NewsBite

Amazon effect

Yesterday

AI is fuelling demand for cloud computing and data centres.

Move over industry, data centres are rolling in

What does it say about Australia’s future when energy-hungry data centre owners replace old-fashioned industrial manufacturers?

“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” CEO Andy Jassy told employees in a memo.

Amazon CEO warns white-collar staff that their jobs are on the line

In a memo explaining all the ways the technology giant is using AI, Andy Jassy told workers how they can stay relevant as bots become capable of doing more.

This Month

Claudia Karvan found voicing audiobooks much harder than she expected.

‘Word salad’: Claudia Karvan’s bumpy road to audiobook stardom

The actor has only her voice to rely on reading for Audible, including one book that tries to answer questions similar to those in Netflix’s “Adolescence”″

Lena Zak, the country manager for Amazon Business in Australia. 

Amazon launches new marketplace to rival Officeworks, Harvey Norman

The online retail giant plans to bolster its growth in Australia with a new online offering that will target businesses and government customers.

GetSwift’s Joel Macdonald

Disgraced GetSwift founder is so ready for redemption

Joel Macdonald recorded a bizarre comeback after being painted as the “unacceptable face of start-up capitalism”.

Advertisement

May

President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office.

Tech bros are facing the end of the ‘technipolar moment’

The sidelining of Elon Musk is a sign of big tech’s wider failure to shape a Trump economic agenda that is going terribly wrong for the sector.

Jensen Huang’s tour of the Gulf last week alongside US President Donald Trump showed a strategy Nvidia wants to replicate around the world.

Nvidia seeks to build its business beyond big tech

The chipmaker is establishing ties with nation states and ‘neoclouds’ in an effort to reduce reliance on Microsoft, Amazon and Google.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett .

Warren Buffett’s best and worst investments over 60 years

Success made him a Wall Street icon. It also earned him the nickname “Oracle of Omaha”, a reference to the Nebraska city where he was born and chose to live and work.

April

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, back left, shows a picture of Jeff Besos as she responds to a question about Amazon, during a briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The numbers headache for Canberra and Washington

Jim Chalmers and US counterpart Scott Bessent have a few things in common – the threat of tariffs, the risk of recession and a budget that doesn’t add up.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, left, and Kash Patel, FBI director nominee, look on after the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump calls Bezos after reports Amazon would show tariff charges on its site

The retailer spent a chaotic morning denying a report that it planned to display prices showing the tariffs’ impact on Amazon.com.

caption

Meme stock moment: Newsmax worth more than Fox after 2230pc surge

The spike has made the company’s largest holders exceptionally rich — on paper. Founder Christopher Ruddy owns nearly one-third of the company’s shares.

March

Anthropic’s Claude is the biggest rival to OpenAI’s models.

AI start-up Anthropic worth $US61.5b after mega funding round

OpenAI rival Anthropic, the maker of Claude, has closed a deal that cements its place as one of the largest start-ups in the world.

January

Mark Zuckerberg has warned of threats to its business, from the rise of AI to ByteDance-owned rival TikTok, which has grown in popularity among younger users.

Meta exempted top advertisers from standard content moderation

According to internal documents from 2023 seen by the FT, the Facebook and Instagram owner introduced a series of “guardrails” that “protect high spenders”.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk ‘living in cottage’ on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate

The Tesla billionaire has planted himself on the president-elect’s doorstep by staying at a property several hundred feet away from the main house at the resort.

December 2024

Big tech executives, including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Google, are bending the knee to Donald Trump.

‘What choice do they have?’: US CEOs bend the knee to Trump

From Hollywood to Silicon Valley and Wall Street, senior executives have been bending over backwards to meet Donald Trump since he won the election.

Advertisement

November 2024

Sandra McNeil (left), Janet Menzies (middle) and Kate Gooden in Sydney.

How these top female Amazon execs are conquering Australia

Women are running three of company’s big growth areas in Australia – the retail juggernaut’s turnover is estimated to reach $6.5 billion this year.

Former president Donald Trump and Apple boss Tim Cook.

The top five billionaire tech bros who are on the Trump train

From fawning phone calls to huge donations, here’s how the historically progressive bosses of Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI are preparing.

Amazon’s Andy Jassy has told the AI story better than his big tech peers this earnings season.

Why Amazon was the big tech AI winner this earnings season

Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft were sold off after their artificial intelligence-laden results calls, but the online retailer had a better story to tell.

October 2024

The bottom line is this: markets are efficient, except when they’re not.

The strategy that can turn $10,000 to $102,000 in two decades

An investing strategy popularised by Peter Lynch is finding favour again.

September 2024

The down down promotion at a Melbourne Coles supermarket in March 2024.

Supermarket pile-on is going to cause real harm

If the supermarkets are guilty, then throw the book at them. But it’s populist politics that is really at work here.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/amazon-effect-1mr8