This is your host, The Badger, providing you with the top Amazon news stories this week. Welcome to Amazon Weekly Digest!
This week, Fiona, the celebrity hippo turned 1, the climate change debate continues as scientists have discovered a new metric to predict the effects of global warming, Apple has big plans to expand, and Amazon chose 20 finalists for their second headquarters.
Amazon is planning to create 50,000 high-paying jobs with its new mothership building. Amazon has reviewed 238 proposals in North America in order to decide where to place their 5 billion dollar headquarters.
Amazon’s requirements include metropolitan areas with 1 million+ people, within a 45 minute commute to an international commute, and have 8,000,000 square feet of space to stretch in the next 10 years.
Some notable cities still in the running include, Atlanta, Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, and Ad Badger’s home, Austin.
Here’s what else happened in the world of Amazon:
Historically, Facebook and Google have benefitted the most from online advertising, but Amazon is starting to get a word in. Last year they generated $1.7 billion in revenue, compared to Google’s $35 billion and Facebook’s $17.4 billion, but Amazon has the most potential with 180 million U.S. visitors a month, hundred of millions of products, and streaming services.
CEO and founder of Narvar, Amit Sharma, discusses ways in which Alexa will change our shopping and selling habits in the coming year.
Amazon has released a new feature aimed at the value-loving customer. Even non-Prime customers can find a collection of items under $10 and ship for free. Talk about savings.
Sorry Indie lovers, Bezos wants to invest more into commercial films to appeal to a bigger audience. The decision comes after the Amazon Studio head, Roy Price, resigned in October. Price aggressively searched for potential award-winning movies, like The Big Sick, instead of box office hits.
Have a good weekend badgers!