#amazon

#amazon

He says, 'Hold on for a second. You mean to tell me you're leaving this company for some tiny, little internet bookstore that nobody's ever heard of ... that has got to be the stupidest decision I've ever heard anyone made,' Risher recalled.

The Echo Dot Max is available for preorder in black, purple, and white with Alexa Plus Early Access for $99.99 at Amazon ahead of its release on October 29th. The Echo Studio is available for preorder at Amazon in black or white for $219.99, and will arrive in stores on October 29th. US customers will also get access to Alexa Plus Early Access when they place their preorder.

The Echo Pop and Echo Dot are Amazon's entry-level smart speakers, and both are currently on sale ahead of Amazon's October Prime Day (aka Prime Big Deal Days), which officially kicks off on October 7th. Both speakers are currently discounted to their lowest prices since the middle of June, which means they're beating their summer Prime Day prices. Both speakers are screen-free, and allow you to use Amazon Alexa to control compatible smart home devices, set timers, and ask for information about the news, weather, and other goings-on.

Amazon's October Prime Day (officially called Prime Big Deal Days) starts on October 7th, but waiting a week won't be necessary to score a great deal. Amazon has already discounted the Kindle Kids, Kindle Paperwhite Kids, and Kindle Colorsoft Kids e-readers to their lowest prices ever. All of the kid-friendly Kindles have 16GB of storage and are ad-free. They also come with a cover, expanded parental controls panel, six or twelve month subscription to Amazon Kids Plus,

Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, which claimed it tricked millions of customers into subscribing to Prime and made it hard to cancel. Under the agreement, Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty, along with $1.5 billion that it will pay back to an estimated 35 million customers impacted by the company's "deceptive" sign-up process.

Amazon has agreed to settle a landmark case over its Prime membership program, according to U.S. regulators, who had alleged the company's web designs manipulated tens of millions of people into paying for subscriptions that were purposefully hard to cancel. The Federal Trade Commission says Amazon, without admitting wrongdoing, has agreed to pay a historic $1 billion in civil penalties to the government and another $1.5 billion in redress payments to affected consumers.

Amazon is planning to close its 19 UK grocery stores less than five years after it launched the till-free sites in London. Amazon said five of the stores earmarked for closure would be converted in to Whole Foods stores, a fresh and whole food brand which Amazon owns. The company added that it would focus on its online delivery services in the groceries sector, including with its partners Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland, and Gopuff.

At Amazon, "Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers." That description-with parts bolded for emphasis by this reporter-sits at the top of a webpage on Amazon's corporate jobs site under a subtitle that reads "Customer Obsession," which is the first and most famous Leadership Principle that Amazon has long said should guide how its employees act.

Up until this week, Amazon required customers to request an invite and then wait for an approval email. The invitation sometimes arrived the same day, while other times you had to wait a week or longer (if you received an invite at all). But now you can purchase either model just like any other product, and both editions are eligible for Prime shipping; you may even be eligible for same-day delivery.

Amazon is reaching an entire audience that Sephora is probably not reaching,

Unafraid of concentration risk, Ackman channels billions into select names he believes are undervalued giants, as evidenced by past winners like Chipotle Mexican Grill ( ) and Hilton Worldwide Holdings ( ). His strategy prioritizes quality management and long-term moats over diversification. In the first quarter, he launched a blockbuster stake in Uber Technologies ( ), acquiring 30.3 million shares worth $2.21 billion at the time - now valued at $2.8 billion and comprising 21% of his $13.7 billion portfolio. Yet, he hasn't added since, content with the position amid Uber's rally.

The superstar musician is the most-streamed artist in the world. She is the first to win album of the year at the Grammy Awards four times. Her Eras Tour generated more than $2 billion in ticket sales. And she has a net worth of $1.6 billion. She also has something valuable in common with Amazon, the Jeff Bezos-founded ecommerce giant that boasts a $2.5 trillion market capitalization.

In other company news, the firm announced in July that it deployed its 1 millionth robot while also deploying its new AI foundation model to power its robotic fleet. The robotics cycle is "early," according to Bank of America's analyst, who expects Amazon to leverage robots to reduce labor dependency, increase order accuracy and improve warehouse efficiency, driving material cost savings.

On Friday, a proposed class action was filed in Washington federal court against Amazon over a "bait and switch" in which the company allegedly misleads consumers into believing they've purchased content when they're only getting a license to watch, which can be revoked at any time....Lisa Reingold, who filed the lawsuit, says she bought Bella and the Bulldogs - Volume 4 on Amazon in May for $20.79 but soon lost access to the title.

While TVs might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Labor Day sales, retailers like and are offering steep discounts on brands like LG, Samsung, Hisense, and more. You can save up to 50% on premium-grade OLED models, cinema-sized 100-inch screens, and even ultra budget-friendly options from Insignia and TCL. I review TVs for ZDNET.

Amazon is preparing to launch a new tablet that could run on Android instead of its custom FireOS software, according to a report from Reuters. Multiple sources tell the outlet that Amazon plans to release the "higher-end" Android tablet as early as next year. Amazon currently powers its Fire tablets using a forked version of Android, forcing developers to create apps compatible with FireOS and distribute them on the Amazon App Store. The company's upcoming tablet could soon change this, potentially giving users access to a wider variety of Android features and apps.