Amazon shares sink despite record profit of nearly $3bn

Company sees fourth quarter of profits greater than $1bn but revenue growth is lower than expected

Amazon has announced a record profit for the last three months of close to $3bn. But the news on Thursday of a $1bn-a-month bonanza was not enough for Wall Street and shares sank on lower-than-expected revenue growth.

The online retail and cloud computing giant long worried investors by losing cash quarter after quarter but now appears to be raking in money, thanks largely to its cloud computing services. In the last quarter the company made a profit of $2.88bn, the fourth quarter that Amazon's profits have been greater than $1bn.