Amazon is raising its annual Amazon Prime subscription nearly 17% from $119 to $139.
The monthly rate goes from $12.99 to $14.99.
The new price will apply to renewals that take place after March 25, and new subscriptions as of Feb. 18.
This is the service’s first price increase since 2018.
The company introduced Amazon Prime in 2005 at $79 a year, primarily drawing people in with free shipping. In 2014, the price jumped to $99 a year, then $119 a year in 2018.
To justify the rising cost over the years, Amazon Prime added free video options, including TV series and movies, in 2011 and free music in 2014. The company has also expanded same-day options in recent years to more than 90 metro areas and boosted free gaming and reading options for Amazon Prime members. There is also unlimited digital photo storage.
On Thursday, the company also said it’s offering Thursday night NFL football games, a pricey deal that the Hollywood Reporter said sets Amazon back $1 billion a year. Amazon has also continued to invest in new original shows such as an upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series, fantasy series “The Wheel of Time,” the recent reboot of “Reacher,” the award-winning “The Boys” and “Jack Ryan.”
Amazon has about 140 million subscribers in the United States. The forthcoming increase will add $2.8 billion in extra revenue from subscriptions per year into Amazon’s pockets.
The company said it is facing inflationary pressures that other companies are grappling with, from rising shipping costs to increased wages.
Amazon’s operating income dropped during the final quarter of 2021 to $3.5 billion, down from $6.9 billion during the same quarter in 2020, the company announced in an earnings release Thursday. It’s also the second quarter in a row that Amazon has seen profits fall. But shed no tears for the company. It still generated $14.3 billion in net income on $137.4 billion in net sales.
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