Amazon's profit may vanish.

Amazon warned that its operating profits could be all but wiped out in the fourth quarter as it grapples with the highest inflation in a generation and intense competition. Shares in the group dropped 14.4 per cent, or $15.97, to $94.99 during out-of-hours trading. Amazon’s profits fell 9 per cent to $2.87 billion in the third quarter, as net sales increased 15 per cent to $127.1 billion, short of expectations. The company braced investors for sales of $140 billion to $148 billion in the fourth quarter.

Analysts were expecting $155.15 billion. Operating profits could be anywhere between nothing and $4 billion during the period, it said, heightening apprehension over trading during the pre-Christmas period. Amazon experienced «moderating sales growth» across many of its businesses in the third quarter, Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer, told shareholders on a conference call last night, cautioning that this is expected to persist into the fourth. Through its web services division, the $1.1 trillion business is also the largest cloud computing company.

It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and has about 1.5 million employees across the world. Bezos, 58, stood down as chief executive a year ago, becoming executive chairman, and was succeeded by Andy Jassy, 54. Bezos is worth $139 billion, Bloomberg’s billionaire index says. Amazon is looking to boost revenue in all its businesses.

Its international unit lost $2.5 billion, against an operating loss of $900 million a year ago. Amazon Web Services reported an operating income of $5.4 billion, compared with $4.9 billion previously. Shares in Pinterest rallied by 13.8 per cent, or $3.03, to $24.92 last night after the social network beat expectations for sales in the third quarter and forecast growth in the mid-single digits in the fourth.

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