Video streams on Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime Instant Video service "nearly tripled" and net sales were up 23 percent for Amazon, but the cost of doing business took a chunk out of overall profits, earnings results for the first quarter revealed. Operational expenses were $19.6 billion, up from $15.9 billion a year ago, and shipping costs jumped 31 percent over 2013 to $1.83 billion. FierceOnlineVideo has the whole earnings breakdown here.