Amazon boosts holiday quarter delivery; UPS, FedEx may see profit squeeze

Amazon.com Inc’s rapid expansion of one-day shipping delivered a strong holiday quarter and showed the rising ambition of the company, which in six years has created a network that handles nearly as many packages as FedEx Corp.

Amazon’s growth may squeeze profits at United Parcel Service Inc and other carriers, but a booming e-commerce industry and Amazon’s own needs mean the older companies are not packing it in.

The world’s biggest online retailer started making its own deliveries after an unexpected surge in 2013 holiday orders swamped UPS and FedEx. Amazon delivered 3.5 billion – or roughly half – of its global orders in 2019.