Amazon added another 50 million Prime subscribers during the pandemic
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In his final annual letter to Amazon's shareholders, CEO Jeff Bezos - who will step down in Q3 2021 to make way for Andy Jassy - shared that the number of Prime subscribers has reached 200 million. Its Q4 2019 earnings included the milestone of surpassing 150 million subscribers to its Prime service that offers fast shipping, original TV content, and more. Essentially, Amazon convinced 50 million people to join Prime during the pandemic, accounting for an approximate 33 percent growth of the base.
If you haven't paid attention to the company's earnings in the past year, Prime subscribers certainly aren't the only numbers Amazon has been able to grow. 2020 was the company's most profitable year yet, growing bigger during a time when many...