So much for retail therapy.
After Amazon reported a weaker-than-expected sales outlook for the third quarter on Thursday, sending its shares down more than 7% in after-hours trading, a top company executive posited a unique cause on a call with reporters.
Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said that Amazon web traffic patterns indicate that shoppers are distracted by rare, major news events—such as the Olympics and the historically turbulent US presidential race, which has already included both an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden dropping from the race—and are potentially deferring purchases as a result, or just skipping them altogether.
Such monumental news events in the past have made it "harder to forecast," Olsavsky said, and company leaders are once again battling with that reality. Amazon said it was forecasting between $154 billion and $158.5 billion in revenue for the current third quarter, a range that suggests sales will likely come in below the average analyst estimate of $158.24 billion.
