Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky announced Thursday that the company will raise the price for its premiere feature: Prime.
The service, which will be marked up only in the U.S. to $119.99 from $99 for an annual subscription, according to The Verge, gives customers multiple perks, like free 2-day delivery for a large amount of products and access to Amazon’s original shows and movies. The uptick in price (roughly 20 percent) is effective June 16 for current members and May 11 for new ones.
Olsavsky described how much Prime has evolved since it launched in 2005, and since March, 2014, when the price increased from $79 to $99. CEO Jeff Bezos disclosed earlier in the month that Amazon had reached 100,000,000 Prime subscribers around the world,
“The value of Prime to customers has never been greater,” Olsavsky said, according to The Verge. “And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs.”
The price hike is yet another sign of Amazon’s growing power, which will will likely draw the ire of many, especially those who feel the company has plenty of funds and does not pay its lower-level employees enough. (RELATED: There’s A Newfound Hatred Of Silicon Valley)
On the same day of the CFO’s announcement, Amazon revealed their 2018 first quarter statistics, which were for the most part very positive. Sales, for example, are up 43 percent to $51 billion, and net income surged to $1.6 billion from $724 million from the first quarter of last year.
Amazon did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time of publication.
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