Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, last night reported quarterly profits that beat Wall Street estimates.
Amazon said sales grew 35% to $2.89 billion in the three months to June, beating estimates by $90m.
Net profit was up 257% to $78m, or 19 cents a share, three cents better than expected.
Comparable sales in the second quarter of 2006 were $2.14 billion and comparable net profit was $22m
North America sales were $1.6 billion, up 38% from the second quarter of 2006 and international sales, representing the UK, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites, were $1.28 billion, up 31% from second quarter 2006.
Excluding the impact from changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, international net sales growth was 26%.
Amazon expects sales to grow between 30% and 38% in the third quarter, and operating profit is expected to grow between 88% and 175% compared with the third quarter of 2006.
Amazon said 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' was the company's largest new product release ever.
It said its global pre-order sales total was 2.2 million - a 47% increase on its previous record which was for 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'.
The online retailer was selling one copy of the final instalment every four seconds when pre-orders peaked, it said.
