If Amazon is forced to negotiate with the union formed by its subcontractors, that could fundamentally change the company's business model
Amazon sales rose 13% in the July-September quarter AFP

Amazon ended the third quarter with profit and sales that surpassed analysts estimates.

The online retailer posted earnings per share of $0.94 and sales of $143.1 billion. The expectation was of $0.58 and $141.4 billion, respectively, CNBC said, citing LSEG estimates.

Amazon's total revenue in the past quarter jumped 13% as U.S. consumer spending remains strong.

Earlier Thursday, a Commerce Department report showed that consumer spending boosted economic growth in the third quarter. Gross domestic product more than doubled its pace of expansion and surpassed estimates.

Sales in the company's cloud business, or Amazon Web Services (AWS) rose 12% from a year earlier to $23.1 billion, slightly missing StreetAccount estimate of $23.2 billion, according to CNBC. The pace of expansion was the same of the previous quarter.

The division was under investors' scrutiny after growth slowed in recent quarters as big companies tried to control expenses.

"We had a strong third quarter as our cost to serve and speed of delivery in our stores business took another step forward, our AWS growth continued to stabilize, our advertising revenue grew robustly, and overall operating income and free cash flow rose significantly," Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said in the earnings statement.