Amazon and Hachette give up their pricing war – just in time for Christmas November 13, 2014 It's a brave brand that takes on the might of Amazon – but US publisher Hachette gave it a good go, arguing that it should have control over the price of its ebooks. The battle was keenly observed by fellow publishers, not least because underneath, they were grumbling about the same thing. But it looks [...]
Alibaba share price rises to record high as company now worth over $100bn more than Amazon November 4, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its shares rose to a record high yesterday of $106.07 after it reported strong second-quarter results and said it would invest for the long term to expand its customer base. It was Alibaba’s maiden quarterly results since its $25bn (£15.6bn) float on the New York Stock Exchange in September, when [...]
“Amazon is like IS” terrorist group says Andrew Wylie, literary agent of Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie October 31, 2014 One of the most powerful people in the publishing world has compared Amazon to the Islamic terrorist group IS. Andrew Wylie, agent to literary stars such as Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie, called the online retailer a “sort of Isis-like distribution channel” in a speech at the International Festival of Authors on the future of [...]
Top economists reject Paul Krugman’s call for government intervention to curb Amazon’s market power October 29, 2014 Rarely far from controversy, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman caused quite the stir in his New York Times column a couple weeks back. Krugman argued that e-commerce giant Amazon "has too much power, and it uses that power in ways that hurt Americans". Furthermore, state intervention was necessary to protect the public. Amazon drew Krugman's [...]
Poor Fire Phone sales take their toll on Amazon October 24, 2014 Poor sales of the Fire Phone are taking their toll on Amazon's business. In a conference call the company said it would take a $170m write down “primarily related to Fire phone inventory valuation and supplier commitment costs.” Amazon’s phone was said to be the “iPhone killer” ahead of its release, but even its [...]
Amazon share price falls by the most in a decade as revenues disappoint October 23, 2014 Shares in Amazon fell as much as 13 per cent in New York after hours trading this evening – the company's biggest fall in at least a decade. The drop occurred after the online retailer posted disappointing results for the third quarter, with forecasts and sales falling well below Wall Street expectations. Analysts [...]
Amazon hires for Christmas: 13,000 temporary UK jobs to be created over festive period October 20, 2014 Amazon is set to create an extra 13,000 temporary jobs in the UK over the Christmas season as the online giant braces itself for the busiest trading period of the year. The company announced yesterday it will hire people to work across it eight fulfilment centres across the UK and its customer service centre [...]
Amazon debuts same-day pick up service at 500 newsagents, corner shops and London Tube stations October 14, 2014 Online retail giant Amazon will this morning announce a same-day pick-up service in partnership with Connect Group’s newspaper and magazine distribution arm, Smiths News. The service will let customers order goods from Amazon as late as 11.45am for collection at one of 500 newsagents or corner stores from 4pm later that day. “This is our [...]
Google’s Eric Schmidt: Amazon is our biggest search rival October 13, 2014 Google's chairman has dismissed Bing and Yahoo: the biggest threat to its search hegemony is Amazon. Eric Schmidt believes that the scrutiny Google is under in Europe after the 'right to be forgotten' battle is unfair given the large roles played by the company's rivals, such as Facebook and Amazon. Mobile search is becoming more [...]
Amazon jobs: Online retailer plans to create 1,000 new positions in the UK October 13, 2014 Amazon is planning to hire 1,000 more staff to work at its distribution centres across the UK in the coming months. The permanent staff will be based at Amazon’s centres in Doncaster, Dunfermline, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay. The hiring spree will add to the 6,000 existing staff working at [...]