Amazon.com Inc. projected lackluster revenue in the current quarter, worrying investors that the company’s main e-commerce business has stalled and sales growth has slowed in the cloud computing division. The shares fell in extended trading.

Revenue will be US$121 billion to US$126 billion in the period ending in March. Analysts, on average, estimated US$125.5 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy is cutting costs after rapid hiring and expansion during the pandemic left Amazon saddled with too many warehouses and employees. The company has slowed the opening of new buildings, abandoned some facilities and started axing experimental teams. The Seattle-based company started a new round of job cuts last month that will eventually total 18,000 employees.

Revenue increased 9 per cent to US$149.2 billion in the period ended Dec. 31, the company said Thursday in a statement. Analysts, on average, estimated US$145.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud-computing division, generated sales of US$21.4 billion, an increase of 20 per cent from a year earlier. The unit’s performance fell just short of estimates and followed rival Microsoft Corp.’s disappointing results for its cloud unit last week.

In October, Amazon forecast the slowest holiday-quarter growth in its history, projecting that sales would rise just 2 per cent to 8 per cent as shoppers pulled back after binging during the pandemic. 

Shares fell 5 per cent in extended trading after closing at US$112.91 in New York. The stock was up 34 per cent this year after losing half of its value in 2022 in what was the company’s worst performance in more than a decade.