Amazon

Jeff Bezos has completed the sale of 25 million Amazon shares, netting roughly $5.7 billion, according to an SEC filing. The sales, part of a prearranged plan initiated earlier this year, concluded on July 24th. Bezos’s divestitures coincided with his recent wedding in Venice. Amazon’s stock has risen 38% since late April. He has a history of selling Amazon stock to fund ventures like Blue Origin and plans to sell more shares before January 2025. Bezos currently ranks third on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Amazon’s 2023 Prime Day achieved record sales with members saving billions globally. Leveraging AI tools like Alexa+ for personalized recommendations and Rufus for conversational shopping, the event saw massive adoption of popular devices like Ring Doorbells and Fire Sticks. Significant growth occurred in grocery, healthcare via RxPass, and Prime Video integrations, driving deeper ecosystem lock-in. Exclusive member benefits like fast delivery and healthcare savings further solidified Amazon’s retail dominance. Analysts note the event’s strategy successfully monetizes consumer attention across its expanding ecosystem, delivering products to members in under 3 minutes in some areas.

Amazon is testing humanoid robots for package delivery, aiming to automate last-mile logistics. Leveraging technology from Chinese firms like Unitree Robotics, DeepSeek, and Alibaba, Amazon is building a simulated environment to assess robot performance in complex delivery scenarios. The initiative combines hardware and software to enhance robots’ capabilities, aiming to replace human delivery personnel and integrate robots with Rivian electric delivery vans. This move underscores the growing influence of Chinese technology in global automation.