Amazon shares fell 6 per cent in after-hours trading in New York on Thursday when the online retailer significantly missed earnings expectations in the third quarter, and forecast operating income of as little as zero next quarter.

周四，亚马逊(Amazon)股价在纽约盘后交易时段大跌了6%，因为这家在线零售商在第三季度的盈利严重不及预期，并预期下一季度营业利润最低可能为零。

Investment in distribution warehouses, video content from top tier directors and actors and the engineering teams behind virtual assistant Alexa helped push operating costs up 29 per cent — and look set to continue into the holiday shopping season.

亚马逊对于分销仓库、来自顶级导演和演员的视频内容以及虚拟助理Alexa背后工程团队的投资，帮助推动其运营成本增加了29%。看来这一趋势在进入假日购物季之后会延续下去。

Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer, said it had opened 18 fulfilment centres during the quarter, the biggest growth in the delivery network since 2012.

亚马逊的首席财务官布莱恩.奥尔萨夫斯基(Brian Olsavsky)表示，第三季度亚马逊已开设了18个履行作业中心，为2012年以来配送网络扩张速度最快的一次。

Amazon reported earnings per share of 52 cents, up more than 200 per cent from the same period last year, but far from the average analyst estimate of 78 cents for the three months ended September. Net income was $252m.

亚马逊公告称，每股盈利为52美分，同比增幅超过200%，但远远不及分析师对第三季度每股盈利预测的平均值78美分。净利润为2.52亿美元。

Sales increased 29 per cent to $32.7bn, meeting the consensus forecast, with retail sales in North America up 26 per cent and international retail sales rising 28 per cent.

销售额增加29%，至327亿美元，符合共识预测。北美地区零售额增加26%，国外零售额增加28%。

Revenue from Amazon Web Services soared 55 per cent to $3.2bn, the biggest year-on-year leap in sales, as prices came down and AWS rolled out new features. The operating margin at AWS increased to 31.6 per cent.

随着价格下调，亚马逊网络服务(AWS)推出新功能，AWS业务收入大涨55%，至32亿美元，为同比增幅最大的一次。AWS营业利润率上升至31.6%。

For the crucial fourth quarter, where retailers revel in holiday season shopping, Amazon forecast sales between $42bn and $45.5bn, up between 17 and 27 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. But it said it expected operating income of between zero and $1.3bn, compared with $1.1bn in the fourth quarter of 2015.

对于关键的第四季度，亚马逊预计销售额将达420亿至455亿美元，同比增加17%至27%。但亚马逊表示，预计营业利润将为0至13亿美元，而去年第四季度为11亿美元。