Amazon

Amazon, Flipkart executives to be summoned as regulatory scrutiny grows

Indian laws prohibit foreign e-commerce players from holding inventory of goods they can sell on their website

Amazon asks employees to return to office five days a week starting next yr

Companies have been allowing many employees to work from home since the pandemic, leaving downtown offices nearly empty in a number of cities such as San Francisco and Seattle

Amazon, others revamp 'free' shipping as costs soar, says report

Product inflation and soaring shipping costs are making the service unsustainable as the prospect of recession threatens to wallop already-flagging online spending

Google to HP: Apple's Mumbai store zone to be a no-go area for 22 brands

Apple has placed a similar clause in its lease for 116,000 sq ft space in Bengaluru

Lava Blaze 2 smartphone with 6GB RAM, 128GB storage launched at Rs 8,999

The Lava Blaze 2 smartphone will be available on the e-commerce platform Amazon India from April 18

US big tech Google, Amazon struggle to lay off employees in Europe

In Europe, mass layoffs have stalled because of labor protections that make it virtually impossible to dismiss people in some countries without prior consultations with employee interest groups

Amazon's $1.7 billion iRobot purchase faces UK antitrust scrutiny

British antitrust regulators have started investigating Amazon's purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot, adding further scrutiny to the $1.7 billion deal. The Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday that it's considering whether the deal will result in a substantial lessening of competition within the United Kingdom. In an initial step, the U.K. watchdog invited comments on the deal from any interested party. The acquisition is already facing a review in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission amid worries about Amazon's growing market power. Consumer groups had voiced concerns after the deal was announced last year that it would further the e-commerce giant's dominance in the smart home market. Amazon said it's working cooperatively with the relevant regulators in their review of the merger. Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot, which makes the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, said it continues to work cooperatively with both the U.S. FTC and other regulatory agencie

Google, Amazon struggle to cut jobs in Europe due to labour protections

In Europe, mass layoffs among tech companies have stalled because of labour protections that make it virtually impossible to dismiss people in some countries without prior consultations

Amazon plans to reduce employee stock awards in 2025 after mass layoffs

The memo also hinted towards a change in Amazon's pay model that would give staff more cash, "a change that could make up for any potential weakness in its stock price"

I&B ministry, Amazon sign pact to promote India's creative economy

Amazon India and the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry on Wednesday announced they signed a pact to boost India's creative economy. As part of the letter of engagement (LoE), Amazon and the ministry will help build pathways to promote creative talent in India, create capacity across eminent film and TV institutes, and globally showcase Made in India creative content. The LoE was signed at The National Media Centre here in presence of I&B Minister Anurag Thakur; Chetan Krishnaswamy, Vice President, Public Policy at Amazon India; and Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Prime Video. According to a press release issued by the company, Prime Video and miniTV will both work towards providing internships, and scholarships to students at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTII). To further the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' initiative, content from National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), national

Amazon enters generative AI space with AI startup accelerator

Selected startups will get up to $300,000 in AWS credits to help build their AI services and solutions

Amazon.com Inc lays off about 100 employees in its gaming divisions

Amazon has struggled to capitalize on its resources in gaming, including through its Crown channel, an entertainment show on the Twitch streaming service

Amazon removes 6 mn counterfeit items globally from supply chains

E-commerce major Amazon removed six million counterfeit items globally from the supply chain in 2022, the company said in a report on Tuesday. The e-commerce firm said that it stopped over 800,000 attempts to create new selling accounts in 2022, preventing bad actors from publishing a single product for sale. The figure has come down from 2.5 million attempts in 2021, and six million attempts in 2020. "The strategic combination of industry-leading technology and experts are successfully stopping bad actors and making an impact beyond Amazon's marketplaces and stores identifying, seizing, and appropriately disposing of over six million counterfeit products in 2022, preventing them from reaching customers and being resold elsewhere in the global supply chain," the report said. The report said that Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit sued or referred for investigation over 1,300 criminals in the US, UK, EU, and China in 2022.

Amazon sues sellers over fake takedown requests against competitors

"These lawsuits should serve as a warning to anyone that uses fraud in an attempt to harm any of the millions of selling partners that work with Amazon every day"

Tech sector H-1B workers' spouses can continue to work in US, says judge

The ability of H-1B holders' spouses to also get jobs in the US has been a major attraction for highly skilled foreign workers, the tech companies have argued

IKODOO launches Amazon-exclusive Buds One, Buds Z wireless earphones

The IKODOO Buds One will be available at Rs 4,999 and the IKODOO Buds Z will be available at Rs 999, exclusively on Amazon India, from March 31

Competition Commission conducting inquiries against big tech firms: Govt

Competition Commission is conducting inquiries against Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, BookMyShow, Apple, WhatsApp, Facebook (Meta) and Google for alleged anti-competitive practices, the government said on Tuesday. To a query in the Rajya Sabha on whether the government is aware of the fact that anti-competitive practices are indulged by big tech companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Google, Meta, Twitter, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Google etc in the country, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied in the affirmative. In a written reply, the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister said the Competition Commission of India (CCI) after conducting inquiries in three different cases, passed orders in the matter related to Google on January 31, 2018, October 20, 2022, and October 25, 2022. In the matter related to MakeMyTrip-Go and OYO, the order was passed on October 19, 2022. "Appeals have been filed against these orders passed by CCI. Inquiries against Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy

Amazon, Google scramble to keep pace with OpenAI despite huge AI teams

The numbers underscore how seriously the world's biggest technology firms have been taking their work on artificial intelligence, but also how slow and cautious they have been to create services

Social commerce the way to tap growing online buyers from smaller towns

Indian e-commerce was worth $83 bn in 2022, will likely grow to $185 bn in 2026, propelled by deeper internet penetration and digital payments

Amazon, others revamp 'free' shipping as costs soar, says report

Product inflation and soaring shipping costs are making the service unsustainable as the prospect of recession threatens to wallop already-flagging online spending