Amazon upbeat on Unbox performance

Service has high repeat customer rate compared to other sections

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 2/1/2007

FEB. 1 | Amazon.com is pleased with its movie download service Unbox, which has some of the highest repeat customer rates among all of the retailer’s product offerings, the company said during a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts.

“We continue to add selection,” said chief financial officer Tom Szkutak. “We’re getting very good repeat customer performance to our site, so we’re very pleased from that perspective.”

Szkutak said the company is seeing strong performance on TV episodes and hard-to-find videos.

Rising tax costs halved Amazon’s fourth-quarter earnings, the retailer said Thursday.

Amazon reported net income of $98 million, a 50% drop from the previous fourth quarter, when the company got a boost from a $38 million tax benefit. The company had a $91 million income tax cost in the fourth quarter this year.

Amazon’s sales grew 34% during the quarter to $3.99 billion.

Amazon said sales in its media division, which includes DVD, were up 25% to $2.5 billion in the quarter. North American media revenue was up 21% to $1.25 billion.

For the full year, net income fell 47% to $190 million. Revenue for the year was up 26%, to $10.71 billion.

Amazon’s stock lifted 5% to $40.70 in after-hours trading, following its earnings announcement.