Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky says the company has saved US$1
billion on travel and expenses as a result of the restrictions brought in
because of the Covid pandemic. He also believes travel costs may remain permanently down.
Speaking on the online retailer’s third quarter earnings call,
Olsavsky said, “We saved nearly US$1 billion in travel this year because
travel's ground to a halt - internal travel, travel on expenses. Things like
that will resume at a later date [but] maybe not get to the same levels as [in]
the past.”
The company said that net sales for the first nine months of
the year were US$144.9 billion, up from US$109.9 billion in 2019. Despite the
savings on travel, general and administrative operating expenses for the first
nine months of 2020 were US$4.7 billion, up from US$3.8 billion in the same period in 2019.
Amazon said it employed 1,125,300 people in the third quarter, up
from 750,000 in the same quarter last year.
The company also announced an expansion of its use of
greener vehicles. It has unveiled its first custom electric delivery vehicle,
designed and built in partnership with Rivian. The new vehicles will make their
first deliveries to Amazon customers in 2021. It says that by 2022, there will
be 10,000 of these vehicles on roads in the US and the EU, and all 100,000
vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2030. It is also adding 1,800
electric delivery vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Vans to its delivery fleet.