Skip to main content

Amazon

Once a modest online seller of books, Amazon is now one of the largest companies in the world, and its former CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the world’s most wealthy person. We track developments, both of Bezos and Amazon, its growth as a video producer, the popular Prime service, as well as its own hardware, which includes the Amazon Kindle e-reader, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, and Amazon Fire TV streaming boxes.

S
Youtube
Stevie Bonifield
Alexa Plus tries to kill Chris Hemsworth in Amazon’s Super Bowl ad.

Hemsworth’s latest action scene isn’t in an Avengers movie, but a stand-off with Amazon’s AI assistant, which he fears is planning elaborate ways to kill him. Maybe Ultron is still fresh in the Thor actor’s mind. It’s far from the only ad for AI in this year’s Super Bowl.

E
External Link
Emma Roth
Amazon plans to spend $200 billion in 2026.

CEO Andy Jassy told investors that the investment will go toward accomodating the “very high demand” for AI workloads on AWS. Amazon reported earning $213.39 billion in the last quarter of 2025, with AWS making up $35.58 billion.

J
External Link
Jess Weatherbed
Content creators are now driving The Grand Tour.

While Top Gear has spent years trying to replace Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond with mainstream celebrities, Amazon is instead appeasing British broadcasting execs’ obsession with online content creators. The Grand Tour season 7 presenters are viral trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, who run the Throttle House YouTube channel.

R
External Link
Richard Lawler
Jeff Bezos used to be proud of the Washington Post.

At NiemenLab, Laura Hazard Owen shows how Jeff Bezos’ statements have changed since purchasing it in 2013. From curiosity at the start and “genuine” but corny bits like #democracydiesindarkness, to the abandoned endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024 and last year’s cancellation-driving changes.

Today, sweeping layoffs of 300-plus sliced its sports desk, international reporters, tech reporters (including its Amazon reporter), and others. Former EIC Marty Baron called it one of “the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.”

E
External Link
Emma Roth
AT&T is working with Amazon’s Starlink competitor to expand its network.

The partnership will allow AT&T to use Amazon Leo — the ecommerce giant’s low Earth orbit satellite network — to deliver fixed broadband services to businesses. Amazon launched its gigabit-speed Leo Ultra antenna last November, but it’s only available for commercial use for now.

A
Youtube
Andrew Webster
An introduction to the wasteland.

Ahead of the finale for Fallout season 2 next week, Amazon has started dropping episodes of the first season on YouTube so you can get a taste of the post-apocalyptic series for free. That finale, meanwhile, will be available a little early, streaming at 9PM ET on February 3rd.

J
Jay Peters
The head of Amazon Game Studios is leaving.

Amazon announced in October that it would be ditching MMOs and cranking out party games, and now Hartmann is departing, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports. We spoke with Hartmann in 2021 about Amazon’s gaming strategy at the time; things have changed since then.

T
Thomas Ricker
Amazon shutters palm reading tech for retail.

The closure of its physical Amazon Go and Fresh stores also brings an end to the Amazon One palm ID service by June 3rd for retail locations, including over 500 Whole Foods stores, with all biometric data deleted. Amazon One will continue to function at healthcare facilities “until further notice.”

An image showing someone hovering their palm over Amazon’s scanner
Image: Amazon
T
Quote
Thomas Ricker
Amazon is cutting another 16,000 jobs.

The previously-rumored cuts follow an accidental calendar invite sent last night. They come after 14,000 corporate jobs were cut in October, attributed partially to advances in AI. This latest round of layoffs is less than 5 percent of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate workforce.

We’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.

T
External Link
Terrence O'Brien
Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, and AMD CEO Lisa Su are at the White House for a VIP screening of the Melania doc.

If you’re wondering what kind of access a gold-and-Gorilla-Glass statue, a $1 million donation, and endless fawning buys you, well, it gets a special advanced screening of a state-sanctioned propaganda documentary film about the First Lady. Okay, it buys more than that, this is just a nice bonus.

J
External Link
Jay Peters
Amazon could lay off “thousands” of employees next week.

They could start as early as Tuesday, Reuters reports. The cuts would follow Amazon laying off 14,000 corporate jobs last October.

C
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Who, exactly, is asking for more He-Man in 2026?

The new trailer for Amazon MGM’s live-action Masters of the Universe film starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as Skeletor raises a few questions, like, why does this exist? Who is it for? Will anyone actually see the movie when it hits theaters on June 5th?

Here are the best Kindle deals right nowHere are the best Kindle deals right now
Brandon Widder and Sheena Vasani
S
Stevie Bonifield
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft’s Fig colorway is almost here.

The new red-purple hue will be available on January 28th, adding a more vibrant alternative to the original “Graphite” version we reviewed last month. However, it looks like the “Fig” color will only be an option for the more expensive $679.99 64GB version of the Scribe Colorsoft.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

The “Fig” version of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft with its matching pen in front of a brown background.
Image: Amazon
S
External Link
Sheena Vasani
Microsoft’s shutting down Word’s built-in Send to Kindle feature.

After February 9th, it will discontinue support for the button that has let Microsoft 365 users send Word docs from within the app to devices like the Scribe for reading and annotation, ever since it was added in 2023.

You can still send Word documents to your Kindle, but you’ll need to use Amazon’s official Send to Kindle tool via its website instead.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Send to Kindle from Microsoft Word is Discontinued - Good e-Reader

[Good e-Reader - The latest news on e-readers and e-paper]

M
External Link
Mia Sato
Is your product on Amazon without you realizing?

Small businesses told Modern Retail they were shocked to find their products for sale on Amazon without their consent as part of a “Buy For Me” feature the retail giant announced in 2025. Some sellers actively choose not to associate with Amazon; others found errors in listings on the platform, or that Amazon was selling out-of-stock items.

It’s part of a larger push by retailers into AI-powered agentic shopping — that’s now causing headaches for humans.

E
External Link
Elissa Welle
‘Amazon Basics’ AI models.

That’s what some AWS employees call the company’s own AI model Nova due to its lackluster performance compared to other commercial models, Amazon insiders told The Information. Company leaders are reportedly starting to worry about how reliant AWS’s flagship AI products, such as Rufus and Kiro, are on Anthropic’s AI models.

E
Emma Roth
Ring is launching an app store.

You’ll soon be able to browse through third-party integrations that can add more features to your camera. Meld, for example, uses your Ring camera to analyze your dog’s behavior and alert you to anything concerning, while PoolScout can send real-time notifications before an unattended toddler or pet reaches your pool.

Ring says the new store will be available within its app in the “coming weeks.”