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Amazon issued bleak revenue forecasts for the remainder of the year, sending its stock price tumbling 20 per cent in after-hours trading.

The ecommerce and cloud group said it expected revenue of between $140bn-$148bn for the October to December period. Investors had been expecting more than $155bn, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.

Revenue in the third quarter came in at $127.1bn, up 15 per cent on the same period last year, but slightly softer than Wall Street’s expectations.

Amazon’s net income fell year-on-year to $2.9bn compared with $3.2bn a year ago and included a $1.1bn boost in non-operating income from its stake in electric vehicle maker Rivian.

The results are the latest in a bruising year for the company’s traditional core business of selling products online and getting them to customer’s doorsteps. Quarterly revenue for Amazon’s online store had been declining since the end of 2021.

Its stock price had already fallen by 35 per cent since the start of the year, reflecting a broader market downtown.

Chief executive Andy Jassy said he had been “encouraged by the steady progress we’re making on lowering costs in our stores fulfilment network”.

But he added: “There is obviously a lot happening in the macroeconomic environment, and we’ll balance our investments to be more streamlined without compromising our key long-term, strategic bets.”

While not announcing a large-scale hiring freeze or sweeping cuts, Amazon has slowed hiring in some units, and in recent weeks moved to close underperforming or experimental projects, such as its delivery robot concept, Scout.