Revealed: How much profit Amazon makes in the UK
Amazon’s UK profit has been revealed – with the total estimated to be well above the £500m mark.
Unusually, Jeff Bezos’ empire doesn’t file a single set of group accounts for its UK activities, instead choosing to report each company’s results separately with no parent entity in this country.
The picture is also further complicated by the fact that Amazon Web Services’ UK operations are covered by a company based in Luxembourg which looks after the whole EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region and doesn’t include a UK breakdown.
But from what its publicly available, Amazon companies headquartered in the UK generated a combined pre-tax profit of around £500m in 2024, up from the £457m they raked in during the prior year.
The latest total will be augmented by the profit generated from Amazon Web Services EMEA Sarl, which is based in Luxembourg.
The accounts show the firm’s pre-tax profit totalled more than €500m (£432.3m) in 2024, up from the €468m it achieved in 2023.
How much of that total can be attributed to the UK can’t be seen from the published accounts.
According to the UK-based companies controlled by Amazon, their total turnover increased to £14.7bn in 2024 from the £13.3bn it achieved in 2023.
Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL’s net turnover also rose over the same period from €14m to €17m.
Audible sales surge but Twitch suffers
The group’s largest company in the UK, Amazon UK Services, increased its turnover from £6.8bn to £7.4bn in 2024 while its pre-tax profit also rose from £250.7m to £280.6m.
Amazon UK Services provides fulfilment and corporate support services.
Its next largest, Amazon Digital UK, saw its turnover stay flat at £3.5bn and its pre-tax profit fall from £53.9m to £38.5m.
Amazon Online UK’s turnover grew from £2.2bn to £2.6bn while its pre-tax profit increased from £33.9m to £54.9m.
The group’s online audiobook and podcast service Audible also increased its turnover from £241.8m to £255.5m in the year and its pre-tax profit went from £29m to £39.2m.
However, turnover at streaming service Twitch slumped from £35m to £15.1m and its pre-tax profit was slashed from £6.1m to £1.3m.
Turnover also fell from £19.4m to £6m at Amazon Capital Services UK as its pre-tax profit was also cut from £3.3m to £1.7m.
Amazon Data Services UK’s turnover grew in the year from £605.9m to £782.1m but it fell to a pre-tax loss of £1.2m, having made a profit of £246,000 in 2023.
IMDB, the online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games and streaming content online, posted a turnover of £12.4m for 2024, down from £14.1m, while its pre-tax profit edged up from £1.2m to £1.8m.
Other companies that make up Amazon’s operations in the UK and are headquartered this country include Amazon Payments UK and Amazon Kupier UK.
In all, there are around 20 entities through which Amazon pays UK tax. Some are based outside this country while a number of others are still to report their latest financial accounts.
The bulk of Amazon’s retail revenues are part of Amazon EU Sarl, which is based in Luxembourg.
But while its UK retail revenues, associated expenses, profits and taxes are recorded in the UK and reported and paid to HMRC, the figures are not available on Companies House.
Another reason as to why it’s not easy to come up with a definitive figure for exactly how much profit Amazon makes in the UK is that the company does not measure and report operating income at the country level.
Amazon’s UK tax bill reaches £1bn
The documents have come to light after Amazon announced on social media last week that its tax bill increased from £932m in 2023 to £1bn in 2024 while its revenue rose from about £27bn to more than £29bn.
Amazon has faced significant criticism over its UK tax affairs in the past, with the company not paying corporation tax in 2021 and 2022 due to the “super-deduction” tax break, which has since been reformed.
Last week, the Silicon Valley-based company stressed that it is among the “top 10 UK taxpayers” and plans to invest £40bn in the country over the next three years.
It also said the total amount of tax Amazon collected, such as VAT, which customers pay on products they buy, or the national insurance contributions of its staff, came to more than £4.7bn last year.
Amazon employs more than 75,000 people across the UK and said it plans to hire thousands more as part of its continued growth plan.
This will include 2,000 jobs at its new warehouse in Hull and about 2,000 at another in Northampton.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We are a top ten taxpayer in the UK. Our total tax contribution has risen to more than £5.8bn in 2024 – including over a billion in taxes borne.
“We remain a committed investor in the UK, with plans to invest a further £40bn over the next three years, building new fulfilment centres, expanding our delivery and data centre network, and creating thousands of jobs right across the country, from Redruth in Cornwall to Aberdeen.
“We have been serving the UK for more than 25 years and are determined to continue delivering for customers, small businesses and local communities in the years ahead.”