Amazon.com Inc. disclosed on its earnings conference call Thursday that it will increase the annual cost for a Prime subscription by about 20%. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said that Amazon will increase the price for the popular membership program to $119 a year from $99. "Effective May 11, we're going to increase the price of our U.S. annual plan from $99 to $119 for new members," Olsavsky said. Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos disclosed that Amazon Prime members surpassed 100 million last week, the first time Amazon has disclosed the number of members of the subscription service, which offers free two-day shipping on many items and access to Amazon's streaming-video service among other perks. Earlier Thursday, Amazon announced first-quarter earnings that blew away profit expectations, and shares headed for record highs.
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