Amazon is doing better than ever on its profit margins, and to celebrate, it's charging us more for Amazon Prime. Thanks guys.
What it means: The news came out today that Amazon's sales have jumped by 43% in the past few months, upping the net worth of its owner, Jeff Bezos, by $8 million. They're also bumping up Amazon Prime to $119 from $99, because, well, people are probably gonna keep subscribing anyway.
Amazon have been in the news a lot recently as the burst into virtually every nook and cranny of the economy – once a simple online bookshop, they're shipping groceries to people's doorsteps, delivering pretty much anything faster than it takes to go to a shop, and partnering up with JP Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to sell medical supplies and come up with a new way of managing health benefit costs for employees.
Trump (come on, we couldn't get much further without mentioning him or Brexit) isn't so happy with Amazon's rise. He says they're damaging the US Postal Services' ability to operate, and that the Washington Post, which Jeff Bezos owns, is acting as a mouthpiece for the company. Amazon is basically waging two battles: state vs massive corporation, and massive corporation vs local businesses. Needless to say they seem to be winning both.
