Amazon predicts shrinking profit on pandemic expenses

From the article:

Operating income could range from $1.5 billion to a loss of $1.5 billion in the quarter ending in June, the company said Thursday in a statement.

“Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit,” Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in the statement. “But these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on Covid-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe.”

[...]

Amazon had warned that a hiring binge beginning in mid-March and a temporary $2 an hour hazard pay raise for the company’s hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers would ultimately cost some $700 million.