Amazon increases US Prime membership cost to US$139 per year

Amazon has become the latest company to announce a price increase to its subscription service in the US.

The company said that it was increasing the annual Prime subscription cost in the US by 17%. 

The announcement, which came in the wake of Amazon doubling its net income year-over-year to US$14.3 billion for the quarter, will see an annual Prime membership cost US$139 per year, up from US$119.

Monthly Prime memberships will also increase from US$12.99 to US$14.99 – a number which Netflix landed on last month when it also increased its prices in the US and Canada.

New members will see the price increase from February 18, while existing subscribers will begin to pay more from March 25. 

Justifying the increase, Amazon cited continued heavy investment in Prime. In terms of Prime Video, it said that it has tripled the number of Amazon Originals since 2018, while also becoming the home of Thursday Night Football in September.

This is the first price increase for Prime since April 2018, when it increased from US$99. Prior to that, a Prime membership in the US stood at a steady US$79 per year from 2005-2014.

The company said that it has no imminent plans to increase prices outside of its home US market. 

Elsewhere, Amazon revealed a 40% year-over-year increase in revenue for AWS to US$17.8 billion, while ad revenue increased by 32% to US$9.7 billion.