Amazon Says It Has More Than 100 Million Prime Members
NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/CNN Money) - Amazon has more than 100 million Amazon Prime subscribers around the world, Jeff Bezos revealed in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday.
Bezos has always been a little cagey about sharing Amazon statistics. This is the first time that he's publicly stated how many Prime members the company has signed up. Previous estimates by outside analysts pegged the number at 90 million in 2017.
Launched 13 years ago, Amazon Prime is the company's monthly or annual membership program. It includes perks such as free and discounted shipping, music and video streaming, and free e-books. Prime costs $99 a year or $12.99 a month in the United States, with similar membership prices in 15 other countries.
The fees are just one way that Amazon makes money off of the program. Amazon shipped more than 5 billion items through Prime in 2017, according to the letter. More than half of the items sold through Amazon now come from third-party sellers.
The company's own goods are also selling well, according to Bezos, who said that last year was the best year yet for Amazon Hardware sales, like Echo and Fire devices.
Amazon Prime is still growing. It added more new members in 2017 than in previous years, and more new members on Prime Day than any other single day since the program began, Bezos said.
Bezos kicked off the letter by doling out some advice on how to run a business. Having "high standards" is the key, he wrote.
Earlier this year, Amazon narrowed its list of possible locations for the company's second U.S. headquarters, from 238 to just 20 cities. Dallas and Austin both made the cut. Amazon expects to invest more than $5 billion in the construction of their new headquarters.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cable News Network contributed to this report.)
