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☆ I got laid off from Amazon. The lack of transparency about why certain people were let go made the whole process extremely robotic.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon laid off a total of 18,000 employees over the past couple of months, more than expected based on reports. She said the process felt "extremely robotic" and wished the company had been more transparent about its plans. This whole process has been extremely frustrating because of the lack of transparency we were provided. I know Amazon is a giant company, and I know the logistics of a more personalized approach would have been a nightmare, but on the other hand, we are human beings. The lack of transparency made it feel like I was just a line item instead of a human being.

☆ An Amazon engineer asked ChatGPT interview questions for a software coding job at the company. The chatbot got them right.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

ChatGPT got technical interview questions right, Amazon employee said in an internal Slack channel. Amazon is worried about employees sharing confidential company information with ChatGPT. The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot correctly answered some ofAmazon's interview questions for a software coding position, according to screenshots of a recent internal Slack channel discussion seen by Insider. This was one of many work-related ChatGPT topics discussed in the internal Slack channel last month, according to screenshots seen by Insider. An Amazon lawyer chimed in on Slack, warning employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT.

☆ The market crash could finally break Big Tech's addiction to subscriptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With another recession looming, experts say usage-based models will become standard. Now, a decade and a half later, the subscription model is the hallmark of the cloud-computing era. As the name suggests, the usage-based model sees customers only billed for what they use — no more, and no less. Usage-based pricing has drawbacks, but can ultimately pay offThe one drawback of usage-based models for the companies that offer them is a lack of predictability. That, in turn, leaves usage-based companies more susceptible to a downturn, since it's a relatively easy for customers to cut spending.

☆ Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon employees are using ChatGPT in a number of different ways, internal Slack messages show. ChatGPT was able to answer AWS customer questions and write training documents. Additionally, ChatGPT was "great" at writing a troubleshooting guide for AWS Aurora database engineers, and answering "difficult" support questions, this employee wrote on Slack. A corporate attorney at Amazon told employees not to share confidential company information with ChatGPT, as Insider previously reported. The employee wrote it's likely because it's an "extremely advanced human cognitive task."

“The small miss on Microsoft’s cloud earnings forecast is likely just a reflection of the new economic reality that businesses are facing and not a harbinger of something worse," said Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research. It forecast third-quarter revenue in its so-called intelligent cloud business would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion, just below the analyst average forecast of $22.14 billion, according to Refinitiv. He said revenue from OpenAI-related businesses would show up in revenue for Microsoft's cloud service Azure in the future. Azure cloud product revenue in the second quarter rose 31%, in line with estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. The company expects that revenue to drop to $11.9 billion to $12.3 billion in the current fiscal third quarter.

☆ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the great cloud slowdown won't last forever as he shares his plan for a big bounce back
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft's earnings report Tuesday showed slowing cloud growth in a reality check for Wall Street. However, Microsoft's CEO and analysts think cloud is poised for a bounce-back after some hard times. Bernstein analysts wrote that Microsoft was the "canary in the coal mine" for cloud. Most analysts seem to agree with Nadella's approach, arguing that the cloud spending slowdown is temporary and not reflective of any longer-term trend. "We still think MSFT is well-placed to capture long-term opportunities," Bernstein analysts wrote to clients.

☆ Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Amazon, Robinhood, Microsoft, Sunrun, Block & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here are Wednesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: BMO downgrades Microsoft to market perform from outperform BMO downgraded the stock after Microsoft's earnings report, noting it has concerns about Azure growth. Bank of America initiates Papa John's as buy Bank of America said the pizza chain stock is attractive and that it sees a return to growth. " Bank of America downgrades Booking Holdings to neutral from buy Bank of America said it sees "less valuation upside" for the online travel booking company. Bank of America downgrades Union Pacific to neutral from buy Bank of America it's concerned about "service and cost pressures" for Union Pacific. Bank of America reiterates Amazon as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating heading into Amazon earnings, but it's concerned about Amazon Web Services following Microsoft's disappointing quarterly results.

Microsoft said its third-quarter intelligent cloud revenue would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion, while analysts forecast $22.14 billion. In the second quarter, Microsoft's cloud services business helped offset a slump in the personal computer market. Azure has also steadily grabbed market share from leader Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) Amazon Web Services (AWS). Azure ended 2022 with 30% share in the cloud computing market, up from 20% in 2018, according to estimates from BofA Global Research. Microsoft's revenue rose 2% to $52.7 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of $52.94 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.

☆ Microsoft's profit beats estimates on strong cloud performance
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File PhotoJan 24 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as strong performance at its cloud services business helped offset a slump in the personal computer market, sending its shares 4% higher in extended trading. Azure has also steadily grabbed market share from leader Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) Amazon Web Services (AWS). Azure ended 2022 with 30% share in the cloud computing market, up from 20% in 2018, according to estimates from BofA Global Research. Sales at Microsoft's More Personal Computing segment, which includes Windows, devices and search revenue, declined 19% to $14.2 billion as the PC market continued to shrink. Microsoft's revenue rose 2% to $52.7 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of $52.94 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.

☆ Oracle health cloud leader Don Johnson — once considered for co-CEO — has abruptly resigned, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Oracle executive Don Johnson is abruptly leaving his key post, insiders say. Johnson was at one point named by Larry Ellison as a potential contender for Oracle co-CEO. Don Johnson — the former Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) boss once named by founder and CTO Larry Ellison as a potential contender for co-CEO — abruptly left his latest post, two people familiar with the matter said. Johnson came to Oracle from Amazon Web Services in 2014 and was tapped by Ellison in 2018 to run the company's all-important cloud unit, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. About a year later, Johnson stepped down from the cloud and AI organization, according to another email viewed by Insider.

☆ Amazon warns employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT after seeing cases where its answer 'closely matches existing material' from inside the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

An Amazon lawyer warned employees about sharing confidential company information with ChatGPT. Others wondered if they were even allowed to use the AI tool for work. She warned employees not to provide ChatGPT with "any Amazon confidential information (including Amazon code you are working on)," according to a screenshot of the message seen by Insider. Overall, Amazon employees in the Slack channel were excited about the potential of ChatGPT, and wondered if Amazon was working on a competing product. For Amazon employees, data privacy seems to be the least of their concerns.

[1/2] Attendees walk through an expo hall at AWS re:Invent 2022, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., November 30, 2022. After years of blistering growth, most recently fuelled by remote working and studying during the pandemic, cloud demand has cooled in the past nine months and sales growth may slow further, analysts said. AWS, Amazon's lucrative cloud business from which it gets more than a quarter of its revenue, is expected to post a 24% increase in sales in the quarter. THE FUNDAMENTALS* Microsoft Q2 revenue is expected to rise 2.5% to $53 billion, the slowest increase in six years. * Amazon Q4 revenue is expected to rise 5.8% to $145.40 billion.

☆ Singapore’s 15 fastest-growing jobs for 2023, according to LinkedIn
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Jobs that help companies digitize and grow amid economic volatility are on the rise in Singapore, according to LinkedIn. Its latest Jobs on the Rise data revealed spikes in hiring for growth specialists, technical jobs and health-care professionals in Asia — among other jobs expected to expand hiring well into 2023. Researchers from LinkedIn examined jobs from January 2018 to July 2022 to calculate the growth rate for each job title in a specific country. Here's the full list of Singapore's jobs on the rise in 2023, according to LinkedIn:1. Machine learning engineerMost common skills: TensorFlow, Deep Learning, PyTorch Most common industries: Technology and media, manufacturing, financial services Median years of prior experience: 2.6 Remote job availability: 4.5%12.

☆ Six stocks Goldman Sachs likes ahead of earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Goldman Sachs' analysts have stocks they are confident about going into a new earnings season. The stocks we found are Amazon , ServiceNow , Colgate-Palmolive , Boeing , Microsoft and Cleveland-Cliffs . Colgate-Palmolive Analyst Jason English raised estimates ahead of Colgate-Palmolive's Jan. 27 earnings as headwinds from foreign exchange turn in to tailwinds. While English said the uncertain global environment could hurt Colgate's business, he still expects the toothpaste and soap maker to meet Goldman's 9% per-share earnings growth forecast for the year. Specifically, we are now forecasting AWS growth to decelerate to +21% YoY (vs. +27.5% YoY in Q3'22) with more subdued growth expectations in 2023.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google announced layoffs of a total of 40,000 employees this week. Tech companies embarked on a massive hiring spree as the Covid-era made their products the backbone of the world's remote-working offices. The era of tech companies spending like rock stars is overOver the last decade Big Tech companies spent money "like 1980's rock stars," wrote Dan Ives, managing director at the investment firm Wedbush . On the other end, tech companies may look much different this decade as they did in the last. As companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft cut costs, they'll find ways to operate leaner, and their stock prices will stabilize.

☆ Amazon's AWS to invest $35 bln in Virginia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) cloud services division said Friday it plans to invest another $35 billion by 2040 to expand data centers in Virginia. Amazon Web Services (AWS) said the new investment will create 1,000 jobs. Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said AWS will establish multiple data center campuses across Virginia. In 2021, AWS said from 2011 to 2020 it had invested $35 billion in data centers located in northern Virginia and had 3,500 full time employees at its data centers in the state. AWS also will be eligible to receive a state grant of up to $140 million "for site and infrastructure improvements, workforce development, and other project-related costs."

Shares of Alphabet, which had plunged by nearly 39% in 2022, rose more than 5% on the news to $98.02. Like many big technology firms, Alphabet overhired during the height of the Covid pandemic to meet burgeoning demand. AMZN 1Y mountain Amazon (AMZN) 1-year performance The Club view: Amazon did not go far enough in its cost-cutting efforts. Bottom line Alphabet and other Big Tech players can't control the tough economic environment, but they can control how they manage expenses. Google parent company Alphabet will report first quarter earnings today after the closing bell.

☆ These are the most important executives who joined Google Cloud in 2022 — and the ones who left
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Below is a list of the key executives who left Google Cloud in 2022 — and the most important new hires. At Google Cloud, Gearhart was responsible for the Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace channel business around the world, according to her LinkedIn profile. Exit: Frank BienBien, a Looker vice president, left Google Cloud in February, two years after Google acquired the data-analytics company for $2.4 billion. A nearly 20-year Microsoft veteran, Jester joined Google Cloud in 2019 as part of an executive hiring spree initiated by Kurian, who had recently taken the helm of Google Cloud. Hire: Kevin MandiaMandia, Mandiant's CEO and cofounder, joined Google Cloud in September after Google completed its $5.4 billion acquisition of his cybersecurity firm.

☆ Leaked documents show Amazon paused activities like social marketing and recruiting 'out of respect' for laid off employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon has suspended a number of work activities or services on Wednesday amid layoffs. Amazon suspended several work activities and services on Wednesday to be more mindful of the employees let go as part of the company's largest layoff in history. Additionally, Amazon suspended some AWS content streams on Twitch, another person said. Amazon will also pause some recruiting activities on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, many Amazon employees were upset about the ambiguity and lack of communication in the overall layoff process.

☆ Amazon is emerging as a force in digital ads, but here's why we remain cautious on the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon 's (AMZN) advertising business is emerging as a primary competitor to Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platform s (META), according to a new Wall Street survey. While encouraged by the growth in its ad business, we still don't think the tech and e-commerce giant has done enough to cut costs to protect margins. In the survey, 50 senior U.S. ad buyers said they anticipate Amazon's ad market share to rise from 6% in 2022 to 7% in 2024. Moreover, 40% of ad buyers believe Amazon will "emerge as a meaningful ad platform alongside GOOG and META." The analysts cited lower revenue from the company's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

☆ KKR's top tech exec details the firm's 3-year migration to the public cloud, and how the PE giant is leveraging the tech to streamline how deals get done
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

KKR is moving its technology and infrastructure to the public cloud by year end. The finish line is in sight for Emilia Sherifova, KKR's top tech exec who is spearheading the firm's multi-year migration to the public cloud. KKR's cloud migration has been years in the making. Under Sherifova, KKR has more than doubled its number of cloud-focused engineers, she said, declining to specify numbers. No longer are regulatory and security concerns barring finance players from moving mission-critical systems, like exchanges' matching engines and banks' core banking platforms, to the public cloud.

☆ Blackstone used this data tool to upend its real-estate business. Now it's being deployed across its PE portfolio.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Blackstone Chief Technology Officer John Stecher told Insider that Blackstone now uses Data Direct — previously called Real Estate Data Direct — across both its real estate and private-equity portfolios. From real estate to private equityInsider first detailed the launch of Data Direct, then known as Real Estate Data Direct (REDD), last year. That led to the roll out of the data tool to other parts of the business, like Blackstone's private-equity portfolio, and to new business lines next year. Data Direct, at its heart, is a data tool, and its success is predicated upon importing reliable information in the first place. Having good, clean data has made Data Direct very successful," he added.

☆ It's too early to share Wall Street's renewed optimism for mega-cap tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Some Wall Street analysts are starting to like Big Tech again, following the sector's beatdown in 2022. What Wall Street is saying Piper Sandler called out Club stocks Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) as top buys. As a result, Snapchat (SNAP) and Club name Meta Platforms (META) can now only track your activity outside of their own apps if you allow it. Piper analysts note that year-over-year comps for Amazon will be easier in 2023 than they were last year. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Flexport Names Former Amazon Executive as President
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

com Inc. executive, is joining Flexport Inc. as the digital-focused freight forwarder boosts its growth ambitions under the leadership of former Amazon consumer chief executive Dave Clark. The San Francisco-based company named Ms. Carlson president and chief commercial officer, overseeing sales, marketing and communications, Flexport said Thursday. Ms. Carlson specializes in cloud computing. Mr. Clark in September took on the role of Flexport co-CEO alongside the company’s founder and CEO Ryan Petersen. Mr. Clark has hired former Amazon employees including public-relations executive Kelly Cheeseman, logistics executive Parisa Sadrzadeh and human-resources executive Darcie Henry.

☆ Amazon’s 18,000 job cuts don't go far enough expect more layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon 's (AMZN) plans to cut 18,000 workers is a drop in the bucket relative to its workforce of roughly 1.5 million. "They hired a huge number of people ... firing 18,000 people frankly is nothing," Jim Cramer said Thursday on CNBC. If there are more cuts ahead, the market will likely reward the stock and push it higher. Meta announced in November it was letting go of roughly 13% of its workforce , but those cuts are insufficient, too. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

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