Alexa had “no profit timeline,” cost Amazon $25 billion in 4 years
WSJ report highlights vague metrics, internal struggles of Amazon Devices.
The Amazon business unit that focuses on Alexa-powered gadgets lost $25 billion between 2017 and 2021, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported this week.
Amazon claims it has sold more than 500,000 Alexa devices, which included Echo speakers, Kindle readers, Fire TV sets and streaming devices, and Blink and Ring smart home security cameras. But since debuting, Alexa, like other voice assistants, has struggled to make money. In late 2022, Business Insider reported that Alexa was set to lose $10 billion that year.
WSJ said it got the $25 billion figure from "internal documents" and that it wasn’t able to determine the Devices business's losses before or after the shared time period.