Amazon.com reported weak quarterly results on Thursday as the world's largest internet retailer spent heavily and suffered from an economic slowdown in Europe.
Amazon shares slipped slightly to $US221 ($A213) in after-hours trading after the results.
The company said its third-quarter net loss was $US274 million, versus net income of $US63 million, in the third quarter of 2011. Part of the loss was related to an impairment charge from Amazon's investment in daily deal company LivingSocial.
Third-quarter revenue was $US13.8 billion, up 27 percent from a year earlier.
Amazon was expected to lose 8 cents a share in the third quarter on revenue of $US13.9 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Before Thursday's report, Amazon had generated 18 straight quarters of net income, according to BGC Partners.
For the crucial fourth-quarter holiday shopping period, Amazon forecast revenue that missed analysts' expectations. The company also gave a wide forecast for operating income in the period.
Amazon is spending heavily on new distribution warehouses and technology to support its cloud-computing businesses, Amazon Web Services. It is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars a year on digital content to sell through its Kindle tablets and e-readers.
Those Kindle gadgets are being sold at cost, pressuring earnings in the short term. Amazon hopes to make money when customers use them to buy more physical and digital products from the company.
EBay Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said last week that the company expected an "OK" holiday season, partly because of macro pressure in Europe.
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