion and collectible coins on eBay spiked.