Few companies have had as much financial success during the coronavirus pandemic as Amazon, and the company had yet another huge three months in the third quarter of this year.

The company said Thursday that it earned $96.15 billion in revenue in the third quarter which, per CNBC, was up from analyst predictions of $92.7 billion. Sales were also up 37 percent from the same quarter the year before. Amazon had posted revenue of $88.9 billion in the second quarter.

Net income, the company said, reached $6.3 billion in the quarter, compared to $2.1 billion in the third quarter of 2020.

Amazon also said that Prime Day, which was held in mid-October this year due to pandemic delays, were “the two biggest days ever for small and medium businesses in Amazon’s stores,” and that Prime members saved more than $1.4 billion from regular prices due to Prime Day.

In the investors letter, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos emphasized jobs.

“Two years ago, we increased Amazon’s minimum wage to $15 for all full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees across the U.S. and challenged other large employers to do the same. Best Buy and Target have stepped up, and we hope other large employers will also make the jump to $15. Now would be a great time,” Bezos said.

“Offering jobs with industry-leading pay and great healthcare, including to entry-level and front-line employees, is even more meaningful in a time like this, and we’re proud to have created over 400,000 jobs this year alone. We’re seeing more customers than ever shopping early for their holiday gifts, which is just one of the signs that this is going to be an unprecedented holiday season. Big thank you to our employees and selling partners around the world who’ve been busy getting ready to deliver for customers this holiday.”

Meanwhile, an out-of-left-field rumor this week stated that Bezos may be interested in purchasing CNN.

Fox Business’ Charles Gasperino said this week that the investment banking world is “buzzing” with the possibility that Bezos might buy the news network, which is currently owned by AT&T, as part of the WarnerMedia division that formerly Time Warner. However, a person close to Bezos said, in the same report, that “there has been zero talk on this.”

Bezos bought The Washington Post newspaper in 2013 from the Graham family, which had owned it for eighty years. That purchase was undertaken by Bezos personally, and not by Amazon the company. However, President Trump has often been critical of Bezos and Amazon, in part due to what he sees as unfair coverage by the newspaper that Bezos owns. This even led to a court battle, when Amazon alleged that the JEDI cloud computing contract had been handed to Microsoft, rather than Amazon, due to Trump’s supposedly antipathy towards Bezos.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters