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Buying other companies is one option to help maintain its historical 20%-plus annual revenue growth, a person familiar with Amazon's deal process said. While Amazon doesn't necessarily prey on companies in trouble, the company is extremely price disciplined, the person familiar with Amazon's deal process told Insider. Bertucci has been a part of some of Amazon's largest transactions, including leading the MGM and One Medical deals. According to the person familiar with Amazon's deal process, Amazon only brings in investment banks when acquisitions reach roughly the $1 billion mark. Indeed, the One Medical deal alone could have netted Goldman and Morgan Stanley, which repped One Medical, in the tens of millions in fees.

☆ I left Amazon to work for a climate-tech startup. I now wake up every day smiling — here's how I made the switch.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Holly Secon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Rotem Yossef spent seven years at Amazon before moving to ClimateAI, a tech startup. It's all hands on deck, all day, every day. Working for a startup offers more vertical career-growth potential: It's a pure meritocracy, free of politics and rigid hierarchical structures. Working in climate tech means that when I go to work, I continue to pursue the same values. Read, read, read — and understand the dynamics and implications of working for a startup and for a startup in the space you're aiming at.

☆ Google selects Coinbase to take cloud payments with cryptocurrencies and will use its custody tool
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google said Tuesday that it will rely on Coinbase to start letting some customers pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies early in 2023, while Coinbase said it would draw on Google's cloud infrastructure. Over time, Google will allow many more customers to make payments with cryptocurrency, Zavery said. Google had previously indicated in May that it was exploring the possibility of adding support for payments with digital currencies. Blockchain technologies such as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have become a bigger focus for Google's cloud division. Previously, Google's cloud chief, Thomas Kurian, has pushed for growth in major industries such as media and retail.

☆ Startup Workspan raised $30 million to keep growing as it helps top tech companies like Microsoft, Cisco, and SAP manage relationships with partners
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ecosystem management tool Workspan has raised a $30 million Series C round. Workspan's tools help companies like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services co-sell with partners. It was there that he came up with the idea for what would become his next company, WorkSpan. Workspan was able to gain momentum quickly because of how necessary its tool is to large technology companies, Bawa said. Workspan has raised a total of $66 million in funding from investors like Insight Partners, Mayfield Fund, M12, and Redline Capital Management.

☆ Leaked Microsoft presentation sheds light on Azure cloud revenue, showing billions of dollars spent by US customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft doesn't disclose revenue for its Azure cloud. Instead, it reports overall cloud revenue. An internal presentation sheds some light on Azure's revenue, a closely guarded Microsoft secret. Microsoft is famously tight-lipped about how much revenue its Azure cloud generates — so much so that even former CEO Steve Ballmer once called for more transparency. Microsoft reported $91.2 billion in "cloud" revenue for its 2022 fiscal year that concluded in June but didn't specify how much Azure contributed to that figure.

Many companies that have shifted enterprise-technology tools into the cloud in recent years, in part as a cost-saving measure, say those investments have yet to pay off. Rather than run software and systems in their own hardware, commercial cloud users tap computing capabilities from providers such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. They are also turning to multiple cloud providers, rather than relying on one cloud, for different systems and applications for different business areas. “Many first movers expected significant IT cost efficiency from their cloud investments,” said Barry Brunsman, a principal in KPMG’s CIO Advisory group. “You really do need to not just take it for granted that cloud is where you should head,” she said.

☆ How Oracle won the carmaker Subaru as a cloud customer by being cheaper than the competition
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Japanese carmaker Subaru is using Oracle's cloud for its high-performance computing. Discounting is also a common tactic to win over those marquee customers — especially as the use of multiple cloud providers has become more common. Subaru completed the move from its data centers to Oracle's cloud in about six months, anticipating a 30% reduction in its technology costs after moving to the cloud, Takekuma said. Subaru is also using other cloud providers in other parts of the company, including Google Cloud for some of its machine learning and artificial-intelligence capabilities. "So it's absolutely critical that our data transfer, our authentication, all of those pieces, are able to smoothly interface with the other cloud providers'."

☆ Greg Ip — Chief Economics Commentator at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Greg Ip | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Capital AccountAmazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google and others face criticism at home over their influence in the marketplace and public square, but their role in Ukraine shows how they are becoming an asset in the West’s rivalry with Russia and China.

☆ Google and Amazon ignore employee protests and plow ahead with deals involving the US military, ICE, and CBP
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Caroline Haskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google and Amazon used third parties for contracts with DHS and DOD agencies in the past year. Their dissent has been largely ignored, according to an Insider review of contracts involving Google and Amazon. In the same time frame, Amazon used third parties to work with DHS agencies at least 28 times, including at least 14 contracts with CBP. As Insider previously reported, these companies have used third parties to work with CBP as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Google and Amazon employees have a history of speaking out against their companies' work with the military and immigration enforcement.

☆ Amazon plans to close several U.S. call centers - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is planning to close several call centers in the United States in a move toward remote working, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter. The shift to remote working across most industries was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic with cloud call center companies such as Five9 Inc (FIVN.O) seeing a boom in business. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is also encouraging its customer service employees at some call centers in the country to work from home in a move that would save money on real estate, the report added. (https://bloom.bg/3LSo4RP)The company's cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, also sells Amazon Connect software that enables companies serve their customers using remote networks. Amazon is working with employees to make sure their transition to remote working is seamless, a spokesman for the company told Reuters, but did not comment on the planned closure of call centers.

☆ How AI service startup Aisera is helping companies embrace machine learning to automate tasks
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

His startup, Aisera, uses machine learning and natural language processing to resolve customer service, IT, sales, and operations problems by integrating with a host of enterprise applications like Zendesk, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, and ServiceNow. The startup also offers a conversational AI service, or a chat service, in multiple languages that is meant to quickly resolve certain issues. Funding for AI, machine learning, and data analysis grew to $115 billion in 2021, according to PitchBook data. For example, Dave uses Aisera's conversational AI for its around-the-clock customer service, allowing the startup to resolve customer questions before handing off to a human if the question is more complicated. "Thanks to Shelly, Chegg's global service desk technicians can better focus on solving complex issues and proactive support."

☆ Scammers are using stolen credit card data to set up fake websites that charge a small monthly fee that you may never notice. Here's how to protect yourself.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers have uncovered a widespread credit card scheme that has gone undetected since 2019. Typical of many sites in the adult dating industry, the charges showed up on credit card bills with generic or official-sounding names, obscuring their origin. Newman said the scammers processed refunds in order to avoid raising alarm bells with legitimate credit card companies. He advised people to be proactive about analyzing their credit card statements for unfamiliar charges. If people suspect a charge is fraudulent, they should contact their credit card companies directly because the companies can open internal investigations, Newman said.

☆ Britain to examine competition in cloud services
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the AWS (Amazon Web Service) cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain's communications regulator said it would investigate the position of cloud "hyperscalers" Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which together account for around 81% of revenue in the market, to assess the strength of competition. It also said on Thursday it would examine other digital markets over the next year, including messaging services like WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom, and connected televisions and smart speakers. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Andy BruceOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon, Microsoft and Google face UK probe over dominance in cloud computing
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Chesnot | Getty ImagesBritish media regulator Ofcom is investigating Amazon, Microsoft and Google's tight grip on the cloud computing industry. Amazon, Microsoft and Google were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. It also plans to investigate other digital markets, including personal messaging and virtual assistants like Amazon's Alexa, over the next year. "The way we live, work, play and do business has been transformed by digital services," Ofcom's Chadha said in a statement Thursday. Cloud competition

☆ Amazon Mexico cloud unit to open 'local zone' in early 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Valentine Hilaire | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe logo of the web service Amazon is pictured in this June 8, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/IllustrationMEXICO CITY, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Amazon Web Services Mexico (AWS), a unit of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), will open a local hub in the first quarter to boost bandwidth for its clients, the cloud computing unit's director for Mexico Luis Velasco said on Wednesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAWS Mexico will also open new offices in Guadalajara and Monterrey in the first three months of 2023, Velasco said. Totalplay, a telecoms firm owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas, will provide consulting for AWS' cloud services, said Fernando Zamora, Totalplay's director of products and marketing, at the conference. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Valentine Hilaire; editing by Cassandra Garrison and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stash just revamped its tech and announced new partnerships with Mastercard and Marqeta as the fintech looks to stand out in a crowded field
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Stash announced Wednesday the launch of a new core banking system and a refreshed debit card. CEO Brandon Krieg told Insider 'Stash Core' will make it easier to develop new products. The startup inked new partnerships with Mastercard, Stride Bank, Marqeta, and other fintech names. For Stash, a fintech built on both deposit banking and investing rails, that has led to an overhaul of the fintech's financial infrastructure and a host of new partnerships. On Wednesday, Stash announced the launch of Stash Core, a new banking system that Brandon Krieg, Stash's cofounder and CEO, said amounts to a rebuild of the startup's back-end tech stack.

☆ Salesforce, Oracle, Palantir and other tech companies are interested in building a new Army tool to manage weapons distribution and troop deployment
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Caroline Haskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The US Army is looking for tech companies to build a prototype for its new "operational back-bone." Palantir, Gitlab, Salesforce, Oracle, RedHat, IBM, and others submitted "Requests for Information" to build the prototype, a step before submitting a bid. The prototype would manage the deployment of troops, and the supply and distribution of missiles, guns, tanks, and other weapons. Palantir has an $823 million Army contract for data mining and analytics. It's also unclear if Amazon, Google, or Microsoft will contribute to the project in some capacity, including as a subcontractor.

☆ Amazon is already valued like a monopoly
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Whether California prevails or not, investors have already granted Amazon a market valuation fit for a monopoly. Amazon, meanwhile, argues that forcing it to showcase products at higher prices would be antithetical to antitrust regulatory goals. One way to value the retail part of Amazon is to strip away the more profitable cloud business, Amazon Web Services. If two-thirds of that comes from North America, it’s equivalent to Amazon capturing 75% of the U.S. e-commerce market. Amazon argued that the state had it “exactly backwards” in an emailed statement.

☆ The person who claims to have hacked Uber says he's only 18, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A person claiming to be behind Uber's hack on Thursday told The New York Times that he's only 18. He said he had persuaded an Uber worker to send him a password that gave him access to its systems. The Times and Bloomberg both reported on Thursday that Uber employees got a Slack message saying "I am a hacker." The apparent hacker also listed multiple internal databases that they claimed to have accessed, The Times reported. The Times reported that the hacker had also posted an explicit photo on an internal staff page.

☆ Amazon remains top pick at UBS — and in our portfolio — despite FedEx’s alarming guidance
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

We are particularly encouraged by this analysis, because investors out there may end-up wrongly interpreting FedEx (FDX)'s terrible guidance and economic outlook as a warning about Amazon's business. Analysts are now scrambling to assess whether the problems that FedEx described in its business and the global economy at-large will slow Amazon's e-commerce. Since there are many differences between FedEx and Amazon's business, we are sticking with our long-term thesis on Amazon. Bottom line We like UBS' work here as many on Wall Street clearly extrapolated FedEx's guidance to mean Amazon's e-commerce business is struggling — when, in actuality, it is not. If consumers roll back their discretionary spending, which Amazon's e-commerce business relies on, profits from AWS can help offset changes in consumer spending behavior.

☆ Here’s our September rapid-fire update on all 33 stocks in Cramer’s Charitable Trust portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Here's a rapid-fire update on every stock in the CNBC Investing Club portfolio. Halliburton (HAL) — The only energy stock in the portfolio that we haven't trimmed in recent weeks. (See here for a full list of the stocks Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ What Cramer is watching Thursday — rail strike avoided, deluge of Club stock news, Putin-Xi meeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Humana (HUM) investor update meeting Thursday: much better than expected price targets: Full-year earnings per share $23.08, up from $20.30. Club holding Starbucks (SBUX): Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley raise price targets. Mizuho cuts price targets for Club holdings Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), because of a pending hypercomputing slowdown. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. A pay dispute between rail workers and unions threatens a nationwide freight rail strike as early as September 16, 2022.

☆ 8 companies Amazon, Microsoft, or Google might buy as they shop for deals amid the market downturn, including Workday, Unity, and Roku
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

That means Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud could be poised for a merger-and-acquisition spree. As for cloud acquisitions, analysts said Amazon's cloud unit didn't often buy companies. Cybersecurity has been a greater focus for Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud after the hack of the IT-software company SolarWinds in 2020. In 2019, Google purchased the data-analytics company Looker for $2.6 billion in cash under Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. With Kurian at the helm, bringing with him the Oracle acquisition playbook, Google Cloud may now have a bigger M&A appetite.

☆ A bunch of Googlers who used to work at Amazon are internally sharing horror stories about their former employer's 'frupid' and aggressive culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Googlers who used to work at Amazon are sharing how much they hated being at the e-commerce giant. Amazon is a very kill-or-be-killed environment," one of the people on the email thread told Insider. By default, product managers received subpar Windows laptops and weren't eligible for Apple devices, this person wrote. "Pretty frupid to save $200 on something that could increase the productivity of an engineer you were paying six figures to," this person wrote. "I tend to like everything about Amazon culture better than Google except one thing: how the employees are treated ;)," another person wrote.

☆ What Cramer is watching Tuesday — hot inflation slams stocks, recent Apple rally fizzles
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

BMO goes to market perform from outperform (hold from buy) but raises its price target $435 per share from $420. Wells Fargo raises price target on Clorox (CLX) to $130 per share from $120; but keeps an underweight (sell) rating. Wells Fargo cuts price target on Dow Inc. (DOW) to $60 per share from $70, saying polyethylene pricing is coming down. JPMorgan calls Robinhood (HOOD) August numbers "uninspiring," keeps underweight (sell) rating and a $7-per-share price target. 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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