Amazon shares rise as tech giant reveals it has over 100 million Prime members

Amazon shares remained in the green during the US Wednesday trading session. That’s something that looks set to continue Thursday, after the global etailer revealed in its 2017 shareholder letter that it has more than 100 million Prime members.

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CEO Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders included a series of impressive numbers, but it’s the Prime membership one that gained most attention, not least because it’s the first time the tech giant has shared a firm number on that detail.

Amazon shares closed 1.60% higher at $1,527.24. The stock is also in positive territory in after-hours trading.

Amazon milestones

While Amazon’s Bezos opened his letter with thanks to his employees and his customers, he also detailed a number of milestones he’s proud of.

Among them was the Prime Membership number. Prime began 13 years ago and that the service remains popular and continues to grow is an important detail for the global business.

“The high standards our leaders strive for have served us well,” Bezos said. “In 2017 Amazon shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide, and more new members joined Prime than in any previous year – both worldwide and in the US.”

But that was far from the only upbeat figure in the letter:

• AWS growth is accelerating.
• Over 50% of all Amazon sales are made by its SMB Marketplace members.
• Tens of millions of Amazon hardware was sold in 2017.
• Prime Membership could soon include Whole Foods
• India is Amazon’s fastest growing market.
• There are 560,000 Amazon employees.
• 2 million sellers.

Customer-centric values

The letter ends by stating Amazon will continue to strive to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company, and we recognize this to be no small or easy challenge.”

Indeed, Bezos’ constant need to offer more was confirmed earlier Wednesday, with the news it had teamed up with Best Buy to sell new Fire Edition Smart TVs. The devices include a host of benefits, including instant Alexa access.