Amazon raises the price of annual Prime memberships to $139

The company said it was raising the price because of “extended Prime membership benefits,” such as the addition of Prime Video content and the extension of free same-day delivery, as well as to compensate for higher prices. labor and transportation costs in its distribution network. The move comes as prices for just about everything – from food to energy – have risen in recent months. Amazon (AMZN)The global workforce has doubled in the past two years to 1.6 million employees, and the company also said last year that it had raised the salaries of thousands of workers.

The company the latest increased prices for Prime in 2018, when it increased the annual membership by $99. The latest price increase represents a 17% increase.

The Prime price hike wasn’t the only big news in the report. The company’s profits also doubled in the late December quarter to $14.3 billion, beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The huge jump in earnings was largely due to the company’s recognition of its investment in electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive, which went through a massive IPO in November.

And while the company posted operating losses in its North American and international e-commerce businesses, its main profit engine, Amazon Web Services, saw a nearly 49% increase in profit. operating at $5.3 billion. AWS also generated more year-over-year revenue than in any other quarter in its history, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said Thursday in a call with analysts.

Overall sales in the quarter rose more than 9% from the year-ago quarter to $137.4 billion, just below the $137.6 billion forecast by analysts.

Amazon shares jumped as much as 17% in after-hours trading after Thursday’s report.

Despite the positive initial reaction from investors, some analysts have noted that Amazon faces an uphill battle over the coming quarters as it battles rising costs and outruns a period when people may have been more dependent on online shopping before Covid-19 vaccines became widely available. The company forecast net sales growth of between 3% and 8% for the first quarter of 2022, a significant decline from the nearly 44% sales growth it had experienced in the same period a year earlier. early.