Amazon Exceeded 100m Paid Prime Members, CEO Bezos Says

(Bloomberg) -- Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos says 13 years post-launch, company has exceeded 100 million paid Prime members globally, according to letters to holders.

• In 2017 Amazon shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide and more new members joined Prime than in any previous year
• Adds 2017 was best year for hardware sales
• Says company will continue to invest aggressively to expand customer base, brand and infrastructure
• Letter is Bezos’s opportunity to underline long-term strategy for investors, seeking to bolster their confidence as he plows Amazon’s money into expanding internationally, building a brick-and-mortar presence, and inventing new products like Echo speakers and the Alexa voice-activated digital assistant
• Amazon is under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump who has complained it doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes and is hurting traditional retailers

To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Livesey in San Francisco at blivesey@bloomberg.net, Chiara Vasarri in New York at cvasarri@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lauren Berry at lberry4@bloomberg.net.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.