Seismic news out of Seattle yesterday, with Amazon founder and CEO informing employees that he’s stepping out of the top spot at the e-commerce giant this summer after a nearly 30-year run and transitioning “into the role of executive chairman, in a changing of the guard for one of the internet’s foundational companies.” Bezos will hand the reins to current cloud computing division CEO Andy Jassy, who’s already been handling “much of Amazon’s day-to-day business” in recent years - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Marketplace and Mashable and TechCrunch
Speaking of the ‘Zon, the company has reached an agreement with the FTC in which it will pay $62 million to resolve allegations that it “withheld tips to delivery drivers over a two-and-a-half year period” - NYTimes and TechCrunch and Law360
Market madness of late has thrown Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev back into the hot seat after the platform “abruptly curtailed its customers’ trading last week amid a frenzy in stocks such as GameStop, which were driven sky high by an army of online investors.” The episode is the latest in what’s become a “consistent pattern” that suggests Robinhood is “ill prepared to deal with issues as commonplace as technology glitches and trading hiccups,” let alone the existential crisis in which the start-up finds itself - NYTimes
A group of automakers including Toyota and Fiat Chrysler announced on Tuesday that it “would no longer try to block California from setting its own strict fuel-economy standards, signaling that the auto industry is ready to work with President Biden on his largest effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” - NYTimes
Senate Dems have laid the groundwork for a fast-tracked Covid relief bill, “using a budgetary measure that could eventually allow the measure to become law” through reconciliation on a simple majority vote - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Tesla is recalling some 135,000 vehicles over failures with its touch screens in its Model S and X cars. The recall follows a request for the same by NHTSA last month - WSJ
Uber will pay $1.1 billion to acquire Drizly, an alcohol delivery service as part of the ride-hailing company’s “aggressive push to expand its booming delivery business during the pandemic” - NYTimes and WSJ
Google posted a record $56.9 billion in revenue in Q4, thanks in large part to the company’s advertising units that “reflected a continuing recovery in global ad spending that took a hit in early 2020 when people paused travel plans and other purchases in response to the coronavirus pandemic” - WSJ and Marketplace
SPAM-maker and Skippy peanut butter owner Hormel foods is closing in on a deal to purchase the Planters snack business from Kraft Heinz for a reported $3 billion - WSJ and Bloomberg
Jack Ma’s Ant Group has reportedly come to an agreement with Chinese regulators on “a restructuring plan that will turn [the] fintech giant into a financial holding company, making it subject to capital requirements similar to those for banks.” The deal is likely the first step Ant needed to again move forward with its halted IPO plans - Bloomberg
The White House has reinstated tariffs on aluminum imported from the UAE, reversing a decision to lift them the outgoing administration made on its last day in office. The tariffs are “designed to protect American producers, which have struggled to compete with low-priced foreign products,” but news of the reinstatement “disappointed industries and businesses that have argued the tariffs raise costs” - NYTimes
As Jeffy steps [slightly] out of the spotlight at Amazon, it’s as good a time as any to take a trip back to 1999 with 60 Minutes for a sit-down with the laugh-happy and less-swole Amazon founder, old Honda and all - CBSNews
Stay safe,
MDR
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