Amazon reaches $100B in annual sales

Amazon announced (May 19, 2016) that it has reached $100 billion in annual sales.

According to a report from The Seattle Times, CEO Jeff Bezos told the audience at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, “We are the fastest company to ever reach that milestone.”

Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the e-commerce company’s cloud computing division — is also set to reach a major milestone this year, on its way to $10 billion in sales. Amazon says AWS is now bigger than Amazon.com was 10 years ago and is growing at a faster rate.

After facing harsh criticism over the treatment of its employees in a New York Times story last August, Amazon used its letter to shareholders to comment on the company’s culture:

A word about corporate cultures: for better or for worse, they are enduring, stable, hard to change. They can be an advantage of disadvantage… We never claim that our approach is the right one — just that it’s ours — and over the last two decades, we’ve collected a large group of like-minded people. Folks who find our approach energizing and meaningful.

In addition to the Amazon Web Services growth, Amazon said its Prime memberships are growing as well — up 51 percent last year. The Seattle Times reports Bezos told shareholders, “Our goal with Amazon Prime, make no mistake, is to make sure that if you are not a Prime member, you are being irresponsible.”

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.

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