Amazon this afternoon reported Q4 revenue that didn't hitanalysts' expectations, and an outlook for this quarter's revenue lower as well, and said it will increasethe North American price for Prime membership.

Amazon said it will increase the price of a Prime membership in the US, with the monthly fee going from $12.99 to $14.99, and the annual membership from $119 to $139. It is the first Prime price increase since 2018, the company said.

The report sent Amazon shares soaring by 17% in late trading.

CEO Andy Jassy said"A big thank you to employees across Amazon who overcame another quarter of COVID-related challenges and delivered for customers this holiday season.

Revenue in the three months ended in December rose 9%, year over year, to $137.4 billion, yielding a net profit of $27.75 a share, including a one-time "pre-tax valuation gain of $11.8 billion included in non-operating income from our common stock investment in Rivian Automotive, Inc., which completed an initial public offering in November."

Analysts had been modeling $137.68 billion and a net profit of $3.61 per share.

Revenue in the AWS cloud computing unit accelerated its growth, rising by 40%, year over year, to $17.78 billion. That is more rapidthan the 39% growth in Q3 and the 29% growth in the year-earlier quarter.

AWS's operating income rose by 46%, year over year, did not includethe postive effect of $83 million with of currency benefit from the rising dollar, the company said. Profit was 29.8% of revenue, down slightly from 30.3% in Q3.

For the current quarter, the company has seen an increase in revenue of $112 billion to $117 billion, below the expectedfor $120.94 billion.

By F.Aslam