Amazon to celebrate some record Q1 profits by bumping up Prime prices by $20 a year

Because nothing says “Whoo, we posted record profits this year!” like trying to get a little somethin’ more, Variety reports that Amazon has decided to celebrate a banner Q1 2018 for itself by bumping up the prize for its package delivery service/subscription TV plan Amazon Prime. The price for the service—which promises both free deliveries on orders from the online retailer, and access to shows like The Looming Tower and that massively expensive Lord Of The Rings adaptation that’s in the works—will go up by $20 per year on June 16, from $99 to $119.

The news comes just a week after CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the service had just surpassed 100 million subscribers (a milestone that competitor Netflix is believed to have burst through last year, despite not also offering a convenient way to get cat food delivered to your door). According to Amazon, the price increase simply reflects what it sees as a widening of the services being offered by Prime, including access to Prime Music and Prime Books. (Also, again, this Tolkien adaptation is literally going to cost like a billion bucks, and you know that’s got to come from somewhere.) The raise on the annual plan comes shortly after Amazon announced that it’d be increasing the costs on its month-to-month Prime subscriptions, as well.