Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) profits surged 43 percent in the first quarter of the year, driven by online sales in the US.
Sales at the online shopping giant rose to $51 billion in the three months to March, well above analysts forecasts, with net profit rising to $1.6 billion from $724 million in the same period last year.
The performance was largely fuelled by its North American business, which saw sales rise $30.7 billion from $20.9bn in the same period last year. Profit also rose to $1.1 billion from $596 million previously.
The company are also set to hike the cost of their Amazon Prime service, which now has over 100 million users. The cost of the subscription, which allows customers free next day delivery as well as access to music, books and its video streaming service, will increase to $119 per year, effective from 11 May for new subscribers and to renewed subscriptions from 16 June.
Amazon also strong growth at its highly profitable cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, which hosts the likes of Netflix and Airbnb. The division reported a 49 percent increase in sales to $5.44 billion.