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☆ Amazon's cloud CEO departs with dour views on his tenure, amid growing competition and AI woes
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Selipsky's three years as AWS CEO were marked by mixed results. AdvertisementHe steered through some of the cloud business' slowest growth rates, largest layoffs, and biggest challenges in the artificial intelligence space. AdvertisementAmazon's generative AI service Bedrock was delayed after originally being scheduled to launch in the fall of 2022, the person said. Garman was once considered a frontrunner to replace former AWS CEO Andy Jassy in 2021 when Jassy took over as Amazon's CEO. Some insiders referred to Selipsky as "just a sales guy" and "uninspiring," as the cloud leader faced unprecedented competition in generative AI.

Persons: —, Adam, Selipsky, shakeup, Patrick Neighorn, Matt Garman, Garman, Andy Jassy, Jassy, Amazon, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Service, Web Services, Business, AWS, Amazon, BI, Rivals Microsoft, Google

☆ 12 portfolio companies report earnings in the week ahead. What we want to hear from each
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

The action quickly and sharply reversed back to the upside Friday after blowout earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft . In the week ahead, earnings are likely to drive the action again, though we'll get a few important macroeconomic reports. Earnings: We've got the biggest week of the earnings season ahead of us, with 12 Club holdings set to report. Eli Lilly 's report Tuesday morning continues to be all about sales of type-2 diabetes treatment Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Zepbound. In DuPont 's report Wednesday morning, we're looking for a continued rebound in its semiconductor business following a sequential increase last quarter.

Persons: Ford, we'll, Dow Jones, We've, Buckle, Eaton, Eli Lilly, Lilly, We're, Estee Lauder, Fabrizio Freda, we've, Linde, Bausch, Royal Philips, Woodward, SIRI, Archer, Johnson, Stanley Black, Decker, BAX, Cardinal Health, Parker, Belden, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim Organizations: Nasdaq, Microsoft, Meta, Google Search, Big Tech, Nvidia, Broadcom, Ford Motor, Honeywell, Danaher, Labor Department, Labor, PMI, Services PMI, GE Healthcare, Amazon Web Services, Starbucks, Deutsche Bank, DuPont, Bausch Health, U.S ., Appeals, Apple, iPhones, Vision, ON Semiconductor, Resource Partners, Franklin Resources, Paramount, Transocean Ltd, Semiconductors, Arch Capital, Logitech International, Lattice Semiconductor, F5 Networks, Sanmina Corporation, GE HealthCare, PayPal, 3M Company, McDonalds, Enterprise Products Partners, Cola Company, Melco Resorts, Entertainment, SiriusXM Holdings, Oatly, American Electric Power Company, Leidos Holdings, Marathon Petroleum, Daniels, Midland Co, Equitrans Midstream Corporation, HSBC Holdings, HSBC, Devices, Caesars Entertainment, Lumen Technologies, Mondelez, Pfizer, CVS Health, Barrick, Mastercard Inc, Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, Kraft Heinz Company, Marriott International, Ares, Generac Holdings, Johnson Controls, Cenovus Energy Inc, Qualcomm, Devon Energy, Paycom, Axcelis Technologies, Coeur D'Alene Mines, Sunnova Energy International, MGM Resorts International, MGM, Solar Inc, Oil, Allstate, Co, Tenable Holdings, Enovix Corporation, Gladstone Capital, Avis Budget Group, eBay, EBAY, LIN, Novo Nordisk, Natural Resources, PENN Entertainment, Apache, ConocoPhillips, InMode Ltd, Baxter International, Cardinal, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Global Management, LLC, Cinemark Inc, Dominion Energy, Coterra Energy, Coinbase, Bill.com Holdings, Booking Holdings, United States Steel, AXT Inc, Materials, Energy, Hershey Company, XPO Logistics, Cboe, American Pipeline, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Brookfield Business Partners, Brookfield Renewable Corporation, Magna International, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC, Traders, New York Stock Exchange, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: U.S, megaprojects, China, Eaton, Corning, Coeur D'Alene, Albemarle, ALB, Novo, New York

An AWS spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company has introduced more cost-effective options for moving data. As of March, AWS had removed Snowmobile from its website, and the Amazon unit has stopped offering the service, CNBC has confirmed. Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, called it the Snowmobile, and said the company would be using the truck to help customers speedily transfer data to Amazon Web Services facilities. "We intend to make sure that Snowmobile is both faster and less expensive than using a network-based data transfer model," Barr wrote. Clients generally find that sending data to AWS online is more economical than using Snowmobile, the company said.

Persons: we've, Andy Jassy, Jassy, Jeff Barr, Barr, Maxar, There's, we're Organizations: AWS, CNBC, Amazon Web Services, Amazon, Microsoft Locations: Las Vegas

☆ AI fatigue, sales challenges, and the problem of getting big: Inside growing tension at AWS
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

For Amazon, AWS is more important than ever. Targets missedAWS is falling short of reaching sales goals in its startups and small-business segments, two employees told BI. Burnout and attritionSeveral AWS employees also pointed to high turnover as a major point of concern. AWS employees told BI it still remains to be seen how all these changes will manifest in the months to come. "The most significant single sentiment we feel is uncertainty," one of the AWS employees told BI.

Persons: Matt Garman, Garman, Mark Shmulik, Bernstein, Rob Munoz, Munoz, Charlie Bell, Rachel Thornton, Chris Vonderhaar, Peter DeSantis, DeSantis, Andy Jassy Mike Blake, AWS's, Prasad Kalyanaraman, Kalyanaraman, Amazon's, Bard, Adam Selipsky, Adam Selipsky Noah Berger, Selipsky, Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos, Jassy, Geekwire Organizations: Amazon Web, AWS, Business, Amazon, SMB, Enterprise, Reuters, Microsoft, Google, BI Locations: Las Vegas, AMZN's, billings

The tech giant said Tuesday it will launch Q — a business chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence. San Francisco startup OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT a year ago sparked a surge of public and business interest in generative AI tools that can spit out emails, marketing pitches, essays, and other passages of text that resemble the work of humans. Amazon said Tuesday that Q can do things like synthesize content, streamline day-to-day communications and help employees with tasks like generating blog posts. It said companies can also connect Q to their own data and systems to get a tailored experience that's more relevant to their business. While Amazon is ahead of rivals Microsoft and Google as the dominant cloud computing provider, it’s not perceived as the leader in the AI research that’s led to advancements in generative AI.

Persons: who’ve, they’ve, it’s, that’s, Amazon Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Stanford University, Stanford, OpenAI Locations: Las Vegas, Francisco, ChatGPT, San Francisco

☆ Leaked email outlines Amazon's big plans for 'AGI,' the AI tech all of Silicon Valley is chasing
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"I am very proud of what this organization has already delivered for Alexa and AGI," Prasad added. Amazon's AGI team wasn't launched in response to this drama. The change also follows last week's job cuts within the AGI team, as BI previously reported . The cuts were part of a broader layoff that primarily affected Amazon's Alexa team. These are the six new teams formed within the AGI unit, as per the internal email:• AGI Product: defines AGI services and engages with internal customer teams to ensure end-to-end success.

Persons: Amazon's, Rohit Prasad, Prasad, Sam Altman, that's, Altman wasn't, didn't, wasn't, Andy Jassy, AGI, It's, • Organizations: Alexa, Devices, Business, Microsoft, Google, AGI, Amazon, TV

☆ Amazon's profit margin nears record after CEO Andy Jassy's dramatic cost-cutting efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos famously told rivals, "Your margin is my opportunity." His successor as CEO, Andy Jassy, is telling Wall Street about opportunities to increase margin. In its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday, Amazon reported an operating margin of 7.8%, the highest since it reached a record of 8.2% in the first quarter of 2021. But the world has changed since early last year, when Wall Street turned on tech and an extended bull market came to a halt. AWS revenue increased 12% in the quarter, a slower pace of expansion than what was reported by smaller rivals Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos, Bezos, Jassy, we've Organizations: Amazon, Seattle, Wall, Amazon Web Services, AWS, Microsoft, Google Locations: Seattle

☆ Alphabet Has Strong Ad Sales but Cloud Business Disappoints
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Nico Grant | More About Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A rebound in digital advertising led to an uptick in revenue and profit for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, but investors were underwhelmed by its cloud computing business, which badly trails those of rivals Microsoft and Amazon. Alphabet reported $76.7 billion in quarterly sales, up 11 percent from a year earlier, and roughly in line with analysts’ estimate of $76 billion, according to data compiled by FactSet. The internet giant said that its profit jumped 42 percent to $19.7 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $18.5 billion. “Investors were disappointed by the relatively weak performance at its Google Cloud Platform, which is at risk of falling further behind” Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, Jesse Cohen, an analyst at investing.com, wrote in a note.

Persons: FactSet, Jesse Cohen Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Web Services, investing.com

☆ Leaked document reveals 'Maverick,' a new Amazon AI security initiative led by Uber's former CISO
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The goal is to build automation tools for AI security and foster partnerships across the company. "In Q2 2023, Amazon Security created the Maverick program to ensure LLM based experiences uphold our high security standards to protect customer data and trust. The Amazon Web Services cloud unit also created an independent team focused on helping customers use generative AI, Insider previously reported . The new Maverick initiative wants to "understand GenAI risks" to Amazon and create "centralized GenAI security testing tools," according to the internal document. The second involves partnering with security teams to "create GenAI security guidance and add specific tasks to existing security mechanisms," the document added.

Persons: John, Flynn, Uber's CISO, Adam Montgomery, Maverick, Andy Jassy, LLMs, Jassy Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Security, Excellence, Amazon's, Microsoft, Google, Services, AWS

☆ Amazon set to report second-quarter earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon will report second-quarter earnings after the market close on Thursday. In the first quarter, AWS sales increased roughly 16%, the slowest growth since 2015, when Amazon began breaking out cloud revenue. AWS rivals Microsoft and Alphabet last week reported solid results in their cloud businesses, beating analysts' revenue expectations. Last week, Amazon hosted an AWS Summit, where the company announced updates related to generative AI, including a service that uses the technology to transcribe and summarize doctors' patient visits. Also during the quarter, Amazon hosted its annual Prime Day discount bonanza, which it touted as its "biggest ever."

Persons: Andy Jassy, it's, Brian Olsavsky, workloads Organizations: Amazon, Seattle, Refinitiv Revenue, Web, Services, Evercore, Microsoft, Apple, Meta Locations: Seattle, Israel

The AI models behind a viral chatbot like ChatGPT require immense computing power to train and operate, the kinds of costs Amazon Web Services (AWS) is good at lowering, said Dilip Kumar, vice president overseeing its applications group. A potential boost is that the company, like Google (GOOGL.O), has proprietary chips for AI. Rivals Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google have marketed higher profile, proprietary technology, capturing mindshare and some business in the sector's potentially lucrative AI contest. Like Google, Amazon is marketing the technology of other prominent startups to give customers choice. The promise of AI aside, Amazon has faced uncertain economic conditions and slowing cloud revenue growth in the near term.

Persons: Dilip Kumar, Jeffrey Dastin, Nuri Vallbona AUSTIN, Kumar, Jamie Freed Organizations: Amazon, REUTERS, Amazon Web Services, Google, Rivals Microsoft, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Austin , Texas, U.S, Austin

☆ AWS is investing $100 million in generative A.I. center in race to keep up with Microsoft and Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But the announcement shows that Amazon Web Services recognizes the significance of the current moment in generative AI and the importance of being in the conversation, alongside rivals Microsoft and Google . However, those rivals have had splashier entrances into generative AI, even though Amazon has drawn broadly on AI for years to show shopping recommendations and operate its Alexa voice assistant. For Amazon, that momentum applies to its Bedrock generative AI service and its Titan models as well as the new innovation center. Really, you need the cloud for generative AI." Also, the way Selipsky sees it, AWS provides a measure of credibility in offering generative AI that eludes others in the space.

Persons: OpenAI, Adam Selipsky, Selipsky, isn't, Jeff Bezos, we're, I've Organizations: Web Services, Microsoft, Google, CNBC, RyanAir, Lonely, Amazon, Nvidia, Fortune, FTC Locations: Twilio

That meant revenue growth rates were about 5 percentage points lower in April than in the first quarter, he said, referring to a period that saw a sequential drop. Its economy-wary customers aside, Amazon aimed to project confidence for its cloud longer-term. Jassy said the growing adoption of generative AI, which can create text, imagery and other content from past data, represented a huge opportunity for Amazon's cloud. Likewise, Olsavsky told reporters, Amazon had seen no shift in the competitive balance among cloud providers. AWS sales growth slowed to 15.8% in the first quarter.

☆ Breakingviews: Layoffs take Big Tech back to more modest future
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) plan to cut 12,000 jobs adds to the sense that U.S. technology firms are preparing for a more modest future. Tech firms based in the United States announced over 97,000 job cuts in 2022 according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the most since the dot-com crash. Moreover, new job postings fell sharply at the end of 2022, according to trade group CompTIA. If all tech firms did the same, that would leave employment at 4.2 million, or about 5% larger than it was at the end of 2019. loadingCONTEXT NEWSAlphabet plans to eliminate about 12,000 jobs, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Jan. 20.

☆ Amazon touts new data, security services to win cloud business
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LAS VEGAS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Tuesday announced data and security services for businesses in an effort to win more sales and stay the largest cloud-computing provider, ahead of rivals Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google. At an annual conference in Las Vegas, its cloud division announced Amazon DataZone to help businesses control access to internal data, with Fox Corp as one of the launch customers, according to a press release. Other new services included Amazon Security Lake helping enterprises aggregate information from cybersecurity vendors and other sources. Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Las VegasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon predicts profit slump during holidays, crushing shares
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon's net sales were $127.1 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, little lower than analysts' expectations of $127.46 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. And for the holiday quarter, the world's biggest online retailer forecast net sales of between $140 billion and $148 billion. It increased third-quarter cloud sales 28% to $20.5 billion, while analysts had expected more than $21.1 billion. In the retail sector, U.S. online sales are expected to rise at their slowest pace in years this holiday season. Amazon's net income decreased to $2.9 billion in the third quarter, ahead of analysts' average estimate of a $2.2 billion profit, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Thursday forecast a slowdown in sales growth for the holiday season, disappointing Wall Street and warning that inflation-wary consumers and businesses had less money to spend. In a call with reporters, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said the company was bracing for slower economic growth. Amazon forecast net sales of between $140 billion and $148 billion, or growth as little as 2% from a year earlier. The Amazon logo is seen at the company's logistics centre in Boves, France, October 6, 2021 REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File PhotoPrior holiday quarter sales growth was 9% in 2021 and 38% in 2020. Amazon's cloud sales growth has ticked down consistently in the past year.

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