Amazon income falls 57 percent

NEW YORK – Amazon’s fourth-quarter net income dropped sharply, weighed down by higher operating expenses as the company continued to invest in its long-term growth plans at the expense of short-term earnings.

Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday that its net income was $177 million, or 38 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That’s down 57 percent from $416 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 35 percent to $17.4 billion. Though it was buoyed by solid holiday sales, the figure fell below the $18.3 billion that analysts polled by FactSet had expected.

Amazon’s operating expenses, meanwhile, grew 38 percent to $17.2 billion. The company has been investing heavily in new sales-fulfillment centers so it can grow its business. That has cut into profits all of last year.

Amazon said sales of its Kindle tablet computers and e-readers nearly tripled compared with the final quarter of 2010.

Sales at Amazon’s media business, which includes books, DVDs, and content consumed on the Kindle, grew 15 percent to $6 billion. Sales from electronics and other general merchandise, which includes the Kindle devices, jumped 48 percent to $10.9 billion.