New Amazon bias charge likely to delay Pentagon's cloud contract A new Pentagon investigation into whether a former employee's connections to Amazon corrupted a $10 billion cloud contract is likely to delay the agency's decision to choose a winner for the deal. The review of alleged conflicts of interests has prompted the government to backtrack on parts of the procurement process. (Ad Age)
Amazon number one U.S. retailer for apparel sales While it has been widely predicted that Amazon Fashion would lure a huge portion of apparel consumers, Amazon is today the most-shopped apparel retailer in the U.S., according to a study conducted by Coresight Research. The e-commerce giant has moved up from second place in 2018 to surpass Walmart and Target. (Fashion Network)
Hello Haven Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan's new health care venture now has a name: Haven. The moniker "reflects our goal to be a partner to individuals and families and help them get the care they need, while also working with clinicians and others to make the overall system better for all," the outfit claims. Bloomberg
Amazon Antitrust In the U.S., antitrust moves against Amazon are somewhat tainted by President Trump's antipathy toward Jeff Bezos, but the U.S. isn't the only place where Amazon is raising competition concerns. A piece in Politico Europe explains the case against the company in relation to how it handles small businesses, allegedly setting itself up as a competitor to them after studying their activities on its platform. Politico
Amazon is blocking ads for unprofitable products to bolster bottom line As Amazon steps up its effort to show Wall Street it can generate profits, the e-commerce giant is aggressively blocking money-losing products from advertising on its site. In recent months, Amazon has been telling more vendors that if Amazon can’t sell those products to consumers at a profit, it won’t let them pay to promote the items. (CNBC)
Bezos Split Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos have finalized their divorce. MacKenzie keeps a 4% stake in Amazon, worth around $36 billion, but the company's CEO gets her voting rights, along with the other three-quarters of the stock they jointly held. She has also granted him all of her interests in the Washington Post and in his space company, Blue Origin. Bloomberg
Amazon Satellites Amazon has been hiring former SpaceX managers to run its nascent satellite internet program, Project Kuiper. The project is being led by former SpaceX satellites chief Rajeev Badyal and some of his staff. Elon Musk fired Badyal in June, due to frustration with the pace of SpaceX's Starlink project. CNBC
Amazon's Eero acquisition left some shareholders with almost nothing Amazon paid $97 million to acquire Wi-Fi router maker Eero in a fire-sale deal that left owners of the startup's common stock with practically nothing but appears to have given the founders multi-million dollar paydays, according to documents obtained by Business Insider. (Business Insider)