Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. A year later, an online store opened, which today is one of the largest online retailers in the world. The billionaire will leave his post on Monday. What will change in the company?
Andy Yassy, who joined the Amazon team in 1997 and led the cloud division of Amazon Web Services, will take the position of CEO. Bezos himself plans to participate in important projects of the company. He said that he intends to devote more time to his charitable foundations, as well as to the aerospace company Blue Origin.
Plus two values
The company has been operating 14 corporate values for a long time. On Thursday, this list was supplemented with two more:
- Strive to be the best employer on Earth.
The principle is based on Bezos' promise to create conditions and values for employees, not just for customers. Recently, the company has been facing injuries to warehouse employees and is in conflict with trade unions.
- Success and scale imply high responsibility.
The company is criticized for the fact that in pursuit of the interests of customers, it overlooked important global issues, including concern for the environment.
"The company is big and affects the world, and Amazon is far from perfect - "the corporation explains its new principle. - The company should be modest and take care even about the side effects of its actions. Local communities, the planet and future generations need the company to become better every day?"
Petition to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Amazon has asked that any claims against the company, including the expected agreement to buy the MGM film studio, not be considered under the leadership of the new FTC representative Lina Khan.
"Chairman Khan has largely built her academic and professional career by declaring Amazon responsible for violating antitrust laws," Amazon's petition to the FTC says. "Given her long list of similar statements about Amazon and her repeated statements that Amazon violates antitrust laws, a reasonable observer can conclude that she can no longer impartially consider the company's antitrust remedies."
The FTC declined to comment. In its petition, Amazon said that it respects the FTC's role in ensuring compliance with antitrust laws and understands that it, as a large company, "will and should be subjected to a thorough audit."
What else
With the departure of Bezos, the company has many unresolved issues. All of them are related to new business areas that can become growth drivers for stocks.
- In mid-May, the company announced that this summer its Amazon Care telemedicine program will be extended to all employees in the United States and their families. Telemedicine has become especially popular against the background of the pandemic and this direction has potential in the long term.
- The AWS cloud direction still has huge potential. The service business is highly profitable and already provides a significant share of Amazon's revenue. Continued development is becoming another long-term growth driver.
- The market of medicines. Last November, the Amazon Pharmacy project was launched, which has achieved significant success. The new division will provide discounts to Prime members.
- Video and music streaming services continue to gain momentum, and the deal with MGM will help the company strengthen its position.
- Advertising. Against the background of the pandemic, the number of online store customers has increased, and the Amazon website has become one of the most popular places for advertisers. In 2021, advertising revenue may become one of the key drivers.
Technical picture
The growth in Amazon shares stopped at the beginning of September last year. Since then, the shares have been moving within the sideways range of $3000-3500 and periodically try to get out of this framework. The last unsuccessful attempt to pass $3,500 was in mid-June, now the securities are being adjusted.
There is no overbought on the daily and weekly RSI, which means that the upward trend may continue. The price is still above the 21-day moving average-about $3380. If this level is passed from top to bottom, the decline may accelerate to $3,300.
The long-term outlook looks moderately positive, and to continue the upward trend, you need to gain a foothold above $3520-3560, then the road will open to levels above $4000.
42 out of 49 analyst recommendations for purchase, the average target is $4274, and the range varies within $3775-5500. Since the beginning of the year, Amazon shares have grown by 5.4%, and over the past 12 months they have added 19.3%.