In response, Amazon is cutting costs, delaying warehouse openings, freezing hiring in its retail group and shutting down experimental projects. Some independent sellers on Amazon's website, who account for a majority of unit sales, are bracing for a rough holiday season. Adobe Inc. forecast that US e-commerce sales in November and December will rise just 2.5% from the prior year. Amazon returned to profitability after two quarters of losses, posting $2.9 billion in net income. The prior losses reflected declines in the value of the company's roughly 17% stake in Rivian Automotive Inc. The electric automaker's shares are down sharply following a November 2021 initial public offering, but have steadied in recent months. Sales by Amazon Web Services, Amazon's profitable cloud-computing division, grew 27% to $20.5 billion. Analysts, on average, projected $21 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.