NEW YORK — Amazon has 100 million Prime members around the world, and starting in June, they'll be paying higher prices.
- Amazon to raise Prime annual fee to $119 a year
- Current members will begin paying new fee with renewal
- Amazon says first quarter sales were $51 billion
The online retail giant announced the Prime membership fee will go up to $119 a year for new members starting May 11, from $99 a year. That's a 20 percent increase.
Existing members will see their membership price go up when they renew starting on June 16.
The last time the annual fee was increased was four years ago. Earlier this year the Prime monthly rate was increased to $12 a month from $10.99 a month.
The announcement came the same day Amazon released its first quarter report. First quarter sales are up 43 percent to $51 billion, compared to last year. Amazon net sales were $35.7 billion in the same quarter in 2017.
Operating income also increased 92 percent to $1.9 billion in the first quarter for this year.