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Amazon effect

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.

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.

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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.

Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco can now travel on the city’s freeways.

Why is Australia stuck in the slow lane on driverless cars?

Australian regulations put a far higher bar on robot drivers than human ones. That makes little sense when it’s likely that the tech is already safer.

Amazon

Amazon orders staff back to the office five days a week

The new rule appears to be the most stringent return-to-office decision among big tech companies and could be a harbinger of more to come.

Temu has become one of PDD’s biggest growth drivers worldwide.

US crackdown on cheap Chinese goods adds to Temu, Shein woes

The move threatens to reshape parts of the US retail arena and deflate the excitement that’s accompanied the meteoric ascent of bargain bazaars.

The dominance of Google Ad Manager has landed the tech giant  in US federal court again.

US prepares to challenge Google’s online ad dominance

The trial is the latest salvo by federal regulators against Big Tech, testing a century-old law against companies that have reshaped the way people consume.

AirTrunk’s data centre in Sydney’s northern suburbs is one of four sites in its Australian portfolio, and one of nine locations globally.

Australia must become an AI powerhouse, or be left behind

Artificial intelligence presents a significant opportunity for Australia’s economy, but has been largely ignored – and underfunded – in the political rhetoric.

AirTrunk’s deals have been themed around Star Wars, with the company’s chief financial officer a fan of the sci-fi series.

Inside Project Amidala: AirTrunk’s $24b deal

Four years ago, Blackstone missed its chance to buy up the data centre giant. It wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice, even if it cost $24 billion.

Cleantech businesses have found that winning investments from private equity and infrastructure funds has become more difficult.

More US cleantech companies close as fundraising challenges emerge

Start-up cleantech businesses that easily raised money from venture firms just two or three years ago are now finding it harder to get hold of fresh cash.

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August 2024

Uber says it is “deeply concerned” about state governments bringing in their own parallel gig worker laws.

Landmark bid for gig worker pay prompts warning of ‘legal chaos’

Transport Workers Union applies to set minimum rates for food delivery workers, truck drivers and couriers just days after government’s laws came into effect.

TWU boss Michael Kaine says the union will “not hold back” in efforts to thwart the “Amazon effect”.

Amazon Flex and ‘last mile’ couriers lined up for pay claims

Amazon’s delivery service will be among the first firms to be targeted under Labor’s new laws for minimum standards in the road transport industry.

AI hype is mounting with some real-world problems.

AI hype just collided with recession fears

Investors were already worried about how artificial intelligence investment will turn into profits. That’s being compounded by fears of a broader economic slowdown.

July 2024

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Tech companies are racing to get access to the company’s GPUs.

Struggling bitcoin miners seek deals with AI companies

They now hope to benefit from a surge in demand for powerful but scarce chips which are used in both crypto mining and AI processing.

Booktopia’s warehouse.

Booktopia’s outsized ACCC penalty may have sped up its decline

The ACCC secured $20 million in fines against Meta, Facebook’s parent. If the fine was proportionally the same size as Booktopia’s, it would have been $82 billion.

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