• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, May 2, 2025

Amazon’s first-quarter results beat expectations, with advertising revenue continuing to surge, up 18% to $13.92 billion. That growth outpaced rivals like Google and Meta, reinforcing the platform’s strength as an advertising powerhouse.

“Amazon's advertising business continues to grow at a faster pace than competitors,” noted Brad Jashinsky, an analyst at Gartner. “The growth is off a smaller base and the pace of growth has slowed a bit, but it continues to grow faster than competitors like Google and Meta.”

Total revenue climbed 9% to $155.7 billion, compared with $143.3 billion in the same period last year. In the U.S., sales rose 8%. AWS segment sales increased 17% to $29.3 billion, and net income jumped 64% to $17.1 billion, up from $10.4 billion a year ago.

Still, Amazon struck a cautious tone for the coming quarter, pointing to “substantial uncertainty” stemming from recession fears and shifting trade policies, including tariffs.

So far, writes Jason Helfstein, an analyst who follows Amazon for Oppenheimer, the company hasn’t seen retail prices go up yet. And Amazon’s “core strategy of broad selection, price and speed are seen as a key advantage to offset tariff headwind.”

But public concerns about tariffs are already impacting consumer behavior, triggering recession fears. J.P. Morgan say the likelihood of recession in 2025 is now 60%, up from 40% before Trump announced the “Liberation Day” tariff plan.

White House pushes back on tariff transparency

That tension boiled over this week following reports that Amazon planned to add tariff cost labels next to product prices on its marketplace. The goal: more transparent pricing for consumers as new tariffs loom.

But after Punchbowl News, a Washington D.C. newsletters, broke the story, the backlash was immediate. The White House called the move “hostile and political.” And NBC News reported that President Trump personally called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain.

Within hours, Amazon began walking the plan back—first softening its language, then telling media outlets the move is “not going to happen.”

And despite the political fallout, consumer demand for transparent pricing is high. CivicScience, a consumer analytics platform, reports that 48% of U.S. adults are “very interested” in seeing such pricing disclosures, with another 26% saying they’re “somewhat interested.”

As Fast Company put it: “Trump hated Amazon’s proposed tariff cost labels. They should be everywhere.”

In an era of price sensitivity and brand skepticism, Amazon’s aborted move may have struck a nerve—not just in Washington, but with shoppers hungry for clarity.