The ecommerce giant’s chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky made the comments after the company posted a rare quarterly loss Thursday after markets closed. Its shares fell about 14 per cent by Friday’s close. (The Information, The Logic)

Talking point: Amazon reported a US$3.8-billion loss for its first quarter, with sales from its online stores falling one per cent to US$51.1 billion. In the last two years, the company doubled the size of its operations and nearly doubled its workforce, said Olsavsky, and is facing higher costs. In Canada, Amazon’s distribution network square footage has surged in the past few years as the company added smaller delivery stations to fulfill deliveries quickly. Its operating expenses rose 13 per cent, including a roughly 23 per cent increase in costs related to its fulfillment network. CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement that the company is “no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity,” but is “focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies” in fulfillment.