Amazon.Com Inc - AMZN STOCK NEWS

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced new exclusive discounts for Prime members shopping at Amazon Fresh, both in-store and online. The expanded savings program includes:

• Up to 50% off on 8-15 rotating weekly grocery favorites
• 25% off on 1,200+ rotating grocery items from top brands
• 10% off on 1,700+ products from Amazon private-label brands

Additionally, Amazon introduced Amazon Saver, a new private-label brand offering affordable grocery essentials, mostly priced under $5. The company has also enhanced its online shopping experience with a simplified storefront, intuitive shopping zones, and convenient features like repeat items and recurring reservations for pickup and delivery.

Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) has chosen Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance operations for its Yamanashi Maglev Line, which will feature the world's fastest trains. JR Central is leveraging AWS's IoT, machine learning, and generative AI capabilities to improve track maintenance, predict equipment failures, and optimize worker deployment. The Super Conducting Maglev (SC Maglev) train, capable of speeds up to 500 km/h, will significantly reduce travel times between major cities. For instance, the Tokyo to Nagoya journey will be cut from 86 to 40 minutes.

JR Central is using Amazon SageMaker to build ML models for detecting equipment abnormalities and Amazon QuickSight for data visualization. The company plans to implement Amazon Bedrock for generating recommended actions based on equipment manuals and maintenance records. This collaboration aims to set new global standards for efficiency and safety in high-speed rail operations.

AWS has announced the general availability of AWS Parallel Computing Service, a managed service designed to simplify the setup and management of high performance computing (HPC) clusters on AWS. This service enables scientists and engineers to run scientific and engineering workloads at virtually any scale, accelerating innovation in areas like drug discovery, genomics, and weather applications.

Key features include:

• Easy cluster setup using Amazon EC2 instances
• Integration with Slurm, a popular open-source HPC workload manager
• Automatic scaling of simulations
• Reduced operational burden through managed service updates

The service is now available in multiple regions across the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific, with customers like Marvel Fusion, Maxar, RONIN, and The National Renewable Energy Laboratory already benefiting from its capabilities.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, offering customers greater choice for running workloads and securely storing data in Malaysia. This expansion reflects AWS's long-term commitment to meeting high demand for cloud services in the region. AWS plans to invest more than $6.2 billion (approx. MYR 29.2 billion) and support an average of over 3,500 full-time equivalent jobs annually in Malaysia through 2038.

The new region consists of three Availability Zones, providing high availability and fault tolerance. It is expected to add approximately $12.1 billion (MYR 57.3 billion) to Malaysia's GDP. Active customers in Malaysia include Bursa Malaysia, CelcomDigi, GX Bank Berhad, PayNet, and PETRONAS, among others.

AWS continues to invest in upskilling Malaysia's workforce, having trained over 100,000 individuals in cloud skills since 2017. The company is also committed to sustainability, aiming for net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040 and water positivity by 2030.

Amazon Games and Glowmade have announced King of Meat, a co-op combat game coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Nintendo Switch. Set in the world of Loregok, players battle through ridiculous dungeons in a wild survival game show. The game features hacking, slashing gameplay for 1-4 players, with customizable characters and the ability to create and share custom dungeons.

King of Meat combines high fantasy with modern celebrity culture, offering players the chance to impress audiences with combat skills and showmanship. The game includes a variety of outlandish obstacles and enemies, from lava-filled rooms to exploding ducks. Players can also build their own dungeons using the same tools used to create the game's levels.

Fubo Sports Network, owned by FuboTV Inc. (NYSE: FUBO), has expanded its distribution in Canada through a partnership with Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime Video Channels. This marks the first time the sports network is available outside of Fubo's platform in Canada, making it accessible to Prime members nationwide. The network offers over 1,000 live events annually, including exclusive Premier League soccer matches and content from various sports leagues.

The collaboration aims to provide Canadian sports fans with premium content and exclusive live events. Fubo Sports Network's programming includes soccer, MMA, and partner content from leagues like Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, The Professional Fighters League, and World Poker Tour.

Iberdrola, a leading clean energy company, has chosen AWS as its preferred cloud provider for generative AI workloads. The partnership aims to drive innovation and sustainability in the energy sector. Iberdrola will utilize AWS technologies like Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker to develop over 100 generative AI applications through their Center of Excellence.

These applications will enhance customer experiences, support employees, and improve business processes. Key initiatives include:

• A generative AI platform for workforce access to foundation models
• AI-powered legal document analysis
• AI assistants for field maintenance workers
• Voicebots for sales teams
• A next-generation data platform to optimize renewable energy assets

By leveraging AWS's generative AI capabilities, Iberdrola aims to streamline operations, personalize customer interactions, and drive the energy transition forward with smart grids and renewable energy solutions.

IMDbPro and ReFrame awarded the ReFrame Stamp for gender-balanced hiring to 77 of 200 most popular TV and streaming series of 2023-24. This represents 38.5% of the series, a decrease of 8.5% from last year and 20% from the peak in 2020-21. The Stamp recognizes productions with at least 50% of key roles filled by women or gender-diverse individuals. Additional points are given for hiring women of color and achieving overall gender parity in crews.

This year, women lost ground in nearly every position analyzed. The report highlighted a significant drop in women portraying lead roles, from 54% last year to 41% this year. Women directed 25.5% and wrote 32.4% of pilot episodes. Notably, Amazon MGM Studios had a high percentage (60.9%) of its series meeting the ReFrame Stamp criteria. The Emmy-nominated series include Abbott Elementary, Fallout, Hacks, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Reservation Dogs, and The Bear.

The ReFrame TV Stamp aims to promote equitable hiring practices and is awarded to series meeting these standards, encouraging ongoing commitment to gender equity in the industry.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported strong Q2 2024 financial results, with net sales increasing 10% to $148.0 billion. Operating income rose to $14.7 billion, while net income reached $13.5 billion or $1.26 per diluted share. The company saw growth across all segments, with AWS sales increasing 19% year-over-year. Amazon's free cash flow improved significantly to $53.0 billion for the trailing twelve months. The company highlighted progress in AI initiatives, including new features for consumers and expanded AWS offerings. Amazon also secured streaming rights for NBA games and reported success with original content on Prime Video.