Jeff Bezos says Amazon Prime now has 200M+ subscribers, up 50M from the beginning of 2020, and Amazon's net profit in 2020 was $21.3B

A new letter to shareholders from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed that the tech giant's Prime service now has over 200 million subscribers.

CNET 2021-04-16 David Priest

Context & Ripple Effects

Amazon had only begun disclosing Prime membership in 2018, when it reported more than 100 million members worldwide. By early 2020, it said the service had reached more than 150 million members, making the newly reported 200 million-plus total a sharp acceleration in the scale of Amazon's subscription relationship with shoppers.

First-order effects

Amazon moves Prime from a 150 million-member service into a 200 million-plus one, enlarging the base tied to its subscription offering.
The $21.3 billion 2020 net-profit disclosure pairs Prime's membership growth with substantial financial capacity at Amazon.

Second-order effects

A larger Prime base strengthens Amazon's ability to spread investments in the service across more members, reinforcing the value of complementary assets tied to the subscription.
Amazon's disclosure raises the competitive bar for retail subscription programs: rivals must contend with a service whose reported member base grew by 50 million in roughly a year.

Third-order effects

The sequence from 100 million to 150 million to more than 200 million members points to Prime becoming a core customer-relationship layer for Amazon rather than a peripheral retail add-on.
If that membership trajectory persists, retail competition will increasingly turn on ecosystem retention and bundled services, not only individual transactions.

The trend: Prime's growth illustrates the shift toward subscription-led retail ecosystems that use recurring membership to concentrate customer relationships and support complementary services.

Discussion

@dsaezgil Diego Saez Gil on x
Something incredible happened today: @JeffBezos published his annual letter to shareholders. I've read them for years! This is his last one as CEO. And he mentions @PachamaInc!! 🤯🤯🤯 Small, Big validations for our vision. And it is only Day 1! 😃🌳🌎 https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@dee_bosa Deirdre Bosa on x
Vs >$17b that Netflix spent on content in 2020 https://twitter.com/...
@stockjabber Edwin Dorsey on x
The 2020 Amazon letter to shareholders is simply phenomenal. Jeff Bezos is a talented writer and a true leader. I copied his 12 best quotes into the thread below👇
@hollyjeanbuck Holly Jean Buck on x
where else do you get talk about “neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets” and reassurance about employee bathroom breaks in the same package? https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@stockjabber Edwin Dorsey on x
12/ “To all of you: be kind, be original, create more than you consume, and never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings. It remains Day 1.” https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@andst7 Andrea Stroppa on x
Jeff Bezos published his final shareholder letter as CEO of @amazonnews. More than 20 years ago, Bezos had accurate intuitions about the internet. He imagined the future of e-commerce and he created it. He isn't an entrepreneur, he is a visionary leader https://www.aboutamazon.co…
@martenmickos Mrten Mickos on x
Be kind, be original, create more than you consume, and never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings. - Jeff Bezos https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@alexweprin Alex Weprin on x
Little bit of data I found buried in Amazon's 10-K: the company spent $11 billion on video and music content last year. Up from $7.8 billion in 2019. Big increase. https://twitter.com/...
@modestproposal1 Modest Proposal on x
I believe analyst estimates of AMZN 2020 marketplace GMV are roughly $300B. Bezos says in his letter that they internally estimate sellers earn $25B-$39B in profit. Does that seem reasonable based on peoples experience selling on or investing in biz that sell on Amazon?
@jason @jason on x
Is this a typo?! +50m Amazon Prime subscribers in the last 16 months?! 200m total! @JeffBezos dropping the microphone after that encore. https://twitter.com/...
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
BEZOS: ""Does your Chair take comfort in the outcome of the recent union vote in [Alabama]? No, he doesn't. I think we need to do a better job for our employees. .. it's clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success." …
@valaafshar Vala Afshar on x
• 200 million Prime members worldwide • 1.9 million small and medium-sized businesses sell in our store; close to 60% of our retail sales • Customers have connected more than 100 million smart home devices to Alexa • AWS ended 2020 with a $50 billion annualized run rate https://t…
@alexnpress Alex Press on x
Bezos responding to the Bessemer campaign by saying Amazon is going to be the best, safest employer is obviously ridiculous but it's his use of “Earth” that always gets me. alien vibes https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@krishnapermi Krishna Permi on x
Like me, I'm pretty sure many millions of subscribers have gotten it for free from the tie-ups Amazon has from phone network operators. https://twitter.com/...
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
Bezos on Unionization vote: “While the voting results were lopsided and our direct relationship with employees is strong, it's clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees—a vision for their success.” https://www.cnet.com/...
Vox Jason Del Rey on x
Jeff Bezos seems to be reckoning with his legacy in the wake of the Amazon union drive
@ekp Ellen K. Pao on x
The irony of the CEO of a company with one of the least inclusive executive teams urging individuals to maintain and embrace their distinctiveness https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
Our founder and CEO Jeff Bezos today published his 2020 Letter to Shareholders. Read the full letter here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@andrewrsorkin Andrew Ross Sorkin on x
This is, far and away, the best shareholder letter I've ever read. I don't say that lightly. It is @JeffBezos' last as CEO of @amazon. Read it until the very end. There are some real and profound lessons in there. https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@annierpalmer Annie Palmer on x
Jeff Bezos' final shareholder letter outlines all the ways Amazon has created value for its investors, sellers, customers (Bezos estimates 75+ hours a year in shopping trips). Now he wants to do the same for workers, vowing to be “Earth's best employer”: https://www.cnbc.com/...
@benspielberg Ben Spielberg on x
Amazon just ran a vicious (and illegal) anti-union campaign, but @JeffBezos, the world's richest person, wants you to believe that coaching employees on body mechanics and new automated staffing schedules he's rolling out make him “Earth's Best Employer.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
@loganlahive Logan LaHive on x
Bezos should not be celebrated for this. And this is *not* the win workers are seeking... but, credit to the workers that have been fighting/organizing. 100k+ workers at Amazon may see meaningful improvements to their lives bc of your willingness to stand up. Keep going! https://…
@greenhousenyt Steven Greenhouse on x
Bezos says Amazon needs to do a better job for its workers In CEO jargon, Bezos said—"We need a better vision for how we create value for employees" Bezos is evidently admitting Amazon needs to improve working conditions & treat workers with more respect https://www.cnbc.com/...
@verge @verge on x
Bezos says Amazon workers aren't treated like robots, unveils robotic plan to keep them working https://t.co/ogF7Lv6WEs https://t.co/MXncFQjAjO
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
At the very least, it shows complaints about the way Amazon treats its workers have lodged in Bezos' head. Lots of time spent defending Amazon's record while pledging to do better. (Never seen “musculoskeletal disorders” in a shareholder letter before.) https://t.co/iU3VML7rkH
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
And I wonder how this calculation of Bezos would look if he also sought to subtract the ways that Amazon makes things worse for shoppers/employers/businesses. This is, to be fair, a lot of fake or impossible math. A company's contribution to the wider world is not an equation. ht…
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
One more thought: What's interesting about Warren Buffett's shareholder letters is his views about the economy and the world, not just his companies. Jamie Dimon does that, too. Bezos is (mostly) only talking about Amazon.
@bradstone Brad Stone on x
he also vows to do better for employees, even as he defends Amazon's treatment of them. Vows to be “Earth's Best Employer” - demonstrating again that Jeff 2.0 has come a loooong way from Jeff 1.0, who was focused almost exclusively on customers. https://twitter.com/...
@herf Michael Herf on x
Amazon seeks to minimize injuries in warehouses. I think sleep health has a lot to offer. From a study in athletes: “<8 hours per night were 1.7 times more likely to have had an injury compared with ... ≥8 hours” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ ... https://www.cnbc.com/...
@slingshotcap @slingshotcap on x
Along the way, we've created $1.6 trillion of wealth for shareowners. Who are they? Your Chair is one, and my Amazon shares have made me wealthy. But more than 7/8ths of the shares, representing $1.4 trillion of wealth creation, are owned by others. $AMZN https://www.aboutamazon.…
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
In his final shareholder letter as CEO, Jeff Bezos says Amazon now has 200m+ Prime subscribers and addresses the Bessemer union vote as part of a wider defense of the company's record: https://t.co/T2RnxQ6jen https://t.co/XQFqiQiy6H
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
I assume someone is going to find Mary and Larry, who bought 2 Amazon shares for their son in 1997 and now have A LOT of money. ( (Someone else do the math for me on 2 shares, accounting for stock splits, over 25 years.) https://twitter.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Jeff Bezos's last annual shareholder letter, at least as CEO: “We are going to be Earth's Best Employer and Earth's Safest Place to Work.” (And he directly talked about Bessemer, I think for the first time?) Plus, he wants Amazon to stay weird. https://www.sec.gov/... https://twi…

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