Amazon raising price of annual Prime membership to $119

Amazon’s profits, announced on Thursday, roughly tripled what analysts had been expecting.

Amazon stock is on fire after the e-commerce juggernaut reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street analyst estimates on both net income and revenue.

Global losses grew 29% to $622 million compared to $481 million in the March quarter of 2017. The retailer also is adding value through expanded digital video options and a renewal of its contract with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football games. A $120-a-year subscription is still cheaper than paying for the service month-by-month, which would set you back around $155 per year. In 2017, Amazon’s worldwide loss had hit $3 billion, more than doubling from $1.28 billion in 2016, while global sales jumped to $54billion from $43.9 billion. Excluding that, sales were still up an impressive 39 per cent.

“Amazon has been spending heavily on building more warehouses and devices, as well as bulking up on assets for its delivery network and video content”.

Despite repeated criticism from the U.S. President Donald Trump, the company’s results showed that strength of the company, which has been expanding far beyond shipping packages.

Amazon has grown rapidly since its start as an online bookstore in 1995.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has yet another reason to pop open a bottle of champagne: his company brushed aside analysts’ expectations and increased its turnover 43 % to 51 billion dollar (42 billion euro).

“So effective May 11, we’re going to increase the price of our USA annual plan from $99 to $119 for new members”.

The new price is effective May 11 for new members.

Certainly the demand for the service would seem to justify the increase, as the number of Amazon Prime members recently surpassed 100 million.

Amazon is increasing the price of its annual Prime subscription for the just the second time since 2005. The company raised the prices for the monthly plans earlier this year, when it bumped the price up from $10.99 to $12.99 per month.

Amazon’s Prime members get free two-day shipping, as well as free same-day and one-day shipping in many areas.