How large is Amazon’s programming and support business in Romania?

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, saw the business of its development center in Romania increase eight-fold from 2008 to 2013, to some USD 7.5 million, according to official data. That represented a 43 percent increase on 2012. The company also had a net profit of USD 0.66 million in Romania last year. Amazon has a development center in Iasi, in the Eastern part of Romania, which was opened in 2005. The Amazon Development Center in Romania works on developing new and innovative web site features to help Amazon's customers find and discover anything they want to buy online. It also works on building tools and technologies that enable Amazon Retail and other Amazon web sites to merchandise effectively across multiple channels, according to a company presentation. Last year, Amazon had an average number of 172 employees in its development center in Iasi, most of them programmers. This is 54 more than in 2012 and 109 more than in 2011. The company is still hiring. In May and June, the company posted hiring announcements for 19 job openings in Iasi. Amazon has some 90,000 employees worldwide, and sales of USD 78 billion in the last four quarters. The company has a market capitalization of USD 149 billion. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com