Day 2: Everything Amazon

Has the past year convinced you that your family doesn't need multiple vehicles? Could you be persuaded to give up all of your cars? We may not be there yet as a society, but Jesse Levinson wants to get us closer to that reality.

A veteran in the world of autonomous vehicles, Levinson is the co-founder and CTO of Zoox, a Foster City, Calif., company developing its own electric, autonomous vehicle and robotaxi ride-hailing service. Levinson leads the company with CEO Aicha Evans. Zoox operates as an independent company inside Amazon after its acquisition last year.

On this episode of Day 2, GeekWire's podcast about everything Amazon, Levinson talks about the acquisition, Zoox's vision for environmental sustainability, and its larger goals in urban mobility

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Year-over-year quarterly growth of 44% would be significant for any company, but when the numbers were already this big, it starts to qualify as astonishing.

Amazon's sales of $108.5 billion in the first quarter compared with $75.5 billion a year earlier, setting a new record for the Seattle-based e-commerce giant and providing a glimpse of its strong position as the world emerges from the pandemic. Amazon is easing its spending on COVID-19 initiatives, but consumers' online purchasing habits appear to have permanently changed.

The result: its profits more than tripled, to $8.1 billion, from $2.5 billion a year earlier.

The impact of that structural shift on Amazon's bottom line is the big takeaway from its first-quarter results, released Thursday afternoon.

We break down the quarter on this episode of Day 2, GeekWire's podcast about everything Amazon, with GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook, and former third-party seller Jason Boyce, co-author of "The Amazon Jungle" and founder and CEO of e-commerce agency Avenue7Media. 

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Over the past two years, dozens of heavily-funded investment firms have formed with a singular purpose: Buying small companies that sell through Amazon.

In many ways, these so-called aggregators operate as mini private-equity firms. They quickly buy out popular mom-and-pop Amazon sellers, and then attempt to use their e-commerce expertise in marketing and logistics to drive additional revenue and profits across a wide range of brands.

There are now about 40 of these aggregators — with names like Perch, Thrasio and Cap Hill Brands — operating across the e-commerce landscape. And, in some cases, these buyers of Amazon sellers have hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank.

But is this a good business? On this episode of Day 2, our podcast about everything Amazon, we are venturing into a fascinating new corner of the e-commerce universe. Our guest is Ruben Amar, a former private equity investor at TA Associates who now leads Forum Brands, a 6th-month-old aggregator of Amazon sellers that’s already acquired a handful of businesses.

We're joined by our Day 2 podcast collaborator Jason Boyce, the founder of Avenue7Media, co-author of The Amazon Jungle and a former third-party seller on Amazon.

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In a public defeat for organized labor, a sizable majority of Amazon warehouse employees voted against unionization in Bessemer, Ala. in an election overseen by federal authorities Friday. But the process put a harsh spotlight on labor practices in the tech giant's fulfillment centers, and the company's anti-union tactics. In the larger scheme of things, was this really a win for Amazon? On this episode GeekWire reporter Mike Lewis and e-commerce consultant Jason Boyce talk with Margaret O’Mara, a historian, author and University of Washington professor who specializes in the history of tech and politics.

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A landmark effort to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer Alabama is putting the spotlight on working conditions in the company’s rapidly expanding distribution network and the future of the labor movement in the United States after a year of unprecedented growth for the company and challenges for the country. But it’s not the first time there’s been an effort to unionize part of Amazon’s workforce.

On this episode of the new Day 2 podcast from GeekWire, we go back to that first time, two decades ago, drawing parallels and insights from the past.   

Joining us on this episode is veteran journalist Mike Lewis, a new member of the GeekWire news team, but a familiar voice to many GeekWire listeners as a former KIRO Radio host and Seattle P-I reporter. Our guest is Marcus Courtney, a union organizer who helped to lead the effort two decades ago.

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What happens when Amazon makes its own, cheaper version of a product another company painstakingly developed? On the debut episode of Day 2, "Amazon Jungle" author Jason Boyce and GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop speak Peter Dering of Peak Design, whose company issued a savagely funny video mocking Amazon for knocking off its popular camera bag. As you'll hear, Dering's take on the issue is much more evolved and pragmatic than a sound bite on a news segment might suggest. 

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GeekWire is launching a new podcast, "Day 2," that will examine the impact of the company's business on the world. We'll do this through in-depth conversations with people directly involved, and with experts in the underlying issues. In this introductory episode, GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop, longtime business and technology journalists in Seattle, talk with podcast collaborator Jason Boyce, a former Amazon third-party seller and the co-author of "The Amazon Jungle," about the premise and goals of the new podcast.

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Amazon built an empire obsessing about its customers. Where does that leave its partners, competitors, communities, workers and the world? Coming soon from GeekWire: Day 2, a new podcast about Amazon and the future of everything else. In collaboration with Jason Boyce of Avenue7Media, author of "The Amazon Jungle."

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