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Amazon is increasing the cost of annual Prime memberships from $99 to $119

Amazon is increasing the cost of annual Prime memberships from $99 to $119

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For US users only, effective May 11th

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon announced today during its quarterly earnings call that the price for its Prime membership is going to increase by about 20 percent for US users. The hike, announced by CFO Brian Olsavsky, will raise a Prime membership from $99 a year to $119, effective May 11th for new members and June 16th for existing ones.

“The value of Prime to customers has never been greater,” Olsavsky said. “And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs.” Earlier this year, Amazon hiked the price for monthly Prime subscriptions by about 24 percent, to around $156 per year. This price hike, however, is the first time the company has increased its annual fee since 2014.

Last week Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos disclosed in his annual shareholders letter  that his company has over 100 million Prime members, marking the first time the company has ever shared subscription numbers for the platform.