Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has announced plans to sell an additional 25 million shares of the tech giant, valued at nearly $5 billion.
This decision follows a peak in the company’s stock market value earlier this week.
Earlier this year, Bezos had disclosed intentions to sell Amazon shares worth approximately $8.5 billion, marking his first such move since 2021.
Amazon’s stock has surged over 30% in 2024, driven by expectations of increased demand for artificial intelligence technologies, particularly benefiting its cloud computing division.
Last month, Amazon’s market capitalization exceeded $2 trillion for the first time, although it still trails behind Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft, each surpassing the $3 trillion mark.
Amazon recently reported strong quarterly earnings, underscoring the success of its AI investments.
Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994 from a garage in Bellevue, Washington, now serves as its executive chair and remains its largest shareholder.
Apart from Amazon, he also established Blue Origin, a space exploration firm that successfully launched six customers to the edge of space in May.
According to Forbes’ Billionaires list,Bezos ranks as the world’s second wealthiest individual with an estimated net worth of around $214 billion.
Amazon has at last debuted its eagerly awaited online store in South Africa.
The online retail titan unveiled its virtual storefront on Tuesday.
“We are excited to launch Amazon.co.za, along with thousands of independent sellers in South Africa,” said Robert Koen, managing director of Sub-Saharan Africa at Amazon.
Customers can benefit from both same-day and next-day delivery options.
Additionally, individuals will have the opportunity to support small local businesses while shopping.
“Building a strong relationship with South African brands and businesses—small or large—is incredibly important to us,” Mr Koen said.
An X user, @StatsGH has raised concerns over the cost associated with the distribution of free tablets to students in second cycle institutions by the government.
Per reports, the SM1 tablet, which is to be provided to the students, is a mobile computing device designed and manufactured by the Ghanaian technology company, Incas Diagnostic Services Limited.
It is alleged that government is charging $250 for the use of the tablet. @Stats who made the claim questioned why it should cost the country that much when Amazon is charging less than half of the amount being charged.
“Amazon fire is more robust and quality than Government’s SM1 tablet. Yet, Amazon retrials at $131 and Ghana Government is billing us for $250. WHY?” StatsGH wrote.
Amazon fire is more robust and quality than Government’s SM1 tablet. Yet, Amazon retrials at $131 and Ghana Government is billing us for $250.
Several netizens reacted, noting that it is not strange that it cost government that much.
A user, @JABoasiako wrote, “Each tablet is programmed with offline textbooks, lesson notes, past questions and other research materials to make learning easy which comes at a cost exclusive if the tablet’s price.”
Per reports, the tablets to be distributed to students have four-inch screen, four gigabytes of RAM, and a battery life of seven to eight hours, along with a solar-based battery pack.
The tablets are water-resistant and equipped with a quad-core 2 processor.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) signed a loan agreement in the amount of USD 15 million to KA Technologies Ghana Limited. The signing ceremony took place on September 11, 2023, at the Bank’s Headquarters in Lomé, Togolese Republic.
The purpose of the facility is to finance the procurement, assembly, and distribution of tablet computers to students in high schools and Institutions for Technical and Vocational Education and Training across Ghana.
The project is part of efforts by the Government of Ghana to mainstream ITC in the country’s educational system to promote computerisation and industrialisation and, improve the livelihoods of its citizens.
Italy’s AGCM competition watchdog imposed fines totaling 7 million euros ($7.5 million) on British American Tobacco (BAT) and Amazon for deceptive advertising regarding heated tobacco products.
BAT received a fine of 6 million euros, while Amazon was fined 1 million euros.
The penalties were issued due to both companies’ failure to adequately inform consumers about the nicotine content and associated health risks of the Glo Hyper X2 and Glo Hyper Air products, according to AGCM’s statement.
The regulator highlighted that street and online advertising portrayed the products as “simple electronic devices” and “design objects.” “This constitutes significantly misleading behavior, as it induces consumers to buy a product with health hazards and is prohibited for minors,” the regulator stated. Amazon expressed strong disagreement with the regulator’s ruling and intends to appeal the fine, according to a company spokesperson. “Our product descriptions include mentions of age restrictions and health risks,” the spokesperson asserted.
“We have collaborated closely with the AGCM throughout this investigation and have taken steps to make this information even more transparent for customers to address the concerns raised by the authority,” stated BAT’s Italian business. Regarding the AGCM ruling, BAT’s Italian business announced its intention to appeal. “We have consistently provided sufficient information indicating that our products are exclusively for adult smokers, and we adhere to the highest standards of conduct to deter the underage use of any nicotine product,” the statement affirmed.
At the time, Reuters discovered an Amazon listing for Glo Hyper X2, promoting the product as “the cigarette alternative, offering a smokeless and odor-free experience, nicotine-free.” An accompanying image featured a “no under-18s” symbol. Presently, the same product is marketed with a cautionary message: “Not intended for sale to minors. This product, when used with associated tobacco or nicotine sticks, cartridges, or refills, carries risks and contains nicotine.”
Mr Bezos, who is in charge of the company, sold some of his shares in Amazon last year.
Earlier this month, the company announced that it wants to sell 50 million shares in the next year. These shares are worth about $8. 4 billion at the current prices.
12 million shares were sold on Friday, and another 12 million shares were sold on Tuesday, as stated in a regulatory filing.
Last year, Mr. Bezos moved from Seattle, Washington to Miami, Florida. Because of this, he will save about $280 million in taxes on the $4 billion worth of stock he sold.
Request for rich people to pay a minimum amount of tax. The Los Angeles Times is going to let go of 20% of its employees.
If you make more than $250,000 from selling stocks or other investments that you’ve had for a long time, Washington state will tax you 7%. Florida does not take money from people’s earnings or profits from selling investments.
However, he still has to pay federal taxes because he sold the shares.
When Bezos said he was moving to Florida, people wondered if it was because he didn’t want to pay a new tax on selling stocks in Washington.
He sold his Amazon shares after they went up by almost 70% in the last year.
In November, Mr. Bezos said that his parents moved back to Miami where he spent part of his childhood. He wants to be near them and his space project, Blue Origin, which is moving more towards Cape Canaveral.
“He wrote on Instagram that he and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez love Miami. ”
“I’m planning to go back to Miami and leave the Pacific Northwest,” he said.
Mr Bezos owns the most of Amazon and is one of the richest people in the world, with a lot of money – over $190 billion.
Amazon was punished in France for watching its workers too much. They were fined a lot of money because the way they were keeping an eye on their workers broke the law.
The CNIL said that Amazon France Logistique, which runs warehouses, collected data from workers’ handheld scanners.
Amazon was able to monitor the workers’ activities very accurately, which made them have to explain every break they took.
The CNIL said it was wrong for Amazon to keep workers’ data for 31 days.
The data protection agency in France looked into Amazon warehouses after workers complained and media reported on the working conditions.
The plane had left Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state in Brazil, and was attempting to land in Barcelos when it had an accident and crashed on Saturday.
All 14 people who were on the plane died. It is thought that the people on the plane were Brazilian tourists going to fish.
The Globo TV network shared a video showing a plane on a dirty road surrounded by plants. Some people are standing close by with umbrellas.
The governor of the Amazonas state, Wilson Lima, expressed his sadness for the loss of 12 passengers and two crew members who died in a plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday.
The Brazilian air force mentioned that they have sent a team from Manaus to gather information and keep any evidence that can help with the investigation of the crash.
Four youngsters have been recovered alive after surviving an aircraft crash and weeks of survival in Colombia’s Amazon rainforest.
Colombia’s president said the rescue of the siblings, aged 13, nine, four and one, was “a joy for the whole country”.
The children’s mother and two pilots were killed when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on 1 May.
The missing children became the focus of a huge rescue operation involving dozens of soldiers and local people.
President Gustavo Petro said finding the group was a “magical day”, adding: “They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.
“These children are today the children of peace and the children of Colombia.”
Mr Petro shared a photograph of several members of the military and Indigenous community caring for the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days. One of the rescuers held a bottle up to the mouth of the smallest child, while another fed one of the other children from a mug with a spoon.
A video shared by Colombia’s ministry of defence showed the children being air-lifted into a helicopter in the dark above the tall trees of the jungle.
Mr Petro said the siblings were receiving medical attention – and that he had spoken to their grandfather, who told him “the mother jungle returned them”.
The children have been flown to the nation’s capital Bogota, where ambulances have taken them to hospital for further medical treatment.
The Cessna 206 aircraft the children and their mother had been travelling on before the crash was flying from Araracuara, in Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure.
The bodies of the three adults were found at the crash site by the army, but it appeared that the children had escaped the wreckage and wandered into the rainforest to find help.
A massive search began and in May, rescuers recovered items left behind by the children, including a child’s drinking bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter.
Small footprints were also discovered, which led search teams to believe the children were still alive in the rainforest, which is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators.
The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group and members of their community hoped that their knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills would give them a better chance of remaining alive.
Indigenous people joined the search and helicopters broadcast a message from the children’s grandmother, recorded in the Huitoto language, urging them to stop moving to make them easier to locate.
Colombia’s president came under criticism last month when a tweet published on his account mistakenly announced that the children had been found.
He erased the tweet the next day saying that the information – which his office had been given by Colombia’s child welfare agency – could not be confirmed.
The world’s largest online retailer on Thursday April 27 2023 announced a profit of $3.2 billion for the first quarter, a significant improvement from the period’s $3.8 billion loss and much over analysts’ expectations.
The swing to a profit comes as Amazon (AMZN) has ramped up its cost-cutting measures in recent months. The company has announced two rounds of layoffs, canceled products and nixed physical store expansions.
It also comes as key areas of Amazon’s business continue to grow despite lingering recession fears possibly weighing on corporate and consumer spending.
The company’s revenue increased 9% during the quarter from the prior year. Amazon expects second-quarter net sales to grow between 5% and 10% from the same period the year before, or be between $127 billion and $133 billion.
“The results indicate that ongoing cost-cutting measures are having a positive impact on Amazon’s business prospects,” said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. “Amazon’s strong guidance for Q2 revenue is another indicator that the company may be starting to come out of the woods.”
Despite the fact that Amazon’s core e-commerce company is having difficulties, its revenue-generating segments are performing well.
Online sales were flat in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2022, the company said on Thursday.
But it offset that with better-than-expected sales in its cloud services and advertising units.
Profits also jumped in a sign that the firm’s cost-cutting drive may be starting to pay off.
“There’s a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for customers, particularly amidst an uncertain economy,” chief executive Andy Jassy said.
Amazon sales have been sluggish as shoppers return to in-store spending after the pandemic and have tightened budgets in response to rising living costs.
Concerns about the path for the economy have also weighed on its business, as firms grow more cautious about spending.
Since taking the reins last year, Mr Jassy has been pushing the firm to improve its performance, winding down some programmes, such as its Halo fitness division just this week, halting real estate expansion plans, overhauling its delivery network in the US and announcing thousands of job cuts.
The size of the firm’s workforce has shrunk by 10% since March last year – shedding more than 75,000 employees just since the end of last year.
Insider Intelligence principal analyst Andrew Lipsman said this may be starting to pay off.
“For the first time in several quarters, Amazon may finally have a bit of wind at its back,” Mr Lipsman said.
In Amazon’s advertising unit, revenue jumped 23% compared with last year, while sales at Amazon Web Services – long the company’s big profit driver – grew 16%.
Overall sales were up 9% to $127.4bn in the January-March period – comparable to growth at the end of last year – and a big comedown from the pandemic, when sales surged more than 40% in some quarters.
Still the firm’s performance was better than many analysts had expected and profits jumped to $3.2bn, compared with a $3.8bn loss in the quarter last year.
Shares in the company gained more than 7% in after-hours trade.
“Amazon did what it needed to do in Q1 by reversing – or at least stalling – its most troublesome declining growth trends,” Mr Lipsman said.
As of August, 16 additional digital companies as well as Alibaba’s (9988.HK) AliExpress, Amazon’s (AMZN.O) Marketplace, Apple’s App Store, and others will be governed by new EU online content regulations, according to EU industry director Thierry Breton.
Booking.com (BKNG.O), Facebook (META.O), Google Maps, Google Play, Google Search, Google Shopping, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Microsoft’s Bing, and Zalando (ZALG.DE) are the remaining 16 businesses.
Under the landmark rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the companies, all with more than 45 million monthly active users, are required to do risk management, conduct external and independent auditing, share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.
“We consider these 19 online platforms and search engines have become systematically relevant and have special responsibilities to make the internet safer,” Breton told reporters.
He said he was checking to see whether another four to five companies fall under the DSA, with a decision expected in the next few weeks.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
President Joe Biden of the United States promised to donate $500 million to the Amazon Fund on Thursday, making his nation one of the largest donors in the world to the global initiative to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate held a virtual meeting, and Biden spoke at it. “Today, I’m pleased to announce that I will request the funds so that we can contribute $500 million to the Amazon Fund and other climate-related activities over the next five years to support Brazil’s renewed effort to end deforestation by 2030,” he said.
The Amazon Fund uses foreign funds for projects that fight deforestation and preserve the environment in the Amazon, and was set up in Brazil during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s previous term in office. Major donors include Norway and Germany.
During the presidency of former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, the fund was left untouched while then-environmental minister Ricardo Salles dissolved committees responsible for managing the resource.
Lula has touted curbing deforestation of the Amazon as a top priority since becoming president earlier this year.
Biden also promised a $1 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund, which is the main climate financing mechanism of the United Nations.
“We’re at a moment of great peril but also great possibilities, serious possibilities. With the right commitment and follow-through from every nation on the — in this room, in this — on this call, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees can stay within reach,” Biden added.
View of the Amacayacu river at the Colombian Amazonia in San Martin de Amacayacu, Colombia, on October 15, 2022.Lina Vanegas/AFP/Getty Images
The announcement comes the same day Biden welcomed Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House, saying he considers Colombia “the key to the hemisphere,” in efforts to ensure the Western Hemisphere is “united, equal, democratic, and economically prosperous.”
At Thursday’s Oval office meeting with Petro, Biden also spoke to efforts to combat narcotics trafficking in the region, and “to address historic levels of migration in the hemisphere.”
Biden touted the $500 million investment to the Amazon Fund as part of the two nations’ efforts to deal with climate change.”
And he took special care to thank Petro “for the hospitality support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees.”
“It’s a humanitarian and generous thing that you’re doing,” he added. “You know we’re working closely with regional partners to help Columbia meet this challenge. It’s consequential and costly.”
Petro noted that the United States and Colombia have a shared commitment to democracy, freedom and peace together with a strong push for decarbonizing the economy.
“In the Americas, humanity has the greatest potential for democracy and freedom and the greatest potential for carbon free energy. We have a busy agenda together and work to do,” Petro stated.
Petro is in Washington as part of a five-day trip to the US to celebrate the 200th anniversary of US-Colombia relations. He held talks at the United Nations and the Organization of American States and visited Capitol Hill to meet with congressmen in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The parent firm of UK-based online retailer Book Depository, US-based digital behemoth Amazon, has announced the closure of the former.
After almost two decades in business, Book Depository has informed consumers that it would close its doors later this month.
It follows Amazon’s announcement that it will be restructuring its global operations and eliminating thousands of employees.
Several of Book Depository’s international clients were saddened by the news.
“We are sorry to let you know that Book Depository will be closing on 26 April 2023,” the company said.
Customers can continue to order books until midday UK time on its last day of trading, the company’s website added.
“I can confirm that we’ve taken the difficult decision to close Book Depository,” an Amazon spokesperson told the BBC.
Book Depository was founded in 2004 by former Amazon employee Andrew Crawford and his business partner Stuart Felton.
The global online book retailer, which was bought by Amazon in 2011, has offices in London, Gloucester, Madrid, Cape Town and Chennai – with fulfilment centres in the UK and Australia.
Thousands of Book Depository customers, including bestselling authors, reacted with sadness over the announcement.
“Sad to hear the news. A huge loss for all of us,” New Zealand-based author and poet Lang Leav tweeted.
“My heart breaks,” another Twitter user said.
This year, Amazon has been slashing thousands of jobs as it aims to make major cost savings.
As part of the shakeup, the company announced changes to its book business, including the decision to stop selling magazines and newspaper subscriptions on its e-book device Kindle.
In a blog post in January, chief executive Andy Jassy said a total of just over 18,000 roles would be cut across the company, including job losses in its book selling operation.
Mr Jassy referred to “the hard decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses”.
Like much of the global technology industry, Amazon saw sales boom during the pandemic when customers were stuck at home.
But more recently its sales have slowed down as consumers spend less due to the cost of living crisis.
Other companies, including Google and Facebook-owner Meta, have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.
PayPal’s announcement follows tens of thousands of layoffs by technology giants in the last month alone.
This year, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft have announced major job cuts.
“We must continue to change as our world, our customers, and our competitive landscape evolve,” PayPal’s chief executive Dan Schulman said in a statement.
Also on Tuesday, Snap – the parent company of social media platform Snapchat – warned that revenue for the three months to the end of March could fall by as much as 10%.
After the announcement Snap’s shares fell by almost 15% in extended trade in New York.
At the start of this year, Amazon announced it planned to cut more than 18,000 jobs because of “the uncertain economy” and rapid hiring during the pandemic.
Also this month, Alphabet said it would shed 12,000 jobs, while Microsoft said up to 10,000 employees would lose their jobs.
Last week, Swedish music-streaming giant Spotify said it would cut 6% of its about 10,000 employees, citing a need to improve efficiency.
In another sign of the technology industry slowdown US computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Tuesday reported a 98% fall in net income for the last three months of 2022.
The company also said it expects revenue to drop by as much 10% in the current quarter.
However, the figures were better than many investors had expected and AMD’s shares rose after the announcement.
In Asia on Wednesday, the world’s second-biggest memory chip maker SK Hynix posted its largest quarterly loss on record.
The South Korean company reported a worse-than-expected 1.7tn won ($1.4bn; £1.1bn) loss for the last three months of 2022, as sales fell by 38%.
The firm pointed to falling computer chip prices and joined rival technology giants as it warned that it expects an industry-wide downturn to worsen in the coming months, before recovering later in the year.
It came after rival Samsung Electronics on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly profit in eight years.
According to the GMB union, about 300 employees at Amazon’s warehouse in Coventry went on strike in protest of a “derisory” 5% pay increase to £10.50 per hour.
Workers complained to the BBC about “severe” working conditions, saying they are constantly watched and reprimanded for taking “idle time” that only lasts a few minutes.
A system “that recognises great performance” exists, according to Amazon.
If an employee isn’t meeting their performance goals, it “also encourages coaching to help them improve,” a spokesman said.
Two Amazon workers, who are members of the GMB, said the robots in the warehouse “are treated better than us”.
Darren Westwood and Garfield Hilton described to the BBC how even a trip to the toilet can lead to questions by managers.
“The thing with stopping work is that they want to know why,” said Mr Hilton. “So if the time is beyond a couple of minutes they can see it on the system.”
‘They will question you’
Mr Hilton, who has diabetes, said it is not always possible to find toilets close by in the building and the process of locating one and returning can sometimes take upwards of 15 minutes.
“They will then question you, ‘what were you doing?’”
Image caption,Amazon workers in Coventry voted in December to take strike action
The men said that managers track staff performance, and time that is not spent scanning items is accrued.
Workers at the Coventry warehouse scan stock which is sent out to Amazon fulfilment centres, to be shipped to consumers.
Instead of scanning, workers might be asked to handle pallets. “So when there’s problems with a pallet or a box, that time will accrue,” said Mr Westwood.
“Technically it could add up to 30 minutes. [The managers] will come down and say, ‘during today, you’ve had 34 minutes of idle time. What were you doing?”
A spokesman for Amazon said: “Performance is only measured when an employee is at their station and logged in to do their job.
“If an employee logs out, which they can do at any time, the performance management tool is paused.”
But Mr Westwood and Mr Hilton said some colleagues were working 60-hour weeks to keep up with the cost of living.
Mr Hilton said that he has seen workers falling asleep on the short bus ride to Amazon’s warehouse. “There’s a huge amount of them in the building virtually in ghost mode.”
He said Amazon wants “every minute in that building to be maximised”.
“You have to look at it this way, if the box with the product is not moving, you’re not making money. This is Amazon. If there’s a problem with a box, it’s a loss-maker. If the box leaves a building it is making money.”
In August, Amazon offered UK workers a 5% payrise, which was worth 50p outside London and the South East.
Inflation, the rate at which prices rise, is at a 40-year high, putting pressure on household budgets.
Bogdan, who is 29, has worked for Amazon since 2015. He said after workers put their health at risk to work during the height of the pandemic, the pay offer “insulted” staff.
He said one reason for striking was the public needed to “understand what is going on” behind the scenes every time they make an order.
He claimed Amazon portrayed an image that “everything is fine”, but he added: “It’s actually not true.”
Image caption,Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos, seen here with his partner Lauren Sánchez, has a $120bn fortune
An Amazon spokesman said it was “proud” of its “competitive” pay rates. He said the starting pay for workers was £11.45 an hour in London and the South East, and £10.50 an hour in the rest of the UK.
He said this marked a 29% increase in the minimum hourly wage paid to Amazon employees since 2018.
But union members want to be paid £15 an hour. Mr Westwood said the 50p offer was “a smack in the mouth”.
“These people had worked two years through the pandemic, that had seen Amazon’s shares go through the roof. They had seen the profits just become unimaginable,” he said.
Amanda Gearing, a senior GMB union organiser, told the BBC’s Today programme that Wednesday’s strike action would have a “massive impact” on the Coventry warehouse.
‘Only the start’
Of the 1,500 workers at Amazon’s Coventry site, around 300 will walk out, the union says.
“Coventry might be the start [of the strikes], but it won’t be the finish,” Ms Gearing said from the picket line. “We know there are workers in other centres that feel exactly the same.”
She added: “People are having to choose between heating their homes and… eating really, so it’s not good enough, not from someone like Amazon that’s got billions and billions of pounds of profit during the pandemic.”
Amazon’s global sales and profits soared as Covid restrictions forced people to shop online. Between 2019 and 2020, profits nearly doubled to $21.3bn (£17.2bn) and rose again the following year to $33.3bn.
Growth has been uneven since economies have reopened and after taking on thousands of staff since 2019, Amazon is now laying off 18,000 workers worldwide.
Mr Westwood said “people might think we’re being greedy” by asking for £15 an hour. But he pointed to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, executive chairman and space adventurer, who has a $120bn fortune according to Forbes magazine.
“We don’t want his boat or his rockets,” said Mr Westwood. “We just want to be able to live. I just want to be able to pay my bills at the end of the week. That’s all we’re asking for.”
Image caption,Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns Blue Origin, a “space tourism” business
Amazon said a “tiny proportion” of its workforce was involved in the industrial action. It said “only a fraction of 1%” of its UK employees voted in the ballot, which included those who voted against industrial action.
But Mr Westwood said the numbers were “brilliant”. Amazon does not recognise unions but, according to the GMB, there are members scattered throughout the UK in varying numbers.
Amazon has been battling against unionisation in the US.
More than half of the 8,000 workers at a warehouse on Staten Island, New York, voted to join the Amazon Labor Union which has now been officially certified. However, the company has vowed to appeal the certification.
Mr Westwood said there was a huge range of different nationalities who work at Coventry. “They don’t understand this is the UK – we can organise a union, we can protest, we can withdraw our labour,” he added.
“[Our workers] need someone. I know it’s going to be a long slog, but these people need someone who’s not frightened. And I’m not frightened.”
His announcement coincided with Netflix’s end-of-year disclosure of a significant increase in subscriber numbers.
People were expected to cut back on streaming services when money was tight.
Netflix, however, defied expectations and added more than seven million new subscribers, bucking the trend.
The film Glass Onion, the new Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday, and Harry and Meghan’s revelations all attracted a lot of viewers.
“2022 was a tough year, with a bumpy start but a brighter finish,” the company said in a statement.
Mr Hastings’ long-planned move means he is leaving Netflix in a crowded market, with challenges ahead, but with 231 million viewers signed up around the globe.
Mr Hastings, who was an early pioneer in the streaming business and is seen as one of the original tech industry disruptors, will stay on as executive chairman.
The firm will now be run by Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, both already in senior executive positions.
“Reed Hastings stepping down from his current role raises a lot of questions about Netflix’s future strategy,” said Jamie Lumley, analyst at research firm Third Bridge.
“Incoming Co-CEO Greg Peters will have a number of major decisions on his plate from managing high levels of expenses, password sharing, and cracking the code to find the next Stranger Things.”
Image caption,Reed Hastings and a former colleague Marc Randolph founded Netflix in 1997
Mr Peters has been given a strong start, with total subscribers for the last three months of 2022 up 7.66 million, when the firm had predicted a rise of around 4.5 million.
Alicia Reese from Wedbush Securities said there were two reasons Netflix had managed to keep subscribers from cancelling.
“First, viewership trends indicate better retention on popular shows; second, Netflix offering an ad-supported tier to anyone looking to cancel or pause their membership,” she said.
Both those factors limited customer “churn” she said.
Revenue rose to $7.9bn (£6.37bn) in the fourth quarter. However, profit was lower in this quarter than the same period a year earlier, and profit for the year as a whole was down from 2021.Although Netflix remained “ahead of its competitors” on profitability, said Ms Reese.
In early 2022, Netflix faced an uphill battle. It was facing increased competition from rivals such as Amazon, HBO, Apple TV and Disney. It cut hundreds of jobs, but still found it had to put up prices to customers to cover rising costs.
That dealt a blow to its subscriber numbers in the first half of the year.
In November, it introduced a cheaper ad-supported option in 12 countries, including most of Europe, the UK and the US,and signalled it would be less tolerant of password sharing in future. Netflix said it was “pleased with the early results” from the service.
But Paolo Pescatore at PP Foresight said that, as the new ad-funded service had only been introduced in November, most of the additional customers in the last three months of 2022 would be paying full price.
However, the coming year would be challenging for Netflix, he said, with a “significant slowdown” expected in the ad market.
“The year ahead is unlikely to be plain sailing as all media companies will have to contend with uncertainty,” he said.
Netflix shares, which had fallen by nearly 38% in the past year, rose in after-hours trading following the results announcement.
Netflix started out in 1997 as a mail-order film service. Customers ordered via the website and DVDs were posted to them at home.
Mr Hastings has sometimes said the idea for Netflix was sparked when he owed a large fine for forgetting to return a video cassette to rental shop Blockbuster and thought a model more like gym membership, with a monthly fee for renting films, would be better.
However, his co-founder Marc Randolph reportedly disputed this version, saying the pair had simply aimed to emulate Amazon.
The firm said the new warehouses would be “state of the art” robotic facilities located in Peddimore, West Midlands, and Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham.
“We’re always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees and customers,” the company said.
Amazon, which launched in the UK in 1998, expanded rapidly during the pandemic.
It currently employs about 70,000 people in the UK, including 400 workers at the Doncaster centre, 500 at Hemel Hempstead and 300 at Gourock.
The firm operates two other warehouses in Doncaster as well as one in Dunstable, about 20 minutes drive from Hemel Hempstead, which Amazon said may be able to absorb staff affected by the closures.
‘Kick in the teeth’
But Steve Garelick, GMB union officer for Hemel Hempstead, called the moves a “real kick in the teeth for Amazon staff who worked themselves into the ground during the festive rush”.
It may be difficult for workers to take roles further away from their homes, he added.
“Hard-up Amazon workers can’t suddenly be expected to up sticks and move to a different fulfilment centre which may be many miles away,” he said.
Katy Clark, Labour MSP for West of Scotland, called the decision to shut the Gourock warehouse after 19 years in the area “appalling”.
She added: “This is devastating for the local community and the 300 workers who may find themselves out of a job.
“These workers have been heroic supporting households and providing vital supplies throughout the pandemic and holiday periods.
“The Scottish Government needs to intervene as a matter of urgency to support these workers back into employment.”
Amazon has faced growing pressure over workers’ rights since the pandemic.
Hundreds of workers at a warehouse in Coventry voted last month to stage what is believed to be the first strike action at the company in the UK. The walkout, part of a row over pay, is set to happen on 25 January.
Amazon intends to cut more than 18,000 jobs, the most in the company’s history, in a bid to cut costs.
The online retailer, which employs 1.5 million people worldwide, did not specify which countries would be affected, but noted that Europe would not be left out.
The majority of the job losses will be in its consumer retail and human resources divisions.
Andy Jassy, the company’s CEO, blamed the layoffs on the “uncertain economy,” saying the company had “hired rapidly over several years.”
“We don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted,” he said in a memo to staff.
He said the announcement had been brought forward due to one of the firm’s employees leaking the cuts externally.
“Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year,” he added.
Amazon’s sales have slowed after a surge during the pandemic, when customers bored at home spent a lot of time online.
A potent combination of a downturn in advertising revenues due to businesses seeking to save cash and consumers spending less as the cost of living crisis bites is hitting tech firms hard.
Other major tech companies, such as Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and cloud-based business software firm Salesforce, have recently announced significant layoffs.
Amazon has already announced that it’s cutting back on projects like the Echo (better known as Alexa) and delivery robots – which were nice-to-haves but not actually making money.
Anecdotally, there’s a tendency in Silicon Valley for firms to hire and retain talented workers on attractive salaries, even if they’re not immediately needed, primarily in order to stop them working for rivals. This culture is a luxury that big tech can no longer afford to maintain.
Amazon employees affected by the cuts are expected to be informed by January 18.
The move comes after the technology giant said last year that it would reduce its headcount without saying how many jobs would be cut.
A potent combination of a downturn in advertising revenues due to businesses seeking to save cash, and consumers spending less as the cost of living crisis bites, is hitting tech firms hard.
‘More pain ahead’
The company had already stopped hiring new staff and stopped some of its warehouse expansions, warning it had over-hired during the pandemic.
It has also taken steps to shut some parts of its business, cancelling projects such as a personal delivery robot.
“Prior to the pandemic, tech companies would often remove only the bottom 1% to 3% of their workforce,” Ray Wang from the Silicon Valley-based consultancy Constellation Research told the BBC.
Dan Ives from investment firm Wedbush Securities said he believes Amazon will face “more pain ahead” as customers tighten their belts.
Industry-wide cuts
Tens of thousands of jobs are being shed across the global technology industry, amid slowing sales and growing concerns about an economic downturn.
In November,
Facebook owner Meta announced that it would cut 13% of its workforce.
The first mass lay-offs in the social media firm’s history will result in 11,000 employees, from a worldwide headcount of 87,000, losing their jobs.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”.
The news followed major layoffs at Twitter, which cut about half its staff after multi-billionaire Elon Musk bought the firm in October.
Amazon started laying off staff as early as November, according toLinkedIn posts by workers who said they had been impacted by job cuts.
Posts seen by the BBC included those from employees in Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant business, Luna cloud gaming platform division, and Lab – the operation behind the Kindle e-reader.
Apple‘s market capitalization fell below $2 trillion in trading Tuesday, the first time since early 2021 and one year to the day after the company became the first publicly traded company valued at $3 trillion.
Apple (AAPL) shares fell nearly 4% on Tuesday after a report raised concerns about consumer demand for its products.
According to Nikkei, Apple (AAPL) recently informed several suppliers that it would be producing fewer parts for some of its most popular devices in the first quarter, including AirPods, the Apple Watch, and MacBooks.
Apple did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Ahead of the all-important holiday shopping period, Apple saidit was experiencing “strong demand” for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models, but it expected lower shipments than anticipated due to COVID-related disruptions at a supplier in China. (Those operations are now said to be running at nearly full capacity.)
While Apple’s market value has fallen considerably, other big tech companies have suffered steeper percentage declines. Shares of Amazon and Facebook-parent Meta are down by about 50% and 63%, respectively, over the past year. Apple, by comparison, is down by about 31% over the same period.
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Still, Apple now joinsAmazon in an exclusive club no one wants to be part of: companies that have lost $1 trillion in market value.
Founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos has pledged to donate the majority of his money before he passes away.
Bezos, currently the world’s fourth richest person based on Forbes billionaires list, also admitted that he wants to ensure that the worthiest causes benefits from his charity.
Bezos made the pledge after donating $100 million to country singer Dolly Parton to give to charities of her choice as part of Bezos’s annual Courage and Civility award.
Without providing further details, Bezos said he and partner Lauren Sánchez were “building the capacity to be able to give away this money”.
Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle.
He stepped down as chief executive to become executive chairman in July 2021 and now owns just under 10% of the company.
He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he transferred a quarter of his then 16% Amazon stake to her.
Bezos has donated more than $400 million worth of stock to nonprofits in 2022, though it’s unclear which organizations received those shares.
Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets.
In the past, Bezos has been heavily criticized for his relative lack of largesse toward charity compared with some fellow billionaires.
Bezos is not a signatory to the Giving Pledge, which encourages the world’s wealthiest to give half their net worth to philanthropy and was set up by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
It has attracted more than 230 signatories including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Jeff Bezos has revealed plans to give away most of his $124bn (£110bn) fortune during his lifetime.
The Amazon founder, 58, is the world’s second-richest man after Elon Musk, the Tesla boss and new owner of Twitter, according to Forbes.
This is the first time he has said he plans to give away most of his money.
Mr Bezos has been criticised in the past for not signing the Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage the mega rich to contribute most of their wealth to charity.
Asked directly by CNN whether he planned to give most of his money away, Mr Bezos said: “Yeah, I do.”
Bezos told the US broadcaster that he and partner journalist-turned-philanthropist Lauren Sánchez were “building
the capacity to be able to give away this money”.
He said the money would go to causes that work to tackle climate change and to support people who can unify humanity.
It was announced a week ago at the start of the COP27 summit that his Bezos Earth Fund had pledged $1bn more by 2030 to help protect carbon reserves and biodiversity – building on $9bn of funds already committed to the climate cause.
Also last week it was revealed that country music star Dolly Parton had received a $100m (£85m) prize from Bezos.
The courage and civility award gives people the chance to donate cash to causes of their choice.
Parton, a long-time philanthropist herself, has already established a number of charities and put $1m towards the development of a COVID vaccine during the pandemic.
Bezos has more time on his hands to devote to his passions after stepping down as chief executive of Amazon last year.
He continues to own about 10% of the ecommerce-to-streaming giant.
His other business interests include ownership of the Washington Post and space tourism company Blue Origin.
“I think people who are in a position to help should put their money where their heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money,” she added.
The award started in 2021, with prizes going to activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who established World Central Kitchen, which provides food in disaster-stricken areas around the world.
Parton – a singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist – was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month.
She has been a high-profile supporter of charities and founded the Dollywood Foundation, which has given books to children around the world.
Parton has also been a vocal advocate of vaccination against Covid-19.
She supported Moderna’s with a $1m donation for coronavirus research to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
The human and material cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is well documented. But rare species of animals and flowers that had flourished in the country’s north have also been badly hit by the invaders’ destructive use of weaponry and landmines, with fearsthey will take decades to recover.
Valery Alexandrovitch is dressed like a soldier, flanked by men armed with Kalashnikovs while keeping a constant eye on the news.
He is a forest ranger in Ukraine’s Drevlyansky nature reserve, helping to patrol what once was a pristine sanctuary for wildlife in northern Ukraine. With its marshes, lakes, woods and heathland, it is a place so rich in wildlife it has even been called Europe’s Amazon.
But situated just 15 miles from the border with Belarus, it is in a dangerous part of the world and Mr Alexandrovitch has every reason to be wary.
It was across this border in February that Russia sent rockets, missiles and artillery shells, followed by an invading armoured column that got all the way south to the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, before being driven back by Ukrainian defenders armed with the latest Western weapons.
“Russian land mines,” Mr Alexandrovitch says, perched on a fallen log beside a forest track. “That’s the worst legacy left behind by the invasion. That and the forest fires they set off with their shell fire.”
Image source, BBC/Frank GardnerImage caption, The Drevlyansky is an important refuge for rare birds and wildfowl
The Russians invaded Ukraine on 24 February from three sides – from the north in Belarus, their own territory in the east, and Crimea which they had seized and annexed in 2014.
It is fair to assume preserving Ukraine’s rarer species of flora and fauna was probably not top of President Putin’spriorities when he sent his tanks rolling across the border.
The artillery shells the Russians fired into northern Ukraine ignited forest fires that have burnt through more than 2,000 hectares (nearly 5,000 acres) of previously-untouched forest, sending wildlife scattering, incinerating recently-discovered orchids and hundreds of other rare plants.
One look at the scorched and fire-blackened trunks of the trees suggests wildlife in this part of Ukraine will not be coming back any time soon. There is simply nothing for them to eat, nowhere for them to hide.
Shells also landed on the nearby town of Narodychi where, according to the Ukrainians, local collaborators helped the invading Russians by guiding their artillery fire towards concentrations of troops.
“We still have to watch out for infiltrators coming across from Belarus,” says Mr Alexandrovitch. This would explain the heavily-armed Ukrainian patrols we witnessed here near the border – small groups of fit-looking men carrying sniper rifles and walkie talkies, with Alsatians panting at their side.
Image source, BBC/Frank GardnerImage caption, Russian shelling this year has devastated large tracts of pristine forest, driving out wildlife that has still not returned
This part of Ukraine is a region known as Polesia, a giant oval on the map that extends into Belarus, Poland and Russia. It is home to species like lynx, wolf and moose that disappeared from most of the rest of Europe a long time ago.
The Russian invasion is not the first disaster Polesia has endured. On 26 April 1986, reactor number four in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, sending a plume of highly radioactive particles right across Europe and contaminating parts of northern Ukraine with radionuclides.
Chernobyl is just 40 miles (65km) away – most of the remote villages and cottages in this part of Ukraine were abandoned when the human population was hurriedly evacuated to safety.
Yet, the wildlife largely survived that disaster, even benefitting from the newfound absence of humans.
Image source, BBC/Frank GardnerImage caption, The black redstart is a familiar bird in the villages of northern Ukraine
“There have been two wolf packs in this region, and the Polesian wolf is one of the largest in the world,” Mr Alexandrovitch explains. “Before Chernobyl, they used to skirt around the villages but now, if it suits them, they would come straight through them at night.”
The landmines planted by the Russians have left Ukraine’s part of Polesia with a very different problem. Russia is not party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, although Ukraine is. Since they invaded, Russian forces have planted at least seven different kinds of anti-personnel mines in various parts of the country, mostly in unmarked minefields.
Here in the northern forests, that means the unpaved tracks the rangers used to patrol down are now too dangerous to use. In early September one of their vehicles drove over a landmine, killing one of the occupants and badly injuring another.
“Sometimes,” says Mr Alexandrovitch, “we come across the remains of a deer that has been blown up by a mine. The animals can’t see them. It’s so sad.”
So, how long it will it take to make the area safe again?
He takes a long drag of his cigarette before raising his eyes to the pine branches swaying gently in the autumn breeze. “Years,” he answers. Then he turns and adds with a sigh, “Decades, in fact.”
“Starting pay is a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour, depending on location.
“Employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package that includes private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals, an employee discount, and more, which combined are worth thousands of pounds annually, as well as a company pension plan.
“On top of this, we have announced that every full-time, part-time, and a seasonal associate will receive an additional one-time special payment of up to £500 this year.”
According to the authors, the main causes of the increase were fires and deforestation for agricultural purposes.
The scientists say that a “collapse” in law enforcement in recent years has encouraged forest clearing.
The research findings have been submitted for publication but have yet to be independently reviewed.
As home to the largest tropical forest on Earth, the Amazon plays a critical role in maintaining the Earth’s climate by storing massive amounts of carbon in trees and soils.
Over the last few decades, the forest has been under growing pressure as land has been cleared in Brazil and neighbouring countries, primarily for farming.
Last year researchers published data indicating that the eastern part of the forest was being cut down at such a rate that more carbon was being released than absorbed by the trees and vegetation.
Now the same scientists believe that an explosion of a forest clearing in the western part of the Amazon has also turned that region into a source. of carbon emissions
Using small planes, the researchers have collected hundreds of air samples from different parts of the forest over the last ten years.
Their new study shows that in 2019, carbon emissions increased by 89% compared to the annual average of emissions between 2010 and 2018. In 2020, the picture was even worse, with an increase of 122%.
While fires played a role, the main factor was the removal of trees by land clearing, which increased by 75% in 2020.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Deforestation is set to play a big role in Brazil’s upcoming election with President Bolsonaro seeking another term
The researchers link this rise in deforestation to a rapid decline in prosecutions by law enforcement agencies, which saw fines for illegal forest clearances fall by 89% in 2020.
The scientists say that this is down to the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019. He has canceled fines and penalties related to deforestation and pushed hard for the expansion of agriculture in Brazil.
“We hypothesize that the consequences of the collapse in enforcement led to increases in deforestation, biomass burning and degradation producing net carbon losses and enhancing drying and warming of forest regions,” the new study says.
The researchers say that this rapid increase in emissions from the forest has also had an impact on the climate around the trees.
“In consequence of this big deforestation, in the wet season of 2020 we saw a decline of 26% in rainfall during January, February, and March, while the temperature has gone up by 0.6C,” said lead author Dr Luciana Gatti, from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
“The emissions come from deforestation and degradation and also from this climate change promoted by the human destruction of the forest. And this is a very alarming scenario,” she told BBC News.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Clearing land for soybeans has been a major factor in the loss of forests
Environmental campaigners say that this hands-off approach to prosecuting illegal deforestation has continued this year, with over 8,500 sq km lost between August 2021 and July 2022, an area larger than the US state of Delaware.
“The collapse in law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon has allowed land grabbers and illegal loggers to continue unchecked with devastating consequences for people, wildlife, and the planet,” said Mike Barrett from WWF.
“The Amazon is getting dangerously close to a crucial tipping point which could see large areas transform from a resilient, moist rainforest into a dry, fire-ravaged, and irreversibly degraded state.”
The outcome could have significant implications for the Amazon, as scientists like Dr Gatti fear it may be reaching a point where it would continually emit more carbon than it absorbs.
She said that action by consumers and governments around the world was also critical to prevent this from happening.
“We need to have an international commitment with countries in international commerce, that they don’t buy the products that result in the destruction of nature,” she said.
Slots, roulette, and dice games are the focus of a partial gambling restriction that Twitch has announced.
The Amazon-owned live streaming platform will bar videos of gambling sites not licensed in the US or “other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection”.
The ban includes cryptocurrency gambling sites such as Stake.com, based on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
It will take effect on 18 October 2022.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Twitch said: “While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette or dice games, we’ve seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm.”
Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com would be banned – and it may exclude others in the future.
But it would not ban sports betting, fantasy sports such as fantasy football, or poker.
Prominent streamers
At the time of writing, there are more people watching Twitch streamers gambling on virtual slot machines than playing Minecraft – with TwitchTracker estimating slots are the 10th most popular type of content on the platform.
Promoting gambling websites can be particularly lucrative for streamers, with Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam, who has more than 2.1 million followers, claiming one such site gives him more than $1m (£881,000) each month to gamble with.
He has yet to respond to Twitch’s announcement.
Gambling videos have proved contentious on Twitch since they first appeared – but in recent months, prominent streamers have been vocally critical, with some even threatening to organize a strike.
Took action
Devin Nash, who says he left Twitch over its gambling streams, called them “horrible for the platform”.
“Gambling is damaging to young Twitch users, bad for legitimate advertisers, and brings down the quality of thewhole site,” he said in a series of tweets.
Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo and Imane “Pokimane” Anys, who have millions of followers between them, were among those discussing ways prominent streamers could temporarily leave the platform for a week this Christmas unless Twitch took action against gambling streams.
And after Twitch announced its ban on certain types of gambling, Pokimane was among those celebrating.
Amazon has blamed a “bad actor” for racist abuse that appeared on multiple listings on its UK website.
The abuse, now removed, appeared when users searched the online shop for Apple AirPods and similar products.
It was unclear how long the racist language remained on the site, but it sparked outrage on Twitter and the sharing of screenshots and video grabs.
“We are removing the images in question and have taken action on the bad actor,” Amazon told the BBC.
The company did not elaborate on the “bad actor”, nor give details of how many products were defaced and how long the abuse was visible on the listings.
Nadine White, a journalist for the Huffington Post, tweeted that the abuse “needs to be acknowledged, removed, explained, apologised for asap. Being Black right now is hard enough; we don’t need to be called the N- word while shopping online, to boot”.
Another Twitter user said Amazon should have been able to remove the offending messages in minutes. “They’re still on Amazon UK. Extraordinarily poor site administration,” he said during early hours of Sunday.
Amazon also allows third-party retailers to sell goods through its website, with the company making about half its retail revenues from this.
But the Amazon Marketplace platform has come under scrutiny.
There has been concern about counterfeit goods appearing in the listings, and during the coronavirus pandemic Amazon was criticised for not doing enough to stop sellers inflating prices.
In April, several of Amazon’s foreign websites, including the UK domain, were added to the US trade regulator’s “notorious markets” report on marketplaces known for counterfeiting and piracy concerns.
Amazon strongly disagreed with the report at that time, describing it as a “purely political act”.
Amazon (AMZN.O) does not know when its warehouses in France might reopen but hopes it can be soon, the head of its French business said on Friday.
Frederic Duval also told BFM TV that an appeal procedure would take place next week against a French court decision ordering the e-commerce giant to focus only on delivering essential items such as food while it revised health protocols.
“I do not know and that makes me sad…I hope we can find a solution very quickly,†Duval said, when asked when Amazon France could reopen its warehouses.
Amazon closed six French warehouses used to stock and package goods for shipment on Thursday until at least April 20, in one of the biggest fallouts yet from a growing stand-off with its workers over safety measures during the pandemic.
The founder and boss of Amazon has seen his wealth swell by $24bn (£19bn) after soaring demand for online shopping sent the firm’s share price to a new high.
Jeff Bezos now has a fortune of US$138bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, cementing his position as the world’s richest man.
Amazon has benefited from surging internet shopping by people forced to stay home during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The firm has been recruiting thousands of workers to cope with demand.
However, Amazon has also been criticized by employees in the US over workplace protection against the coronavirus.
Mr. Bezos owns an 11% stake in Amazon and on Tuesday, the firm’s shares rose by 5.3%.
The family behind retail giant Wal-Mart, which owns Asda in the UK, have also gained during the lockdown.
The Waltons saw their net worth rise 5% this year to $169bn, making them the world’s richest family, according to Bloomberg.
With millions now working from home, online meeting site Zoom has seen founder Eric Yuan’s fortune more than double to $7.4bn.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index said the world’s 500 richest people lost $553bn so far this year.
Investors in the global oil and gas industries have seen sharp drops in net worth as crude prices plunged on reduced global demand and a row – now resolved – about oil production between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Rise to fame
Mr Bezos started Amazon in 1995 with about $100,000 in personal and family money. He quit a hedge fund job at the age of 30 after coming across a statistic about the rapid growth of the internet.
He was joined by his wife, MacKenzie, whom he met while they were both working at the New York hedge fund, DE Shaw. They have four children.
The couple were divorced in 2019 in a split widely covered by the business media. MacKenzie’s $38bn settlement included a 4% stake in Amazon.
Within a month of the launch, he had already shipped orders to all 50 states and 45 countries, according to a 2013 biography by Brad Stone entitled The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.
In Amazon’s first five years, customer accounts jumped from 180,000 to 17 million. Sales skyrocketed from $511,000 to more than $1.6bn.
Big-name investors flocked to the company amid the first wave of dotcom enthusiasm.
It went public in 1997, raising $54m and turning Mr Bezos, who once helped to box up the book orders, into one of the world’s richest men before the age of 35.
In 1999, Time Magazine named him one of its youngest People of the Year to date, dubbing him the “king of cybercommerce”.
A new study examining air samples from hospital wards with COVID-19 patients has found the virus can travel up to 13 feet (four meters) — twice the distance current guidelines say people should leave between themselves in public.
The preliminary results of the investigation by Chinese researchers were published Friday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
They add to a growing debate on how the disease is transmitted, with the scientists themselves cautioning that the small quantities of virus they found at this distance are not necessarily infectious.
The researchers, led by a team at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing, tested surface and air samples from an intensive care unit and a general COVID-19 ward at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan. They housed a total of 24 patients between February 19 and March 2.
They found that the virus was most heavily concentrated on the floors of the wards, “perhaps because of gravity and air flow causing most virus droplets to float to the ground.”
High levels were also found on frequently touched surfaces like computer mice, trashcans, bed rails and door knobs.
“Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive,” the team wrote. “Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers.”
Airborne threat?
The team also looked at so-called aerosol transmission — when the droplets of the virus are so fine they become suspended and remain airborne for several hours, unlike cough or sneeze droplets that fall to the ground within seconds.
They found that virus-laden aerosols were mainly concentrated near and downstream from patients at up to 13 feet — though smaller quantities were found upstream, up to eight feet.
Encouragingly, no members of the hospital staff were infected, “indicating that appropriate precautions could effectively prevent infection,” the authors wrote.
They also offered advice that bucks orthodox guidelines: “Our findings suggest that home isolation of persons with suspected COVID-19 might not be a good control strategy” given the levels of environmental contamination.
Aerosolization of the coronavirus is a contentious area for scientists who study it, because it is not clear how infectious the disease is in the tiny quantities found in ultrafine mist.
The World Health Organization has so far downplayed the risk.
US health authorities have adopted a more cautious line and urged people to cover their faces when out in public in case the virus can be transmitted through normal breathing and speaking.
Deep in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, where rivers are the only highways, the coronavirus pandemic is sharply limiting boat traffic, leaving villages even more cut off from the world than before.
Canoes, motor boats and ferries are the cars, trucks and buses of the Amazon, bringing people and goods to remote communities that can only be reached by river, sometimes with a journey of more than a week.
But because of the pandemic, authorities in Amazon state have restricted river traffic to essential travel, seeking to stop the spread of the virus in a region that could be particularly vulnerable to it.
Cargo transport is operating normally, but passenger transport is restricted to exceptional circumstances such as medical emergencies and essential services like paramedics and police, said Jerfeson Caldas, regional coordinator for national health agency Anvisa.
Even those trips are bound by special rules: boats can only operate at 40 percent of their passenger capacity, and must supply water, soap and hand sanitizer.
The restrictions amount to the jungle equivalent of the isolation measures now in place for around half the world’s population.
“Amazonas depends on rivers for more than 85 percent of the transport we survive on. Unfortunately, people here are now living a sad reality because of this crisis,” said Alessandra Martins Pontes, a transportation planning expert at Amazonas Federal University.
Hammock distancing
Passengers usually make the trip on “regionals,” big diesel-engine ferries that replaced the steam-powered paddle boats of the 19th century.
Travelers typically sleep on hammocks they bring themselves, slung one above the other like bunk beds.
But not in the time of COVID-19. The authorities have ordered all hammocks be placed a minimum of two meters (yards) apart.
Amazonas is the biggest state in Brazil, a densely forested expanse of more than 1.5 million square kilometers (600,000 square miles), equal to about the size of Peru and Ecuador combined.
It has registered 532 cases of the new coronavirus so far — mostly in the state capital, Manaus — with 19 deaths.
The fear is what will happen if the virus progresses into the rainforest, particularly the indigenous communities that live there.
Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to imported diseases, as they have been historically isolated from germs against which much of the world has developed immunity.
Remote indigenous communities have been decimated in the past by diseases including smallpox and flu.
Authorities reported last week that a first indigenous woman had tested positive for the new coronavirus in Amazonas, a health worker from the Kokama ethnic group who came into contact with an infected doctor.
Natural isolation
The transport restrictions affect hundreds of families, indigenous or not, that live from fishing and gathering in stilt-house villages along the Amazon and its tributaries.
“Movement is very limited now. Outsiders can’t even go to the protected nature reserves” where most of those families live, said Edervan Vieira, a technical adviser to an association of farmers and fishermen in Carauari, a week’s trip upriver by boat from Manaus.
No COVID-19 cases have been reported here yet. But he says he worries about the economic effects of the transport restrictions on families that depend on sales of their surplus produce to buy whatever they cannot make locally.
“We have what we need to survive here: fruit, fish, cassava flour,” said Maria Cunha, 26, who lives in the protected nature reserve of Medio Jurua.
“But living in the forest also brings its challenges…. What worries us is if we have to go to the city for an emergency, because that’s when we would risk bringing the virus back home.”
Pressure is building on Amazon and other delivery firms to improve protections for workers worried about getting infected with coronavirus.
Some US workers at Amazon and US food delivery firm Instacart are threatening strikes, and have accused the firms of not providing proper protections.
US senators have also written to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to express concerns.
The companies have said they are taking extra precautions, amid booming demand for delivery services due to the virus.
“We are going to great lengths to keep the buildings extremely clean and help employees practice important precautions such as social distancing and other measures”, an Amazon spokesman said in a statement.
“Those who don’t want to work are welcome to use paid and unpaid time off options and we support them in doing so”.
Amazon said it had adjusted its practices, including increasing cleaning of its facilities and introducing staggered shift and break times.
Mr Bezos earlier this month addressed the worries in an open letter to staff, thanking them for their work.
The company, which is looking to hire 100,000 more warehouse workers in the US to help address the surge in orders, has also said it would boost pay for warehouse staff around the world, including $2 per hour in the US and £2 per hour in the UK, where staff have been told to work overtime.
However, US lawmakers have questioned Amazon over reports of shortages of protective and cleaning supplies, as well as its sick leave policies.
The firm earlier faced strikes by workers in France and Italy and has been hit by legal complaints over the issues in Spain, according to a global alliance of unions coordinated by UNI Global Union.
‘Neglecting basic wellbeing’
Monday’s call for a strike against Instacart was organised by the Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers collective, which had accused the company of profiting by putting people making its deliveries “directly in harm’s way”.
The organisation said the firm should provide protective gear, offer hazard pay and extend the pay for those unable to work because of the virus, whether due to a required quarantine or pre-existing condition.
“This is an extraordinary time in history, and as Shoppers, those of us who are able – and have the means to protect ourselves – do want to help those in our community by delivery groceries and supplies,” the organisers wrote.
“But with Instacart neglecting the basic wellbeing of its 150,000+ drivers, we believe there is no choice but to not only walk off but to raise awareness to the company’s practices.”
What do I need to know about the coronavirus?
Despite the threat of a walkout, Instacart on Monday said it had seen “absolutely no impact” on operations, with more people picking and delivering groceries for its platform than ever before. It said it respected the right of shoppers to provide feedback.
On Sunday, after the call about Monday’s strike, Instacart said it was working with a manufacturer to produce its own hand sanitiser and changing its tip policy. It had earlier said it would pay bonuses and provide 14 days of sick leave for its shoppers or part-time employees diagnosed with the virus or placed under isolation orders.
“We are immensely grateful to the entire shopper community for continually stepping up as household heroes for families who are relying on Instacart now more than ever,” the firm said.
“We are continuing to monitor this situation and working around the clock to make sure we’re providing you with the resources and support you need.”
Amazon has fired a New York warehouse worker who organised a protest over the safety precautions taken by the firm to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The fight comes as pressure builds on Amazon, and other delivery firms, to improve protection for workers worried about getting infected with the virus.
The firing of the worker prompted a rebuke by the state’s attorney general, who called for an investigation into whether it violated worker rights.
Amazon defended the action.
It said the worker, Christian Smalls, had received a warning about social distancing rules and was supposed to stay home after coming in contact with an infected colleague.
“Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite … further putting the teams at risk,” a spokesperson said, adding that just 15 of the more than 5,000 people who work at the New York facility participated in the protest.
‘Immoral and inhumane’‘
New York state’s attorney general, Letitia James, said her office was considering “all legal options” regarding Mr Smalls’ firing.
“It is disgraceful that Amazon would terminate an employee who bravely stood up to protect himself and his colleagues,” she said. “At a time when so many New Yorkers are struggling and are deeply concerned about their safety, this action was also immoral and inhumane.”
Amazon’s practices are under scrutiny, as the number of reported coronavirus cases at its facilities increases, while demand for its services booms due to lockdowns across the world.
A group of workers at the Whole Foods supermarket chain, which is owned by Amazon, planned to walk out on Tuesday. Amazon also faced earlier strikes from workers in France and Italy and has been hit by legal complaints over safety concerns in Spain, according to a global alliance of unions coordinated by UNI Global Union.
US lawmakers have also written to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to express concerns over shortages of protective and cleaning supplies, as well as its sick leave policies,
Amazon has said it is taking extra precautions, including increased cleaning of its facilities and introducing staggered shift and break times to reduce staff contact.
The company, which is looking to hire 100,000 more warehouse workers in the US to help address the surge in orders, has also said it would boost pay for warehouse staff around the world, including by $2 per hour in the US and by £2 per hour in the UK, where staff have been told to work overtime.
In Italy, the company said it had reduced deliveries since 22 March. However, union leaders say workers need access to better protection.
“Several employees working at the site use face masks for days instead of having new ones each day,” one union representative told Reuters.
Earlier this month, Mr Bezos – who is one of the world’s richest people with an estimated $115.6bn fortune – addressed the worries in an open letter to staff, thanking them for their work.
However, the company has a reputation for pushing back against workers who try to unionise and taking a hard line against workers who speak out publicly. Last year, the company also faced criticism for cutting healthcare benefits for 1,900 part-time employees.
‘Neglecting basic wellbeing’
Amazon is not the only delivery firm facing unrest.
US food delivery firm Instacart was accused of profiting by putting people making its deliveries “directly in harm’s way” by the Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective, which called for a strike on Monday.
The organisation said the firm should provide protective gear, offer hazard pay and extend the pay for those unable to work because of the virus, whether due to a required quarantine or pre-existing condition.
Instacart on Monday said it had seen “absolutely no impact” on operations, with more people picking and delivering groceries for its platform than ever before. It said it respected the right of shoppers to provide feedback and pointed to earlier changes it had announced aimed at improving working conditions.
Pressure is building on Amazon and other delivery firms to improve protections for workers worried about getting infected with coronavirus.
Some US workers at Amazon and US food delivery firm Instacart are threatening strikes, and have accused the firms of not providing proper protections.
US senators have also written to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to express concerns.
The companies have said they are taking extra precautions, amid booming demand for delivery services due to the virus.
“We are going to great lengths to keep the buildings extremely clean and help employees practice important precautions such as social distancing and other measures”, an Amazon spokesman said in a statement.
“Those who don’t want to work are welcome to use paid and unpaid time off options and we support them in doing so”.
Amazon said it had adjusted its practices, including increasing cleaning of its facilities and introducing staggered shift and break times.
Mr Bezos earlier this month addressed the worries in an open letter to staff, thanking them for their work.
The company, which is looking to hire 100,000 more warehouse workers in the US to help address the surge in orders, has also said it would boost pay for warehouse staff around the world, including $2 per hour in the US and £2 per hour in the UK, where staff have been told to work overtime.
However, US lawmakers have questioned Amazon over reports of shortages of protective and cleaning supplies, as well as its sick leave policies.
The firm earlier faced strikes by workers in France and Italy and has been hit by legal complaints over the issues in Spain, according to a global alliance of unions coordinated by UNI Global Union.
Amazon is temporarily refusing to stock certain items in its warehouses, to cope with overwhelming demand for household essentials due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It means third-party sellers of non-essential items could find it difficult to ship orders to customers.
The move will last until 5 April and cover warehouses in the US and Europe.
Amazon told the BBC: “We are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centres so we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers.
“We understand this is a change for our selling partners and appreciate their understanding.”
With 49 elevators moving a floor per second and zumba classes for its more than 15,000 employees, Amazon’s new Indian headquarters, its biggest building globally, matches its ambitions in a vast but challenging market.
The US retail giant launched its first site in the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people in 2013 and is locked in a fierce battle with Walmart, which bought a 77-percent share in local e-commerce behemoth Flipkart for $16 billion last year.
“For Amazon, India is a very important geography,” the firm’s human resources director for India and the Middle East, Deepti Varma, told AFP at the gleaming new 86-metre (282-feet) tall office building in the southern tech hub of Hyderabad.
While the prospects of success in the vast nation are tantalising, the risks are also high, with Amazon and Flipkart incurring big losses as they expand and attempt to tap into new markets in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Both firms will also face fierce competition from Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries — helmed by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani — which is preparing to go up against the two US companies with its own e-commerce platform.
Bureaucratic hurdles present further challenges.
New e-commerce rules that came into force in February banned companies like Amazon from selling products from firms in which they have a stake. They are also forbidden from entering into exclusive deals with sellers.
The regulations were brought in after brick-and-mortar retailers complained the e-tailers were unfairly selling products at discount prices.
“Going forward, the challenges are more around regulation and how to navigate the policy and regulatory environment,” Ankur Bisen of Delhi-based consulting firm Technopak told AFP.
“We have seen how some of the policy announcements have got them off-guard.”
Amazon has already earmarked $5 billion in investment funds for India, where one in three people use the internet — a figure forecast to swell by 300 million by 2020 mainly due to growing smartphone use.
India’s e-commerce sales are expected to triple between now and 2022, when they are likely to pass the $100 billion mark, according to recent research by industry body NASSCOM and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, said in May after reporting its first-quarter earnings that despite losses at Flipkart, “we continue to believe is a very sound long-term investment in a compelling market”.
India is also a major source of employment for Amazon’s global operations with some 62,000 full-time staff and 155,000 contract employees.
Bisen said the Hyderabad campus “is a signal to the government that ‘we are increasing our base in India and we are making sure there is a lot of India that is built into Amazon’s global story’”.
