Amazon Announces 200M Prime Members, AWS $54B Annual Run Rate Business

E-commerce giant Amazon.com AMZN announced first-quarter financials after market close Thursday, highlighting the growth of its Prime members and AWS business.

What Happened: Amazon reported first-quarter revenue of $108.5 billion, beating the $104.5-billion street estimate. Revenue increased 44% year-over-year. Earnings per share were $15.79, beating an estimate of $9.54.

Quarter Highlights: Amazon used the quarterly financial report as an opportunity to highlight the company’s vision to be the best employer and safest place to work, noting COVID-19 vaccine locations and health center partnerships. The company also discussed supporting communities, The Climate Pledge and empowering small businesses.

Amazon Prime has over 200 million paid members.

The company noted the strong performance of its entertainment business with multiple award wins and nominations. “Coming 2 America” was also the number one streamed movie its opening weekend and the best opening weekend for any streamed movie domestically.

“As Prime Video turns 10, over 175 million Prime members have streamed shows and movies in the past year, and streaming hours are up more than 70% year-over-year,” said Founder Jeff Bezos.

Related Link: Could An Amazon Split Foreshadow Dow Jones Industrial Inclusion? 

Amazon’s partnership with the NFL includes a 10-year deal for “Thursday Night Football” with 11 to 15 games each season.

Amazon opened its first physical retail international store in the quarter with three Amazon Fresh locations launched in London. There are now 15 Amazon Fresh locations worldwide.

The company highlighted its In-Garage grocery delivery service is available to Amazon Prime members in 5,000 U.S. cities with items from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh.

Amazon Web Services is now a $54 billion business on an annual run rate. Deals with AWS highlighted included the Walt Disney Co DIS for Disney+, DISH Network DISH for 5G, NHL and the PGA Tour.

“AWS has become a $54 billion annual sales run rate business competing against the world’s largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating – up 32% year-over-year,” Bezos said.

What’s Next: Amazon is guiding for second-quarter revenue to come in a range of $110 billion to $116 billion, which is above the Street consensus of $109 billion.

Amazon Prime Day is scheduled to be held in the second quarter.

Price Action: Shares of Amazon.com are up 3% to $3,588.12 in after-hours trading.