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Alicia Boler Davis
Amazon has named three new executives, including the first Black member, to join its top leadership council known as the S-team. The company also announced the departure of Jeff Wilke, the top lieutenant to Jeff Bezos, who was widely viewed as a likely successor to be CEO.
Who's new:
- The new S-team executives are Alicia Boler Davis, a GM veteran and Amazon's VP of global fulfillment; e-commerce services VP Dave Treadwell; and delivery executive John Felton.
- Boler Davis is the first Black executive and fourth woman on Bezos’ leadership group, which historically has been largely white and male. The elite group, comprised of 26 members, manages day-to-day operations and meets regularly with Bezos to discuss important business matters.
- Following criticism of its lack of diversity, Amazon implemented a rule that it would add more women and people of color to fill vacancies on its board of directors.
Who's leaving:
- Wilke, Amazon’s second-highest-ranking officer alongside AWS head Andy Jassy, will retire early next year after spending 19 years with the company.
- He will be replaced by Dave Clark, Amazon senior VP for worldwide operations, who also started in 1999.
- Amazon has declined to comment on rumors that Wilke would be Bezos' successor.
- Wilke is also a member of the S-team. In a company memo, he said he's retiring "to explore personal interests that have taken a back seat for over two decades."
BLOOMBERG
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Four brothers from New York are charged with defrauding Amazon out of $19m by overshipping and overcharging for wholesale orders. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests of Yoel Abraham, Heshl Abraham, Zishe Abraham, and Shmuel Abraham last week. They each face a maximum of 50 years in prison.
More:
- From 2017 to 2019, the brothers allegedly opened wholesale businesses and then exploited Amazon's vendor systems to overship more products than the company had agreed on. They invoiced Amazon for the extra products, netting $19m out of an attempted $32m.
- For example, Amazon agreed to buy 12 canisters of a disinfectant spray for $94 per pack, but the four men allegedly sent 7,000 toothbrushes for $94 each, invoicing the company ~$658,200.
- Amazon eventually detected the overshipping and suspended their vendor accounts. However, the brothers opened new accounts and used VPNs to hide their links to the old accounts, the DoJ claims.
- In WhatsApp messages, the brothers discussed the scheme, writing "I'm so in the mood to f--- Amazon" and "Did anyone try to overship and make a million profit in a week?"
- They each face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Related:
WIRED
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Top deals on Amazon
We searched the web to find the biggest discounts right now, broken down by sale category:
Amazon's big summer sale
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Amazon says it would support a California bill that holds all stores and online marketplaces liable for faulty products. This comes after an appeals court ruled earlier this month that Amazon should be held liable for products sold on its website that turn out to be defective.
More:
- A bill in the California legislature, AB 3262, would require all electronic retail marketplaces to be held strictly liable for damages caused by defective products.
- Following this month's appeals ruling, Amazon policy guru Brian Huseman said the company now supports the bill if it was amended "so that all stores, including online marketplaces, are held to the same standards."
- This month's ruling from the California Fourth District Court of Appeals delivered a blow to Amazon, which previously avoided liability by claiming it is only a service provider. Amazon has vowed to appeal the ruling, which determined that it's liable for damages from a defective laptop battery sold to a San Diego resident, Angela Bolger, on its marketplace.
FOX BUSINESS
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Beth Duckett is a former news and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, who has written for USA Today, American Art Collector, and other publications. A graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, she won a First Amendment Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her original reporting on problems within Arizona's pension systems.
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Editor
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Jonathan Harris is a writer for Inside.com. Previously, he wrote for The Huffington Post, TakePart.com, and the YouTube channel What’s Trending.
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