Amazon Prime Going Monthly (AMZN, NFLX)

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Published

Wikimedia Commons
Has Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) got a deal for you! For just $7.99 a month, you get the company’s Prime free 2-day shipping service plus access to the company’s streaming video service.

For those of you who are more old-fashioned, you can pay $79 a year for Amazon Prime, including both the shipping and the video streaming. Unfortunately, that’ll cost you about $6.59 a month. Oh, wait …

Amazon is probably not trying to trip you up. Instead, the company is likely hoping to increase its competitiveness against Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), which offers its monthly video streaming service for $7.99. Amazon does not want to lose any customers just because they might not be able to or not want to cough up $79 all at once. And there’s really no reason to challenge Netflix’s price either.

Amazon’s new deal is about casting a wider net, not making its current Prime customers — or anyone else for that matter — an offer they can’t refuse. The monthly package is not being offered to all Amazon’s customers according to a story at MarketWatch.

Netflix shares are down 1.7% at $76.91 in 52-week range of $52.81 to $133.43.

Amazon’s shares are up about 1% at $236.86 in a 52-week range of $166.97 to $264.11.

Paul Ausick

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

FDS Vol: 929,614
IT Vol: 1,375,344
INTU Vol: 6,564,709
VLO Vol: 2,870,552
PAYC Vol: 620,867

Top Losing Stocks

CTRA Vol: 73,319,495
ORCL Vol: 56,688,573
INTC Vol: 100,754,655
LRCX Vol: 9,770,514
ON Vol: 9,568,853