It Grows

Evil had a great holiday season: Amazon now has over 150 million Prime subscribers, the company announced in Q4 2019 numbers released on Thursday. The massive growth numbers sent the company’s market cap surging to over $US1 ($1) trillion and made CEO Jeff Bezos an estimated $US13.2 ($20) billion in a matter of minutes.

Over 150 million is a significant uptick from Amazon’s April 2018 disclosure of over 100 million members. The e-commerce giant credited its swelling subscription numbers in large part to Brazil, where it started operations in September 2018, as well as efforts to cut two-day delivery times in half during the busy holiday season and free Amazon Fresh grocery delivery for Prime members. Amazon Web Services also saw massive revenue jumps, growing from $US7.43 ($11) billion in net sales in Q4 2018 to $US9.95 ($15) billion in Q4 2019. Its “Other” category generated $US4.8 ($7) billion in revenue during the quarter, which is about 41 per cent up from Q4 2018.

All told, Amazon booked over $US3.3 ($5) billion in profit on record quarterly sales of $US87.4 ($130) billion. According to MarketWatch, shares jumped 12 per cent in after-hours trading, leaving Bezos with an estimated net wealth of $US129.5 ($193) billion. Amazon expects evil to keep paying off, with first-quarter sales projected to grow by 16 to 22 per cent, or $US69 ($103) to $US73 ($109) billion.