Amazon is raising Prime membership prices for the first time in four years
By Derrek Lee
last updated 3 February 2022
Amazon Prime (Image credit: Android Central)
Amazon released its Q4 2021 financial earnings with a 9% year-over-year increase in revenue.
Amazon announced that it is raising its yearly prime subscription by $20 to offset growing costs.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue rose 40% despite recent outages.
Amazon's Q4 2021 financial earnings were released on Thursday, reporting $137 billion in revenue — a 9% increase year-over-year. It is also a notable increase over the previous quarter's $110 billion, likely due to holiday shopping, particularly over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. That said, Amazon CEO Andy Jazzy highlights ongoing difficulties due to the pandemic.
"As expected over the holidays, we saw higher costs driven by labor supply shortages and inflationary pressures, and these issues persisted into the first quarter due to Omicron," Jassy says in a statement. "Despite these short-term challenges, we continue to feel optimistic and excited about the business as we emerge from the pandemic."
Notably, Amazon Web Services (AWS) saw a 40% increase in revenue amid recent outages. The company also reported its advirtising revenue for the first time, which raked in nearly $10 billion in Q4, showing healthy growth while still trailing Google and Meta.
Amazon also announced that it is raising the price of its Prime membership for the first time since 2018. Starting February 18, the monthly cost will rise from $12.99 to $14.99, while the yearly subscription will increase by $20 to $139 per year. Current subscribers will see the rise in price on March 25 "on the date of the next renewal."
Amazon says this results from higher wages, transportation costs, and expanded Prime benefits, particularly as the company gears up for its long-awaited "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" series to begin streaming this September. The company also continues to build on its entertainment offerings with recent improvements to the best Fire TV sticks and more.
That said, the price increase will only affect subscribers in the U.S., as Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky notes that the company evaluates countries differently.
"We look at the relative price of the customer versus our cost to supply that and usage and the value that we're creating for customers," Olsavsky said during the earnings call. "[We] felt, especially after not raising the price in the United States since 2018, that the time was right to raise it and we think it's a much more valuable program today than it was 2020, let alone 2018. So other countries will continue to evaluate every year."
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Derrek Lee
Derrek is a long-time Nokia and LG fanboy who loves astronomy, videography, and sci-fi movies. When he's not working, he's most likely working out or smoldering at the camera.
Am I glad I canceled mine! When their shipping service goes downhill, people leaving than raising the prices will certainly make things right! I buy my stuff now at Costco, Bestbuy, and ebay. Amazon has become too dominant!
Bezos needs a bigger yacht this year.
there is 0 reason for them to be doing this with all the money they are bringing in. they are doing just because they can
I like having Prime membership but when I do the math what I save in shipping already doesn't offset the cost.I never watch Prime video and my Kindle is a separate fee. Ill have to rethink this. Maybe I could just order a lot more stuff. That'll show em. Oh wait...
I don't pay shipping. You just have to plan better and get several orders in one. I'm done throwing money at that rich a-hole!
Why only in the US? I'm assuming other countries have different laws to protect the consumer. The rich have the backing of DC here in the states.
I guess Bezos wife got too much of his money, lol.
Would be hard to live off a measly 50 billion now, lol!!
So, let me get this straight, so they made $137 BILLION in revenue, says they have ongoing difficulties due to the pandemic. Yet, those scummy share/stakeholders want more money, how does that work?
I only use Prime video and not shipping. Is there a video only Prime?