Amazon shares tank 4% on weakness in cloud computing unit after Q1 forecasts miss Wall Street estimates | Stock Market News

Amazon, one of Wall Street’s most influential companies, topped analysts’ expectations for earnings at the end of 2024, but its stock nevertheless fell 4%. Investors focused instead on its forecast for upcoming revenue, which fell short of analysts’ expectations. Amazon.com dipped 3.7% due to weakness in the retailer’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, and lower-than-expected forecasts for first-quarter revenue and profit.

Amazon.com eliminated a reference to “inclusion and diversity” in its annual report filed on Thursday, after telling employees in December that it was winding down diversity programs as part of corporate America’s broader retreat from such policies.

Some of the biggest U.S. businesses have been scaling back their diversity initiatives, years after pushing for more inclusive policies in the wake of protests against the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020.

Big technology companies Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google are among those that have rolled back such programs in the face of attacks from conservative groups, which have threatened to sue firms over them.

For the last two years, Amazon’s “human capital” section of its annual report said: “As we strive to be Earth’s best employer, we focus on investment and innovation, inclusion and diversity, safety, and engagement to hire and develop the best talent.”