Amazon tumbles 11% after posting first loss in 7 years, wiping out $160 billion of value

• Amazon stock dropped 11% in early trading after the tech giant posted its first quarterly loss in seven years.
• The drop meant the e-commerce giant lost more than $160 billion of market value in brutal trading.

Amazon dropped 11% Friday after posting its first quarterly loss in seven years, wiping more than $160 billion off the company's market value.

The e-commerce giant was down 11.26% at $2,568.50 as of 2.41 p.m. ET as investors reacted to the company's first quarter earnings, which were released after the bell Thursday.

Amazon made a loss of $3.84 billion in the first quarter, down from a profit of $8.11 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The bottom line was hit hard by a $7.6 billion reduction in the value of its stake in electric-car maker Rivian, whose shares have crashed almost 70% this year.

Amazon reported its slowest-ever quarterly revenue growth, with a rise of 7.3% year-on-year to $116.44 billion.

The company said its major investments in warehouses and staff during the coronavirus pandemic were catching up with it, as uncertainty grows about consumer spending.

"Today, as we're no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfillment network," CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement released with the earnings results.

Jassy also said there was a high level of uncertainty, with the war in Ukraine, inflation, and supply-chain problems likely to put pressure on the company in the second quarter.

"With inflation hitting household budgets around the world, spontaneous Amazon purchases are likely to be reined in," Sophie Lund-Yates, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

One bright spot was Amazon Web Services. Revenue at the cloud-computing segment jumped 36.6% year-on-year to $18.44 billion.

Amazon stock has fallen 23.2% in 2022 as of Friday morning, amid a broad sell-off in US equities.

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