IMPRESSIVE

Amazon Prime Membership Tops 100 Million

CEO Jeff Bezos says 2017 set records in terms of new subscribers, both worldwide and in the U.S.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Wednesday publicly disclosed the online retail giant’s number of paid Prime subscribers for the first time: more than 100 million. “Thirteen years post-launch, we have exceeded 100 million paid Prime members globally,” Bezos wrote in a letter to shareholders. Bezos had repeatedly refused to disclose the exact number of subscribers in recent years, but earlier estimates had put the number at about 90 million. “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 U.S.,” Bezos wrote. Despite frequent attacks by President Trump, Bezos said the Seattle-based company has no plans to slow down and will continue to invest to meet “ever-rising” customer expectations. “You cannot rest on your laurels in this world. Customers won’t have it,” he said.