Tag Archives: Amazon

Pentagon Axes $10B MS Contract In Win For Amazon

Axios reports: The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it was canceling the massive cloud contract awarded to Microsoft in 2019, saying it “no longer meets its needs.” The JEDI contract was the largest-ever of its kind, with an estimated value of roughly $10 billion over a 10-year stretch. The deal, initially intended to modernize the Pentagon’s IT operations, was the …

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TODAY: Jeff Bezos Steps Down As CEO Of Amazon

Business Insider reports: Jeff Bezos’ reign as Amazon CEO will come to an end on Monday, and he’ll be stepping down as the world’s richest person. He will be retiring from the role at the age of 57 with an estimated $199 billion in wealth, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index. The fortune largely consists of his hefty Amazon holdings and …

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Jeff Bezos To Launch Himself Into Space Next Month

NBC News reports: Jeff Bezos announced on Monday that he and his brother will join the first crewed spaceflight from his private rocket company on July 20 — just 15 days after he is set to step down as chief executive of Amazon. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” he wrote in an …

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G7 Nations Strike Deal On Taxing Multinational Firms

Reuters reports: The United States, Britain and other large, rich nations reached a landmark deal on Saturday to squeeze more money out of multinational companies such as Amazon and Google and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens. Hundreds of billions of dollars could flow into the coffers of governments left cash-strapped by the COVID-19 pandemic after …

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Amazon Customers Get Week To Opt-Out Of WiFi Plan

The Guardian reports: Amazon customers have one week to opt out of a plan that would turn every Echo speaker and Ring security camera in the US into a shared wireless network, as part of the company’s plan to fix connection problems for its smart home devices. The proposal, called Amazon Sidewalk, involves the company’s devices being used as a …

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Stephen Colbert Suggests Jeff Bezos Bought MGM To Get Access To Trump’s “Racist” Apprentice Outtakes

“So, why would one of the world’s richest men pay almost twice the value for a struggling movie studio that recently went bankrupt? “Well, it could be that Jeff Bezos has an ongoing feud with the former president. Guess what? All the outtakes from The Apprentice are owned by MGM. “Holy mother of DVD extras! The private footage of a …

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Amazon Closes $8.45 Billion “Mega Deal” To Buy MGM

The Hollywood Reporter reports: In a landmark mega deal, Amazon is acquiring MGM Holdings — whose storied studio boasts one of the largest film and TV libraries — in a bid to turbocharge its Prime membership offering to customers and potentially mine intellectual property of franchises such as James Bond and Rocky. The deal, pending regulatory approval, values the studio …

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Washington DC Sues Amazon For Alleged Price-Fixing

The New York Times reports: The District of Columbia sued Amazon on Tuesday, accusing it of artificially raising prices for the products in its ubiquitous online marketplace and around the web by abusing its monopoly power, a sign that regulators in the United States are increasingly turning their attention to the company’s dominance across the economy. In the lawsuit, the …

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WSJ: Amazon Near Deal To Buy MGM For $9 Billion

The Wall Street Journal reports: Amazon.com Inc. is nearing a deal to buy the Hollywood studio MGM Holdings for almost $9 billion including debt, said people familiar with the matter, a pact that would turn a film operation founded in the silent era into a streaming asset for the e-commerce giant. An agreement could be announced as early as this …

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Amazon Launches Pay-By-Palm Tech At Whole Foods

The Associated Press reports: Amazon is rolling out pay-by-palm technology at some Whole Foods grocery stores near its headquarters to make paying quicker and more convenient. The technology, called Amazon One, lets shoppers scan the palm of their hand and connect it to a credit card or Amazon account. After the initial set up, which Amazon says takes less than …

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FBI: Riot Suspect Plotted To Bomb Amazon Data Center

The Hill reports: Federal law enforcement arrested a Texas man this week who is accused of attempting to blow up a data center in Virginia and allegedly boasted about his presence at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors announced on Friday that Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, was arrested by the FBI in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday after …

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Alabama Amazon Workers Reject Bid To Unionize

CBS News reports: Amazon has beaten back a historic effort by workers to form a collective bargaining unit in a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with about two-thirds of ballots cast in the union election voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. The final tally showed 1,798 votes …

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Amazon Formally Lends Support To Infrastructure Plan

Via press release from Amazon: Amazon founder and CEO shares a statement in support of investment in American infrastructure. “We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported infrastructure in the past, and it’s the right time to work together to make this happen. “We recognize this investment will require …

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Amazon Sorry For Denying “Peeing In Bottles” Reports

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc has apologized to U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an “own goal” in its initial denial of his suggestion that its drivers were sometimes forced to urinate in bottles during their delivery rounds. “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been …

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Amazon Passes Walmart As Top US Apparel Retailer

The Hill reports: Amazon has surpassed Walmart as the top apparel retailer in the U.S, according to an analysis released by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo estimated that Amazon’s apparel and footwear sales in the U.S. jumped by 15 percent in 2020, raking in $41 billion in sales, according to a report by CNBC. This placed the tech giant 20 to …

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WSJ: Amazon Tells Republican Senators It Won’t Sell Books That “Frame LGBTQ+ Identity As Mental Illness”

The Daily Beast reports: Amazon has decided that it’s not going to lend a helping hand to Republican senators who are desperate to turn the lives of transgender people into a toxic culture war. The e-commerce behemoth has reportedly informed a cabal of GOP senators that it will no longer sell any books that treat transgender or other sexual identities …

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Amazon Swaps Out “Hitler” Icon On Shopping App

The BBC reports: Amazon has quickly changed its main shopping-app logo, after commentators said the recent redesign made it look like Adolf Hitler. Launched in January, the icon depicts a strip of blue tape over an Amazon “smile” logo. But some observers said it resembled a toothbrush mustache, associated with the Nazi dictator. The technology giant has now changed the …

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Amazon Studios Picks Up “Mayor Pete” Documentary

Variety reports: If there were any doubt that Hollywood is still enamored with former presidential candidate and current U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, look no further than the heavyweight filmmakers and top distributor who will mount the story of his historic presidential campaign. “Mayor Pete,” directed by Jesse Moss, the co-director of last year’s “Boys State” and director of …

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Haters Rage After Amazon Removes Anti-Trans Book

Via email from hate group leader Tony Perkins: Ryan Anderson didn’t even know his book had been pulled. There was no warning, no notification from Amazon that the title had been removed. A reader tipped him off when he tried to buy a copy and couldn’t. That’s strange, Ryan thought, logging on to Amazon to see for himself. Sure enough …

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New York Sues Amazon Over COVID Safety Issues

Reuters reports: New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday over its handling of worker safety issues around the Covid-19 pandemic at two warehouses, just days after the retailer filed its own lawsuit seeking to block her case. In a complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, James said Amazon’s drive for faster growth …

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