Amazon announces quarterly profit of $1.9 billion, highest since its inception

As the online retailer, Amazon.com Inc drew millions of new customers to its Prime fast-shipping club for the holiday season and aided by changes to U.S. tax law, it reported this Thursday, a profit near $2 billion, the largest in its history.

Amazon has been using its fast shipping, to keep the customers loyal and happy and original television shows exclusive to its website and has also entered new technology, such as its voice-controlled Alexa devices, to attract high-spending Prime members. Amazon also said the discounts at Whole Foods Market, which it acquired for $13.7 billion last year, are helping it win grocery sales, too.

Nearly 130,000 employees where hired globally by Amazon in 2017, adding a workforce to the size of a small city even excluding acquisitions. The tech giant announced, more than 5 billion shipments of items last year as a part of its Prime subscription program, and also the year saw more new members joining than in any year, both worldwide and in the US.

As expected, Amazon’s biggest-ever revenue came in the period running from before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday through New Year. Beating all estimations, the sales rose 38 percent to $60.5 billion in the quarter.

Like its two-hour Prime Now service, the company’s fast delivery has helped it win over holiday shoppers who are eager to avoid the crowds of big-box retailers. Amazon added, Prime has witnessed more than 4 million sign-ups in a week alone last quarter, and the numbers of subscribers have grown huge in number and the company saw its total revenue from subscription fees grew 49 percent to $3.2 billion.

The revenue figure is expected to rise this quarter by a considerable amount because Amazon has recently raised the fee for month-to-month Prime plans which might affect some 30 percent of subscribers, according to analysts at Cowen & Co. Nearly 60 million, or close to half of all U.S. households, are estimated to have Prime subscriptions!