“Amazon has changed my life. It's the best contract I've ever had. And I don't forget that they hired me despite some criminal records". Mrs. Esther Jackson, 50, a worker, finally gave Jeff Bezos some good news, a rare commodity these days: the e-commerce giant sinks on the Stock Exchange, 14 percent less on Friday after the quarterly from which it emerges a loss in the quarter of almost 4 billion and worse still, a future full of uncertainty: in the second quarter the colossus could lose another billion or gain three on a turnover that fluctuates by five billion (from 116 to 121 billion, according to company estimates).
Hard times for Big Tech: but Amazon takes revenge
Meanwhile, the enemy Elon Musk, protagonist in the space scuffles for contracts with NASA, towers over the Met Gala of fashion stars, stealing the attention of photographers after landing on Twitter and making fun of Rivian's flop (7,6 billion in capital losses) the electric car competitor of Tesla. But on Monday, after investing more than $5 million in public relations, Amazon took its revenge at the Staten Island LDJ5 warehouse. The workers, 618 votes to 380, rejected the proposal to create an American Labor Union union cell in the depot. A decision in contrast with what was decided a month ago by the employees of the LDJ8 depot after a bitter battle. In short, the union landslide is buffered. At the moment.
Big Tech in the crosshairs: the Faang model is under discussion
The sensation, not only with regard to Bezos, is in fact that the big names in technology, on and off the stock exchange, have now entered the crosshairs of criticism. Almost as if the next hike in US interest rates is not only destined to erode the profit margins of FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) but to question business models based on exponential growth which, in the eyes of critics, are above all the expression of monopolies whose profits go to the detriment of the competition. The situation at the beginning of the 900th century seems destined to repeat itself, when the energy and banking barons ended up in Washington's sights. With one difference: this time the European Union is also shooting against the big names, taking the field in recent days with the Digital Markets Act, the antitrust law that aims to limit the market power of large tech companies. In more ways. EU Commissioner Thierry Bréton has already anticipated that the new Twitter, if Elon Musk's takeover bid goes through, will have to deal with European rules that go in the opposite direction to its liberal/libertarian approach.
Meanwhile Apple ended up in the crosshairs of the European Antitrust. iPhone owners can make contactless payments by simply holding their device to a POS, but can only do so via Apple Pay. But this, ruled Commissioner Margrethe Verstagen"that's no good“: According to the indictment, Apple will have to grant third-party apps the possibility of using the NFC chip, present in its iPhones since 2015, to access the tap-to-pay functionality. A request that comes at a time when the Cupertino-based company faces growing pressure to "open" its iPhone to third-party App Stores as well (cpme ruled by a Korean court) and probably, also to make the iMessage service compatible with other messaging systems.
Nor is it better at Alphabet and Meta, (respectively ex Google and ex Facebook) sued by the Antitrust for an alleged agreement aimed at limiting competition in online advertising. A non-aggression pact that would allow them to maximize profits, causing damage to publishers who "rely on online advertisements to finance content for consumers". It is not the first time for Google, which has already been sentenced on appeal for 2,42 billion euros for abusing its dominant position with its comparison service.
The list is long, but it is easy to predict that it will continue to grow in the next few months: the kings of the new economy season seem condemned to pay the higher cost of investments (until now financed at almost zero interest by the markets) just as the pressure of the the economic crisis affects margins (the collapse of Netflix is exemplary, in free fall after losing 200 subscribers) and pressure from regulators, both in the US and in Brussels. The prediction is that, at least in the next few months, the Stock Exchange will only smile at those who are able to present solid profits, proof of rising rates.
