Amazon raises Prime fee to $119 in the US
The price increase will go into effect in May.
Amazon will increase the cost of Prime membership in the US from $99 a year to $119 a year. According to CFO Brian Olsavsky on the latest earnings call, the 20 percent price increases will take into effect on May 11th. Existing Prime members will see the new annual fee applied to their renewals starting June 16th.
It was just a week ago when CEO Jeff Bezos said that Amazon now has over 100 million paid Prime members worldwide. Prime is an Amazon service that combines free two-day and one-day shipping along with a Prime Video subscription as well as other perks like Whole Foods discounts and DVD exclusives.
"The value of Prime to customers has never been greater," said Olsavsky. But, he says, it's also expensive. "The cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs."