Amazon’s actions are shaking the entire market ecosystem – says Roger McNamee

Amazon is not just disrupting industries, it is single-handedly disrupting the whole economy, according to Elevation Partners co-founder Roger McNamee.

The investor, in his appearance on CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Wednesday, was commenting on the apparent deal between Amazon’s cloud business and Cerner, one of the world’s biggest health tech companies. Amazon has been looking for a way into the health-care industry.

McNamee said he sees this move as a “typical Amazon” approach to the type of disruption it is causing in virtually every industry.

“Any industry that has been reluctant to adopt cloud services has been at risk for being disrupted by amazon,” McNamee said. “Health care is one of the places where the cloud has had much less impact than it could have or should have.”

Much of Amazon’s success, McNamee argued, comes from the company’s robust and expanding cloud services. In addition to its health investments, Amazon Web Services looks to expand into the public sector, announcing plans for a group of cloud data centers for the U.S. intelligence communityMonday.

“The reality is that Amazon is the world’s most successful player in cloud services. And any industry that has been reluctant to adopt cloud services has been at risk for being disrupted by amazon,” he said.

Health care may not be a huge money-maker straight away, but if Amazon’s success in other industries is any indicator, McNamee anticipates AWS’ partnership with Cerner will be a good start.

“In each market in which they operate, [Amazon has] changed the rules profoundly. It makes it really hard for competitors to fight back, they are effectively playing a different game,” he said.

While health care looks like the next big target on Amazon’s cloud disruption list, McNamee thinks streamlining retail and perishable food distribution will bring the company its biggest value over the short term, especially as traditional retailers struggle.

“There are just too many square feet of retail space and it is allocated in a way that inevitably is going to have lots of losers,” McNamee said.

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Amazon set to splurge $7 Billion on delivery alone in Q4

AmazonFresh to deliver Allrecipes ingredients in new online integration

Allrecipes is teaming up with Amazon to help cooks get their groceries delivered.

The online recipe giant today announced a new integration with Amazon’s grocery delivery arm AmazonFresh, making it easier for customers to get ingredients shipped to their doorstep. It’s the latest example of Amazon’s growing interest in selling grocery items as the tech giant tries to make its way into your kitchen.

Allrecipes users will now see an AmazonFresh widget within recipe pages, alongside other grocery store options like Target and Walmart. Users can add all required ingredients for a given recipe to an AmazonFresh shopping cart; the purchase is completed on Amazon’s website, where users can tweak the recommended food brands provided by Allrecipes. The option is available to people living in regions where AmazonFresh delivers.

Allrecipes said this is the first direct API integration with AmazonFresh, which costs $15 a month on top of a $100 per year Amazon Prime membership. The integration will start with the top recipes and later expand to all possible recipes.

One of the other grocery options on the recipe pages includes Whole Foods — acquired by Amazon for $13.7 billion in August —  though the widget link directs to this page.

In 2015, Allrecipes announced a similar partnership with Instacart, though now Instacart doesn’t appear to be on the Allrecipes site.

This isn’t the first time Seattle-based Allrecipes has worked with Amazon. Last year, it released the first cooking skill for Alexa, the voice-controlled assistant that powers Amazon devices; in June Amazon released the Dash Wand with Alexa with an Allrecipes skill available at launch; that same month, Allrecipes launched a new skill designed for the touch-screen Echo Show.

Allrecipes, founded in 1997, has 80 million users and attracts 1.5 billion annual visits. It was acquired by magazine publisher Meredith Corp. in 2012 for $175 million.

AmazonFresh, meanwhile, has been around for a decade. Amazon recently announced that it is shutting down AmazonFresh in neighborhoods across nine states; Recode reported that Amazon blamed USPS for unreliable deliveries.

This past summer, Amazon began delivering its own meal-kits, taking on Blue Apron with its own version of pre-packaged ready-to-cook dinners.

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Wal-Mart demonstrates its agility against Amazon

Wal-Mart isn’t afraid of Amazon. No, not even in the slightest.

The big-box retailer is laser-focused on internal initiatives, according to Wal-Mart’s head of U.S. e-commerce, Marc Lore. That includes luring more high-end brands to sell on Walmart.com and across its stores, expanding an online grocery pickup service and keeping prices competitive but not necessarily at rock bottom.

Wal-Mart’s stock rocketed more than 10 percent Thursday, reaching an all-time high, as Wall Street rallied behind the company’s upbeat third-quarter results and heavy momentum heading into the holiday season.

“The discount giant is clearly reaping the benefits of its massive investments in associates, stores, technology, and acquisitions,” Retail Metrics’ Ken Perkins wrote in a note to clients. “Walmart is taking share and growing its food business.”

Food was a notable bright spot in Wal-Mart’s latest quarter, even in the midst of Amazon buying supermarket chain Whole Foods and beginning to slash prices on frequently purchased items. Target has also made additional price cuts in recent months, aligning more closely with Wal-Mart’s “everyday low price” model.

But shoppers continue to flock to Wal-Mart for fresh produce, bakery items and meat, management pointed out. Currently, more than 1,100 of the retailer’s U.S. stores can fulfill online grocery orders for in-person pickup, and Wal-Mart plans to add another 1,000 locations to that list next year.

“New customers, suppliers and partnerships are coming to Wal-Mart,” as its grocery and other initiatives blossom, Chief Executive Doug McMillon said on a call with analysts and investors. “We’re making good progress attracting premium brands to [Walmart.com] such as KitchenAid and Bose.”

Over the past year, Wal-Mart said, it tripled the number of items on Walmart.com to reach more than 70 million SKUs today, and some of that growth stems from unique relationships with well-known brands.

Earlier this week, the company announced an upcoming partnership with Hudson’s Bay‘s Lord & Taylor, where Walmart.com will feature a “store within a store” for the department store chain’s merchandise.

Wal-Mart’s Lore has already hinted at more of these types of partnerships to come, as it prepares to launch a redesigned website with a focus on fashion and home goods. Next year, Walmart.com will also run Jet.com’s “smart-cart” feature, which grants shoppers cheaper prices if they pack more items together in one box, use a debit card when paying for purchases, or opt out of returns.

Wal-Mart’s acquisition of Jet about one year ago has allowed the company to tap into Jet’s technology, its younger consumer base and private-label penetration.

As part of a strengthened digital push, Wal-Mart will hire about 2,000 “category specialists” to monitor the company’s website and rewrite item descriptions, among other tasks. The personal touches are aimed at holding onto existing customers, but also attracting a more “affluent” shopper.

“Walmart’s longer-term aim is clear: it wants to become the go-to online destination for both every day and specialty items,” GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders wrote in a note to clients.

Meantime, “for a retailer of its size and scale, we believe that Walmart’s ability to keep its stores growing is impressive,” Saunders added.

According to Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen, “[P]hysical stores arm Wal-Mart in the digital war.”

Without such a vast physical store footprint, Amazon’s retail strategy has been to partner with brands, including Nike, Tapestry‘s Kate Spade and Levi Strauss, to create a broader and more appealing merchandise assortment on Amazon.com.

And on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that this holiday season Calvin Klein will for the first time sell new underwear styles only through Amazon, bypassing traditional department stores. That marks another brand in Amazon’s bucket.

Still, Wal-Mart has a lot of good things going for it, especially heading into the holidays. The retailer has set expectations for comparable sales at U.S. stores, excluding fuel, to increase as much as 2 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, which would be slightly better compared with last year.

“We expect top-line growth going forward to be led more by comp sales and eCommerce with less emphasis on new units in the U.S.,” Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said. “We have good sales momentum and cost transformation is gaining traction.”

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Baidu introduces smart home speaker to rival Amazon’s Echos

Chinese internet search giant Baidu on Thursday introduced a speaker and two robots as part of its Raven series in a serious push into the highly competitive smart home market.

The products, introduced at the Baidu World conference in Beijing, are powered by the company’s DuerOS conversational artificial intelligence technology. That system is similar to virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, the Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana.

The smart speaker is called Raven H and will be available for purchase in December for about 1,699 yuan ($256). Design-wise, the speaker looks like a stack of thin, colored square blocks and it comes with a touch-sensitive light-emitting diode (LED) display controller.

The controller can be detached from the speaker base and used as a voice-powered remote for all Raven-compatible smart home devices.

The speaker was designed by Raven Tech, a start-up that Baidu acquired in February, and Swedish consumer electronics manufacturer Teenage Engineering. It also has components from Danish high-end audio systems maker Tymphany.

The DuerOS allows the device to carry out other voice-based commands and tasks such as looking up information, playing music and hailing a taxi, according to Baidu.

The idea behind the Raven H is to make the interaction between man and machine as seamless as possible, according to Jesse Lyu, the founder of Raven Tech, who joined Baidu’s intelligent hardware unit as general manager.

“Its adjustable design lets its [users] move through their home or workspace, while remaining connected to both the Raven H system and their personal world,” Lyu said in a statement.

That said, the Raven H will face stiff competition in the smart home speaker market, which according to Strategy Analytics, is currently dominated by Amazon.

Baidu also introduced the Raven R, a multi-jointed robotic arm that can move in response to user commands and to express emotions.

A second robot — still in development — is Raven Q, which will eventually incorporate various technologies, such as simultaneous localization and mapping, computer vision, voice recognition and natural processing.

Baidu did indicate any pricing or availability details for the Raven R and Raven Q robots in the announcement.

“Each product in our new Raven series is integrated with Baidu’s latest AI technologies, including facial recognition, computer vision and even our Apollo autonomous driving technology,” Lyu told the conference audience.

“These smart speakers and AI home robot may sound like a small step in the history of technology — but they will help people’s everyday lives and bring them an experience once only seen in sci-fi movies,” Lyu said.

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Amazon needs to be wary of Walmart, says Ron Johnson

Enjoy.com CEO and founder Ron Johnson thinks Amazon should be really worried about competitor Walmart, but could fight back with another big acquisition.

“I think this is a decade-long price fight. Every quarter is a new round, but Walmart’s coming back,” Johnson said on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”

The former J.C. Penney CEO has been bullish on Walmart since at least February, when he appeared on “Fast Money” and called the big box retailer’s rally. On Thursday, Walmart shares had their best day in nine years. With stock up 44 percent year-to-date, Walmart appeared to confirm Johnson’s predictions that it could be Amazon’s biggest threat.

Amazon may be growing fast, but Johnson thinks Walmart has a decided advantage with its preexisting brick-and-mortar infrastructure. He explained that most Americans live near a Walmart where they can buy most of what is available on Amazon.

As Amazon continues to invest in its distribution centers, Walmart has chosen to slow store growth, focusing instead on the technology it needs to improve the stores it already has — a considerably cheaper endeavor.

And Johnson maintains that Amazon’s distribution centers are more expensive and less efficient to run than Walmart’s store and warehouses.

“They forward deploy inventory into things called warehouses, that are really stores. They are a lower cost operation than amazon’s distribution centers,” Johnson said.

“Having that distribution footprint with that inventory forward deployed is an advantage that is hard to beat,” he added.

As for Amazon, Johnson thinks acquisitions like Whole Foods, are a good move for the internet retailer. And Target is right on brand.

“Whole Foods is to grocery, what Target is to mass. It’s the upscale discounter,” he said.

While Johnson doesn’t anticipate that mega-acquisition anytime soon, he said he does think Target has all the right amount of space in all the right places for Amazon to stay on top of the competition.

“Target’s got 1,500 stores on Main and Main of every city in the country,” Johnson said.

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‘Lord of the Rings’ fantasy books to become television series courtesy of Amazon

Wal-Mart counters Amazon in online fashion by joining forces with Lord & Taylor

Wal-Mart is creating a home for luxury fashion online.

The big-box retailer announced Monday it has partnered with Lord & Taylor to create an online “flagship store” for the apparel retailer. The landing page will launch on Walmart.com in spring 2018.

“Our goal is to create a premium fashion destination on Walmart.com,” Denise Incandela, head of fashion for Wal-Mart’s U.S. e-commerce division, said in a statement. “We see customers on our site searching for higher-end items, and we are expanding our business online to focus on adding specialized and premium shopping experience, starting with fashion.”

Incandela previously worked as chief marketing officer for Saks Fifth Avenue, which, like Lord & Taylor, is part of Hudson’s Bay. She just moved to Wal-Mart in October and is responsible for the company’s fashion business across Walmart.com, Jet.com and Shoes.com.

Through this partnership, Walmart.com will provide Lord & Taylor dedicated space on its website, as the department store chain continues to operate its own e-commerce platform.

“Walmart.com is a shopping destination that reaches a wide base of customers looking for premium fashion brands,” Lord & Taylor President Liz Rodbell said in a statement. “As retail continues to change, this flagship store creates enormous growth opportunities for Lord & Taylor and our brand partners.”

It was rumored in October that this deal would come to fruition.

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that this was part of Wal-Mart’s broader effort to build a shopping destination online that rivaled that of Amazon.com.

The Arkansas-based retailer’s strategy of late has been to acquire smaller brands, many of them with a focus on fashion. The list of apparel and accessories brands now owned by Wal-Mart includes Bonobos, Modcloth, Shoebuy and Moosejaw. In a move to beef up its grocery offering, Wal-Mart also acquired Jet.com, bringing Quidsi co-founder Marc Lore to its management team.

Lore has specifically said he wants to “elevate the Walmart.com brands.” At a recent investor day, he also explained that Wal-Mart has plans to redesign its website, with a focus on household goods and fashion.

“Expect to see those experiences get elevated,” Lore said about Wal-Mart’s home and fashion departments.

Wal-Mart said Monday it’s beginning to build out “elements of discovery and inspiration” within the fashion portion of its website. The company declined to comment on whether there will be more brand partnerships in the future.

In working with Lord & Taylor, Wal-Mart could begin to shift Walmart.com’s image away from that of a discount site for consumer packaged goods and into that of an online platform with luxury brands.

Meantime, Lord & Taylor has problems of its own, met with declining sales and weaker foot traffic. In a bid for fresh capital, the retailer recently announced that its flagship store on Fifth Avenue will soon become the new global headquarters of WeWork. After the holidays, Lord & Taylor will occupy only a small portion of the building.

A Wal-Mart partnership could entice more shoppers — and new ones at that — to the department store chain’s brands.

The two companies have yet to reveal which retailer will be shipping purchased items. But the Journal reported in October that — in the event of a deal — Lord & Taylor would own the inventory and fulfill orders from the new website.

Monday’s announcement comes as Amazon has been making its own push into fashion. One example of this is Prime Wardrobe. The internet giant also recently unveiled two private-label athletic apparel brands, as it continues to lure top brands, such as Nike, to sell directly from Amazon.com.

Earlier this year, Amazon began working with department store chain Kohl’s to sell some of its electronics in the retailer’s stores. In turn, analysts are already predicting Kohl’s locations will be a testing ground for Amazon’s private-label apparel business.

Kohl’s and Amazon declined to comment on future initiatives.

All things considered, competition is only intensifying within the industry. Wal-Mart is also reportedly raising prices on some items across its website, in a move to drive store traffic where Amazon doesn’t operate, the Journal reported Sunday.

Wal-Mart is set to report third-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.

— CNBC’s Courtney Reagan contributed to this reporting.

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Amazon may launch free ad-supported video service – reports

Amazon is said to be building a free video streaming service that will run alongside Prime Video, its paid version. According to unconfirmed reports, the e-commerce giant is talking to movie studios and TV networks about the viability of such a service. The new service would be funded by ad revenue which would be shared with content creators. The content providers would own channels on the platform while Amazon would provide the infrastructure and gather analytics for advertisers.

The company’s Prime video is a video streaming service that is part of Prime membership. Prime members pay an annual fee of $99 or a monthly fee of $10.99. This gives them access to numerous benefits including a library of millions of songs, free two-day or one-day delivery, streaming video, unlimited photo storage, video games and many more. For $8.99 per month a user will have access to Prime Video.

A free video service that is supported with ad revenue would be a clever way for Amazon to engage new users and attract additional Prime memberships. The company has so far spent $4.5 billion this year alone on acquiring video content which is streamed without advertising. However, the company will be featuring commercials for live streams of upcoming NFL games this fall.

During a recent earnings call, Amazon’s CFO Brian Olsavsky indicated that the company will continue with its current strategy to boost spending allocations for video content in the year ahead.

Last month, the company said that it will move Amazon Studios into Culver Studios, in Culver City, California. Culver Studios was built by movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince. Amazing productions have been filmed at this location including “The Matrix,” “E.T.,” “Legally Blonde” and the original Batman series. Hollywood classics like “Citizen Kane” and “Gone With the Wind” were also shot in the renowned complex which will now be home to several teams working on technical, legal, creative, and marketing aspects. Amazon scooped Oscars for “The Salesman” and “Manchester by the Sea” becoming the first streaming studio to win an Academy Award. This places the studio in a league that has given the online retail giant great influence in Hollywood resulting in several Emmy awards.

On the other hand, big players such as Apple, Facebook and others are ramping up their expenditure on producing original content for their video streaming platforms.

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Amazon to shed part of AWS in China for $301 million to soothe regulators

Amazon will be selling part of its cloud services in China to its technology partner in that country, Beijing Sinnet Technology. In a regulatory filing in China, Sinnet said it is buying the stake for $301 million (2 billion Chinese yuan) in order to help it comply with the country’s laws and enhance the value and security features of the company’s AWS cloud services.

The Chinese firm has been operating Amazon’s cloud business in the Asian nation under a deal that was signed in August 2016.

Amazon however clarified in a statement that it wasn’t quitting China, the world’s second-largest economy, but was simply selling certain physical infrastructure assets to Sinnet to comply with Chinese law which prohibits non-Chinese firms from owning or deploying select technology in cloud services. The e-commerce giant added that it will retain the intellectual property for AWS globally and will continue providing its cutting edge AWS services to Chinese customers, noting that the market is exhibiting massive growth potential in the years ahead. AWS remains a core revenue generator for Amazon and is largely responsible for the more than 50 percent growth in the company’s share price in the past one year.

The Chinese market has been challenging for technology firms from the West. The Chinese government has tightened its noose on access to information and technology it deems a threat to national security. Using the Great Firewall, the government restricts access to certain content across the web which has led many Chinese internet users to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to evade the controls.  The VPNs help users to circumvent such government censorship and geo-restrictions allowing them access to content by connecting to proxy servers which protects their location and identity.

Back in July, Apple got rid of VPNs in its Chinese app store in a bid to appease the government. Early this year Sinnet told its customers to cease the use of virtual private networks.

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Amazon gears up for the holidays with branded pop-up stores at Whole Foods

To spice up the holidays, Amazon is setting up branded pop-up stores at limited Whole Foods locations across California, Florida, Colorado, Illinois and Michigan. The shops, to be unveiled mid-November, will be manned by Amazon staff and will showcase Amazon devices and services. Shoppers will therefore have an opportunity to understand the offerings from Amazon including memberships and even being able to try out devices.

Whole Foods revealed last week that over 100 of its locations stock Amazon devices. The devices available in these stores range from Kindle e-readers, Fire TVs, Fire tablets, Echos and Echo Dots.

The company also disclosed that in the week before Thanksgiving, the grocery chain will unveil Black Friday deals targeting Amazon products with huge discounts on various items. Some of the deals announced are; $30 off the new Echo Plus, $30 off Fire HD 8 tablet, $20 off the new Amazon Echo and $20 off the Echo Dot.

When Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in August, the first move was to reduce of prices on a range of items across the chain. It also made clear the intention to integrate its programs like Amazon Prime into the grocery chain to enable members receive special savings

and in-store benefits. Growth in Amazon’s grocery business is evident with the third quarter earnings report indicating sales of $1.3 billion from Whole Foods.

Last week’s announcement of the pop-up stores is an indication of the continued leverage that Amazon is enjoying with the brick-and-mortar presence of Whole Foods. Whole Foods locations for example can also be used to process Amazon returns. The e-commerce giant has also set up Amazon lockers at Whole Foods stores. Customers use these lockers to pick their online orders.

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With a $4 delivery fee, Postmates dares Amazon and Instacart as it venture into the grocery arena

Amazon to sell the Fire TV Stick Basic Edition in more than 100 countries

Amazon sells 20 million smart speakers as Google plays catch on

Amazon is the dominant player in smart home automation having sold 20 million Echo units since their launch in 2015. According to a study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) that surveyed 500 device owners, the increasing range of Alexa-powered devices is giving Amazon an edge but the new offerings from Google will keep up the fight for dominance for a long time.

From the CIRP estimates, Amazon had sold 5 million Echo units a year ago and Google has sold 7 million Google Home devices since the launch of the smart speaker last year. This shows that sales of smart speakers have exponentially grown over the past 12 months.

In CIRP’s study conducted in October, Amazon’s lead stands at 73 percent of the U.S. home automation market while Google takes 27 percent. This represents a drop for Amazon’s Echo products which stood at76 percent in a previous study in September. Google Home devices on the other hand have gained ground from their previous position of 24 percent market share.

Apple is expected to spoil the party for the two dominant players when it launches the HomePod device expected at the end of the year but Google’s and Amazon’s market presence gives them an advantage that Apple will have to grapple with. According to Josh Lowitz, partner and co-founder of CIRP, there is plenty of room for other players since the market is new and is growing at a very fast pace. However, he cautions that it will be difficult for new entrants with new operating systems to penetrate such a base that has integrated an array of skills and services with Alexa and Google Home.

The field will become crowded as more players join the fray. Last month, Microsoft partnered with a renowned audio device maker to launch the Harman Kardon Invoke, a $199 smart speaker powered by Cortana. Microsoft is taking on Amazon and Google with the launch of the smart speaker that is supposed to rival the Echo and Google Home. The speaker, which accepts voice commands for Cortana, Microsoft’s voice assistant, looks pretty sophisticated than the Echo and Google Home and does well at listening to commands with the built-in microphones. It produces quality 360-degree audio that fills the room evenly.

Other companies are also eyeing the market. Alibaba and Samsung for example have launched their own smart speakers.

With the onslaught that is expected as the new players ramp up their efforts Google and Amazon are upping their game by diversifying their offerings. Google is expected to launch a $399 smart speaker called Google Home Max in December. Only last week the company launched the Google Home Mini that costs $49 to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot.

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AMAZON FRESH CEASES OPERATIONS IN SELECT LOCATIONS

Amazon Fresh is closing operations in multiple locations across nine states in the United States. The closures were revealed in emails to customers in Virginia, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland informing them of discontinuation of the grocery delivery service.

According to Amazon, the service will be ceasing in several zip codes but the business will continue operating countrywide.

Amazon Fresh is a grocery delivery service that costs $15 per month in addition to the $100 that Prime members pay per year.

With Amazon’s acquisition of whole Foods, it”s clear that the company is growing its grocery business despite the difficulties Amazon Fresh is facing in an attempt to remain profitable. When Amazon finalized its acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion on August 28, the first move was to reduce of prices, and that seems to have brought results. According to Foursquare, there was a 25 percent surge in foot traffic across Whole Foods stores in the U.S. on Aug. 28 and 29. This data, drawn from shoppers’ mobile phones, was in comparison to a week earlier before the deal closed and discounts kicked in.

Amazon had indicated prior to acquisition that its Prime membership program would be integrated into Whole Foods including Amazon Lockers. In the pipeline also was making available through Amazon.com Whole Foods Market’s private label products for example 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch. However the company continues to try out Amazon Fresh pickup which is a drive-up grocery service. The company unveiled two such stores in Seattle early in the year.

The growth in Amazon’s grocery business is evident with the third quarter earnings report indicating sales of $1.3 billion from Whole Foods. Amazon is working to integrate prime to become the customer rewards program for Whole Foods as it moves to tighten its grip on loyalty.

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Amazon ramps up Vancouver operations with new office

Amazon has unveiled plans to open a new office in Vancouver, B.C., which will occupy 150,000 square feet. The new office, which will be located at 402 Dunsmuir, is expected to become operational in 2020 and will increase Amazon’s employee count in the city to 2,000 from the current 1,000.

Amazon’s Canadian employees stand at 5,000 according to its latest quarterly report. These workers are represented across Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. These members are expected to grow with the company’s announcement of plans to have a new fulfillment center in Calgary. The Seattle-based tech giant commands a 541,900 – strong workforce worldwide.

Amazon’s expansion plans are multi-pronged, covering diverse regions. The company is taking up space at Macy’s in downtown Seattle and has announced plans to move its film production division to a famous Hollywood studio location where it will occupy 280,000 square feet in the iconic Culver Studios, in Culver City, California. Amazon said in a press statement that the TV and film production division will be housed in the 99-year-old center comprising of The Culver Studios Mansion and Bungalows. Culver Studios was built by movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince. Amazing productions have been filmed at this location including “The Matrix,” “E.T.,” “Legally Blonde” and the original Batman series.

Hollywood classics like “Citizen Kane” and “Gone With the Wind” were also shot in the renowned complex which will now be home to several teams working on technical, legal, creative, and marketing aspects. This will be a hub for Amazon Video, IMDb, Amazon Studios  and World Wide Advertising teams which means that by the close of this year, 700 employees will have shifted their working spaces out of Santa Monica, California into Culver Studios.

Microsoft is not being left behind in the expansion up north. The company has announced plans to partner with the British Columbia Institute of Technology to design a mixed reality curriculum under which 50 new jobs will be created. Last year the company opened a new office in Vancouver and has been strengthening its relationship with the city – at one point backing the city’s high-speed rail proposal.

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Best Buy taps into Amazon’s Alexa with new skill to help shoppers

A new Alexa skill will let shoppers use the digital voice assistant to find and grab deals from Best Buy in an unprecedented partnership with Amazon.

 

mazon and Best Buy are often thought of as competitors, but the two companies seem to have found some benefits to working together.

Today Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted about a new Alexa skill that lets users locate and shop Best Buy deals through the voice assistant.

Congrats to the @BestBuy team on their new Alexa skill. Customers can now find and shop Best Buy deals on Alexa. Nice! pic.twitter.com/wWuvIkvgD1

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 3, 2017

Best Buy said in a press release that the Alexa skill, which features a tailored list of recommendations taken from Best Buy’s catalog of laptops and TVs, is just the beginning of its plans for voice-based shopping.

This isn’t the first tie-in between Amazon and Best Buy. This summer, Best Buy began dedicating parts of more than 700 stores to showcase the abilities of smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Best Buy also has a relationship with Google and the Home speaker, with the ability to let users hear sales, learn more about various products, and find their nearby store via the Google Assistant.

Best Buy, which has an office in Seattle, has thrived as the transition to e-commerce has hamstrung other retailers, forcing them to close big chunks of stores. In its last quarterly report, Best Buy reported record online shopping revenue, fueled by its move to make the in-store and online shopping experiences complementary.

The company says it is focused on giving consumer more choices for how to shop its merchandise, whether it is in-store, online and now through voice commands. Best Buy is beefing up its logistics as well, recently announcing plans for free shipping on all items for the holiday season and expanding the number of cities eligible for same-day delivery.

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On a visit to Seattle, Irish Prime Minister calls for increased business connections

Leo Varadkar, the first openly gay Prime Minister of Ireland has praised his country’s close ties with Seattle’s tech community. He pointed out tech giants Amazon and Microsoft as leading the way in what he described as a growth curve in the relationship between Washington state and Ireland.

In a tweet the prime minister was excited about the ties;

Beautiful setting of Chihuly Gardens for our business lunch. Strong Ireland-Seattle links: +800k people in Wash State claim Irish heritage pic.twitter.com/3QVod6RsD7

— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) November 1, 2017

Speaking to GeekWire, the prime minister, who is the first first head of government in Ireland with Indian heritage, spoke of the ties that date back to 1985 when Microsoft opened a manufacturing facility in Ireland. He pointed out that Amazon, Microsoft, Tableau and other tech companies have invested billions of dollars in Ireland and he hoped that the growth in ties will be sustained. He singled out his government’s intervention in resolving planning issues that delayed setting up of data centers which are now running. He expressed the desire to have more data centers and an expansion of existing ones.

During the one-day visit to Seattle, Varadkar visited Amazon and Microsoft headquarters. He also made stopovers at Chihuly glass exhibit and Amazon’s 90-foot-tall Spheres.

The Irish government has been an ardent supporter of Microsoft and has in the past filed friend of the court briefs in Microsoft’s challenge to the U.S. Justice Department’s demands to access customer data on Microsoft’s servers, which are located in Ireland, in a drug trafficking case. The tech giant has contested the demands citing privacy concerns.

The prime minister spoke during a luncheon hosted by Irish Network Seattle. He told the audience that Ireland is at the heart of globalization and is a confident player with a liberal and progressive mindset. He emphasized the need to strengthen ties with cities and states that share common values with his country.

Making a bid to lure other companies, Varadkar said they were seeking new investors beyond the tech titans for the country’s growth plans.

Facebook and Amazon are expected to open new offices in Ireland next year while LinkedIn has already opened their European headquarters in the country. Amazon is also planning to spend $1 billion on building a data center north of Dublin. The data center will be a green project powered by renewable energy. A similar data center is earmarked by Apple in western Ireland. Varadkar will also meet Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in California in what is his first U.S. visit as prime minister.

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Amazon grabs three cryptocurrency domains

Amazon has acquired three domain names that are associated with cryptocurrency in a move that would be interpreted in many different ways. The company may be having plans to enter the cryptocurrency business or planning to start accepting cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment. It may also be trying to protect its brand name from malicious use.

The domains acquired by Amazon and registered on Tuesday are amazoncryptocurrency.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com and amazonethereum.com. This is not the first time Amazon has laid hands on a domain related to cryptocurrency. The company acquired amazonbitcoin.com three years ago and redirected it to Amazon.com.

The most famous cryptocurrency is bitcoin, which has grown exponentially, hitting the $6,600 mark last week on news of CME’s intention to unveil bitcoin futures before the end of the year.

Bitcoin, which remains the most valuable cryptocurrency, has been getting occasional boosts including last month when it rallied on rumors that Amazon would start accepting bitcoins on its platform.

Patrick Gauthier, Amazon Pay’s Vice President, indicated last month that the e-commerce giant had no immediate intentions to accept cryptocurrencies because the market has not exhibited the demand threshold necessary for consideration.

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Most Americans uneasy at the prospect of an Amazon key into their homes

Amazon’s entry into drug distribution will be an advantage to Pharma companies

Amazon’s imminent entry into the drug arena poses a huge threat to drug distributors and retailers. The mere prospect of it has led to massive losses on the stock market for these companies running into hundreds of millions of dollars. Pharmaceutical companies however, have welcomed the prospect, pegging their enthusiasm on the impact that the tech giant will bring on board by leveraging on technology to enhance efficiency.

According to Allergan CEO Brent Saunders, disruption in the drug distribution sector is long overdue. He added that to bring in efficiency, the use of technology should be embraced in the same way breakthrough treatments have changed the course of science. Ian Read, Pfizer’s CEO echoed the same sentiments saying the company is ready to engage anyone who can change the distribution network in a way that ensures value for money.

Amazon’s decision on whether to be involved in the drug business is expected by Thanksgiving. The company has already acquired wholesale pharmacy licenses in 12 states and owns the URL AmazonRx.com. it also has a business dealing in medical equipment that would benefit from the licenses but analysts believe that Amazon is poised to enter the pharmacy services sector at some point in the future.

However, all indications are that Amazon is planning an entry into the sector. Mark Lyons was lured from insurer Premera Blue Cross to put together an in-house PBM after Amazon announced it was looking to hire a general manager to lead its pharmacy enterprise. This was reported back in May by CNBC.

Most actors in the drug supply chain depicted Amazon as a prospective partner rather than a direct threat and expressed pessimism the retail giant would be willing to plunge into such a highly controlled environment.

The drug distribution system has been rife with inefficiencies arising from its basic structure. Between the pharma companies and end-users sit two entities – the insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The PBMs negotiate drug prices on behalf of insurers and employers and are also allowed to operate mail-order pharmacies.

If Amazon were to enter the drug distribution business three major players are likely to feel the heat that comes with the e-commerce giant’s clout; PBMs, major drug retailers and distributors. In the direct line of fire will be CVS Caremark, Optum and Express Scripts which are PBMs, while in the retail space CVS, Rite-Aid and Walgreens will be the most affected. AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson will also be under pressure in drug distribution.

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New York emerges top ahead of San Francisco and Seattle in race for Amazon’s second HQ – study shows

CVS Health likely to buy Aetna as it runs ahead of Amazon

CVS Health is on the path to become a triple-pronged healthcare provider combining the advantages of an insurer, a pharmacy and a pharmacy benefit manager.

CVS Health, a drugstore operator, is negotiating to buy Aetna, a health insurer, for a reported $200 per share in a move that will push aside any potential deal with Amazon. Previously, Amazon was reported to be negotiating with pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) in a move that could lead to partnerships or direct threats. PBMs act as the link between drug manufacturers and insurers, ensuring that the insurers’ pharmacy benefits are administered prudently. Due to their role in negotiating prices, the PBMs represent a vital component in the drug supply chain.

If the deal between CVS and Aetna is finalized, CVS will have more muscle in negotiating prices for over the counter prescription drugs. Aetna on the other hand has a huge brick-and-mortar presence that it can leverage for in-store clinics and cost-effective distribution that could lead to cheaper co-payments on its insurance.

According to a source briefed on Amazon’s plans, the online retail giant is in the closing leg of strategy formulation that will guide its entry into the drug supply chain and a decision could be reached before Thanksgiving. The company has received approval for wholesale pharmacy licenses in 12 states.

Amazon’s strength, with a market capitalization that hit $530 billion last week, is bound to be disruptive in a major way. The U.S. prescription drug market is estimated to be worth $560 billion every year making it a lucrative niche that Amazon can leverage. If the e-commerce giant starts selling drugs then foot traffic into CVS stores will dwindle as consumers find it easier to find assorted items online or at other retailers at improved discounts.

Data from last year shows that pharmacy sales for CVS grew by 3.2 percent. It therefore makes sense for the company to make the move to own an insurer which strengthens its position to deal with the threat of Amazon’s moves. Not that Amazon can’t buy an insurer; it’s just that the regulatory procedures may pose huge challenges in the current volatile atmosphere where the cost of prescription drugs has gone through the roof.

CVS, which bought Caremark pharmacy, a pharmacy benefit manager in 2007, is poised to grow into a fully fledged health-care provider as it moves into the deal with Aetna.

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Amazon Studios poised to grow as it moves to famous Hollywood Studio location