Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

• Jeff Bezos has informed Amazon staff he is stepping down as CEO, after 27 years running the company he founded 
• In an email to staff he said he plans “to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives” - ie, use his enormous wealth to hang out with hollywood celebs 
• Taking over is the current head of AWS, Andy Jassy. This makes a lot of sense, as AWS went from a loss leader to one of the biggest services in the world, powering a lot of the sites you use every day. 
• Who is Andy Jassy, Amazon's next CEO?
• CNBC has a nice rundown of Andy, “In September, a column in the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, called Jassy the “clear heir apparent” to Bezos.”

Microsoft's Bing ready to step in if Google pulls search from Australia, minister says

• Microsoft has jumped into the Media code story. 
• On Monday, ScoMo joked he’d been on the blower to Satya Nadella, to discuss Bing filling the search engine void if Google left the market 
• At present Microsoft’s search engine Bing enjoys only 3.7 per cent market share in Australia, compared with Google’s 94 per cent.
• At best, Australians are lukewarm on Bing
• As those numbers show, most people don’t use Bing - and according to the Fin, the average punter is not happy to move. 
• Salon owners optimistic about future without Google, as tech giant threatens to leave Australia
• Although the Australian has a story about small business owners who think Google leaving may be a “blessing in disguise”, as so much time is devoted to SEO 
• Microsoft willing to accept new media bargaining code, unlike Google, Facebook
• And just to be even cheekier, Microsoft says it is happy to pay the media code. Clever move. 

Google Rides Global Ad Recovery to Record Revenue

• Google has reported its Quarterly earnings, and the company is doing alright 
• Google parent Alphabet Inc posted a record $56.9 billion revenue, up from $43.2 billion a year ago. 
• YouTube revenue soared 46% in the quarter, as advertisers flocked to the video-sharing platform amid the pandemic 
• Alphabet’s “Other Bets'' division, which is a combination of Google’s moonshot ideas, continues to burn money, but at a slower rate. The division lost $1.14 billion compared to $2.03 billion in Q4 2019. Alphabet reports Q4 2020 revenue of $56.9 billion

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.