Amazon posts second straight profit powered by Web Services

E-commerce company Amazon.com Inc on Thursday recorded a surprise profit for the second quarter in a row, propelled by higher sales in North America and its cloud computing business, and its shares rose 11 percent. Amazon, which has historically struggled with profitability while spending to expand beyond its core online marketplace offerings, reined in costs and was helped to profitability by growth at its Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told reporters