Amazon Flirts With $900B Market Cap Amid Strong Prime Day Sales

Amazon flirted with the $900 billion market cap club Wednesday (July 18) after completing a successful Prime Day shopping event.

In a press release, the eCommerce giant said sales for this year’s Prime Day surpassed Cyber Monday, Black Friday and the Prime Day 2017 in terms of sales, making it the biggest shopping event in Amazon’s history. Amazon said that, during the 36-hour sales event, Prime members around the globe purchased more than 100 million products, with bestsellers including the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and Echo Dot.

Prime Day was the biggest event ever for Amazon devices, the company noted in the press release. This year marked the first time Prime members could get deals during the event at Whole Foods Market. Amazon said one of the best-selling items was organic strawberries. As for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that sell on Amazon, the company said sales “far exceeded” $1 billion.

“Prime Day offers us a unique opportunity to thank Prime members with our best deals,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer at Amazon in the press release. “Extending Prime Day to a day and a half this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership. All of this was made possible because of our many valued associates — the global team that continues to make Prime Day bigger and better.”

The strong showing out of Amazon for Prime Day 2018 lifted its stock earlier in the trading session, surpassing the $900 billion market cap for a brief time. Apple and Amazon have been in a race of sorts to see which company will hit the $1 trillion market cap level first. Amazon’s stock closed Wednesday’s (July 18) trading session at $1,842.92, down $1.01 or 0.05 percent. It ended the trading day with a market capitalization of $894.2 billion.