Amazon Reports 100M Prime Members

More than 100 million people globally are now paying for Amazon Prime, a sign of how Amazon.com Inc. has used the service to evolve from an online marketplace that struggled with profitability into an e-commerce powerhouse.

The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon, which has never disclosed the number of Prime members before, revealed the figure Wednesday in Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s closely followed annual letter to shareholders. The company said in late 2015 that it had “tens of millions” of Prime customers.

Amazon’s story to investors has largely been one of scale. In the company’s view, having a large numbers of customers and clients has allowed it to spread costs broadly and continue investing in technology.

This view is shown in its growing Prime membership, through its massive cloud-server business and how it lets third-party sellers onto its platform to compete against itself for customers. Amazon said Wednesday that a majority of goods shipped world-wide on its platform are now from these sellers.

Launched 13 years ago, the $99-a-year Prime service gives customers free, unlimited two-day shipping, access to free music and videos, and other perks.

Last year Amazon brought in $9.72 billion in revenue directly from subscription services, including fees from Prime members. The company also benefits from Prime members who tend to spend more money on Amazon than nonmembers and do so more frequently.

Mr. Levin’s firm estimates Prime members in the U.S. spend $1,300 a year with Amazon, while non-Prime members spend about $700.

The letter also said more new members joined Prime last year than in any previous year. Amazon has been expanding Prime internationally, including to Mexico, Singapore and the Netherlands in 2017.