Amazon Prime Day isn’t the catalyst it used to be

• July 11, 2023

Amazon.com Inc.’s annual Prime Day shows that e-commerce isn’t the driver it once was for the stock, as investor focus shifts to the company’s faster-growing and profitable cloud-computing unit.

In the past four years, the stock has fallen in the week of the two-day sale in which the retail giant discounts swathes of items. The first four years beginning in 2015 saw Amazon shares average a gain of more than 2% in the week of the event, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The focus on cloud computing has only increased as Amazon Web Services grew into the company’s main source of operating income, amid greater investor scrutiny over who stands to benefit most from the rollout of artificial intelligence applications.

“Most people invest in Amazon for both” e-commerce and AWS, Eric Clark, portfolio manager at Accuvest Global Advisors, said in an interview. But with “AI being part of the conversation kind of almost every minute of every day, it’s clearly the AWS opportunity and the potential AI implications” that’s proving to be more attractive.

Prime Day, which began Tuesday, is likely to generate about $5 billion of incremental revenue this year, according to JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth. While that would be up 13% from last year, the pace of growth has slowed steadily each year since a 30% increase in 2020, Anmuth wrote in a recent research note.

Even though Amazon’s retail business accounted for almost two-thirds of sales last year, the faster-growing AWS unit was responsible for all of the company’s $12.2 billion in operating profit. While growth at AWS slowed to a record low in the first quarter, analysts are optimistic that demand for so-called generative AI applications is poised to reinvigorate sales.

Amazon shares have rallied 55% this year, as the company works to slash expenses in part by eliminating at least 27,000 jobs. Despite the advance, it’s still about 30% below its 2021 peak.

In April, Amazon unveiled generative AI technology aimed at cloud customers as well as a marketplace for AI tools from other companies. It’s also investing $100 million to help customers develop and deploy new kinds of AI products as it competes with the cloud computing units of Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.

“Prime Day will be a good branding opportunity to capture not only sales, but new customers into the Amazon web,” said Sylvia Jablonski, co-founder and chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs. “However, the future for Amazon is very likely in AWS and its participation in the innovation and growth of AI.”

©2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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What’s up with Amazon’s invite-only Prime Day deals?

• July 11, 2023

Amazon’s Prime Day sales event starts Tuesday, but some shoppers have been browsing deals for weeks — hoping to snag an invite-only discount.

Part of an ever-expanding Prime Day, Amazon rolled out a new, invitation-only deals program ahead of this year’s sale. The program allows customers to request an invitation to purchase discounted items that Amazon expects might sell out, including things like a Fire TV or noise-canceling headphones.

There are a limited number of products available through the invitations, Amazon says, and once an invitation is in hand, customers have until the end of the two-day sales event to make the purchase, a spokesperson said.

The invitations have been available for browsing for the last three weeks, Amazon said. Customers will no longer be allowed to request most invitations at the start of Prime Day but some deals may have extended periods, the company added.

To secure an invite, customers click a yellow button on an item’s product page. Shoppers can only request one invite for a product and can only purchase one of those products if they do get an invitation. Customers can request invites for several different products. Amazon will notify customers if they have gotten the invite.

It’s not yet clear how many customers requested invitations.

Lesley Hensell, the co-founder of Riverbend Consulting, which works with third-party sellers on Amazon’s digital marketplace, expects Amazon may be testing out the invitation-only deals this year as a beta-type program and looking to expand in the future.

“Amazon builds a lot of things in flight,” she said. “The plane is already off the ground and they’re still building.”

She compared the new offering to the evolution of Prime Day since Amazon first rolled it out in 2015. At the start, there was a lot of confusion among sellers and not a lot of information from Amazon. Now, “it’s like a well-oiled machine,” she said.

Since 2015, Prime Day has continued to expand in length, discounts offered and ways to shop. It grew from a 24-hour event in its first year to 30 hours in 2017, 36 in 2018 and 48 in 2019, according to research from analysts at J.P. Morgan & Co.

The sale was first offered in nine countries and has now expanded to 24, the analysts found. Amazon grew the number of discounts offered from thousands in 2015 to hundreds of thousands in 2017, over 1 million in 2018 and over 2 million in 2021.

Analysts from J.P. Morgan expect this year’s Prime Day will generate $7 billion of revenue for Amazon, up 12% from the roughly $6.2 billion Amazon brought in from the 2022 sales event.

In a report ahead of the sale, the analysts touted Amazon’s faster delivery speeds for Prime members as a selling point that would drive customers to the platform this year. But, they cautioned “macro headwinds” could continue to put pressure on consumer spending.

In 2022, Amazon said it sold more items during its Prime Day event than any other year, totaling 300 million that year. Ahead of the 2023 event, Amazon said it’s now offering more deals than any other Prime Day event. It plans to drop new deals every 30 minutes “during select periods,” according to a news release.

Last year, Amazon also added a second sales event — Prime Early Access — in October that offered a similar day of discounts and kick-started the holiday shopping season.

Hensell, from Riverbend Consulting, expects sellers to be “champing at the bit” to get a product listed through the invitation-only program because it would make their listing even more visible to consumers.

“Competition on Amazon is really fierce right now and a lot of sellers are struggling,” Hensell said. “Any opportunity to blow out some inventory they overstocked or to try to sell a lot of units. … (The sellers) want it so badly they can taste it.”

©2023 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Annual crime report shows Californians’ fear of increasing crime is justified

• July 11, 2023

Political officeholders at all levels and of all ideological stripes habitually pursue a time-dishonored practice when releasing data.

If it’s positive, politicians try to maximize its importance with lavish news conferences and self-congratulatory declarations.

If, on the other hand, the data have a negative cast, they will be released quietly, often late on a Friday afternoon, to minimize media coverage.

California’s annual report on crime was released this year on the Friday before what for many would be a four-day, Fourth of July holiday weekend. That’s a tipoff that it would not be good news – and, in fact, it received minimal media attention.

The 2022 report revealed that the state’s violent crime rate increased by 6.1% since 2021, and property crime was up 6.2%. Homicides dipped very slightly, but robberies jumped by 10.2%.

Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a low-key statement with the data release, saying, “While crime rates remain significantly below their historical highs, property and violent crimes continue to have devastating consequences for communities across the state, and gun violence remains a major threat to public safety.”

One can be certain that had California seen a drop in crime in 2022, Bonta would have trumpeted it as loudly as possible.

Let’s be clear: Neither Bonta nor any other attorney general can have more than a marginal effect on crime rates. Nevertheless, their campaigns often depict themselves as the state’s top cop and imply that they do have such authority.

Why crime rates ebb and flow is the subject of never-ending academic and political debate – and is colored by equally erratic public concerns about being victimized.

At the moment, Californians’ worries about crime appear to be on the upswing, as indicated by one of the Public Policy Institute of California’s periodic polls, conducted just before last fall’s election.

“Californians’ perception of crime spiked during the pandemic – as did certain types of crime,” PPIC found, adding, “nearly two in three Californians call violence and street crime in their local community a problem. This includes 31% who call them a big problem, a noticeable increase from February 2020 (24%).”

The poll found that among racial and ethnic groups, Black Californians expressed the highest level of concern about crime, women were more concerned than men, and Republicans more than Democrats or independent voters.

The data released on June 30 imply that those concerns are rooted in fact. Crime did increase sharply last year, particularly robberies, and it has not gone unnoticed in the media.

The proliferation of cameras in stores and in the hands of cellphone owners has produced a never-ending supply of crime video snippets, such as smash-and-grab invasions of stores, for television newscasts, which then reverberate on YouTube and other online outlets.

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Just a few days after the crime report release, for example, a San Francisco TV station aired video of criminals breaking into a Bay Area visitor’s rental car in broad daylight, stealing the contents and driving away.

Bonta and the man who appointed him attorney general before he won reelection in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom, have pursued somewhat ambivalent postures about crime. They lament its effects on victims and take some public crime-fighting steps while championing criminal justice reform to reduce traditional punishment of those caught breaking the law.

A day before the crime data were released, Newsom dispatched more California Highway Patrol officers to battle open air drug dealing in San Francisco, a city he once governed as mayor.

In decades past, spikes in crime have had major impacts on California’s political atmosphere – helping Republicans become dominant in the 1980s, for example.

Were crime to continue its currently upward path, it could once again become a game-changing political factor.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

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Clippers use strong start to beat Kings for 1st summer league win

• July 11, 2023

LAS VEGAS — Jordan Bowden came off the bench to score 13 of his 18 points in a dominant first half and the Clippers eased past the Sacramento Kings, 80-70, on Monday night to even their record in summer league play.

Bowden shot 7 for 9 from the field, including 4 for 6 from behind the arc, and helped the Clippers open a 44-25 lead by halftime.

Kobe Brown, the last pick of the first round (No. 30 overall), started and contributed 12 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers (1-1). Brown was 5 for 14 from the field (1 for 6 from long range) in 30 minutes. Second-round draft pick Jordan Miller also started, finishing with six points and three rebounds in 26 minutes.

Veteran Xavier Moon scored 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting to go with five rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocked shots in 29 minutes. Moussa Diabate added five points and team-high nine rebounds in 24 minutes.

Two of three second-round picks played for the Kings (1-1). Colby Jones started and had team-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds. Jalen Slawson had two points and three assists off the bench. Keon Ellis pitched in with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

The Clippers’ next game is Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. against Memphis. They also play Friday afternoon (vs. Philadelphia, 1:30 p.m.) before one more game against an opponent to be determined at a day and time to be announced.

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Superstar NFL QB Josh Allen pays $7.2 million for Dana Point house

• July 11, 2023

Buffalo Bills’ star quarterback Josh Allen is the owner of a 2,808-square-foot house in Dana Point’s guard-gated Monarch Bay.

According to a person familiar with the July 5 deal who asked not to be identified, the 6-foot-5-inch NFL player bought the house for $7.2 million, paying 4% less than the initial $7.5 million asking price.

The single-story beach house completed in 1962 and updated, sits on a flat, quarter-acre lot. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

Even as they extend the open, airy floor plan to the outside, the house is secure from prying eyes.

Large pavers cut a path to the front glass door inside the gated courtyard.

The foyer forks off to different areas of the home, including the dining room to the right. Behind the foyer is the family room with a black brick fireplace and built-in cabinets. The kitchen is small and streamlined.

A large lawn dominates the backyard, with ample room for a future pool or home expansion. As the listing reads, you can “enjoy this amazing beach home the way it is or design your future dream home.”

The Monarch Bay neighborhood surrounds a members-only beach club with resort-style amenities such as tennis and golf nearby.

Philip Immel and Ryan Immel of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realy held the listing. Andy Stavros of Douglas Elliman of California represented Allen.

Allen, 27, is among the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. In August 2021, he signed a six-year, $258 million extension that puts him under contract with the Bills through 2028. He is also an avid golfer.

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Home Run Derby: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. edges Randy Arozarena; Dodgers’ Mookie Betts struggles

• July 11, 2023

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

SEATTLE — Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. joined Vladimir Sr. to become the first father-son duo to win the All-Star Home Run Derby, beating Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena 25-23 in the final round on Monday night.

Guerrero defeated Julio Rodríguez 21-20 in the semifinals after the Mariners star hit a record 41 in the first round in front of his hometown fans.

Batting against Blue Jays manager John Schneider, Guerrero was the last semifinalist to swing and the first finalist, setting a final-round record for homers to top the mark the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso set when he beat Guerrero 23-22 in 2019.

Vladimir Guerrero Sr. won the 2007 derby in San Francisco while with the Angels, beating the Blue Jays’ Alex Rios 3-2 in the final.

With Guerrero Jr. catching his breath while watching, Arozarena hit against Tampa Bay field coordinator Tomas Francisco. Arozarena started his final 30-second segment with 21 homers and had 23 with seven seconds left before hitting a line drive and a pop-up on his final swings.

“(Vladimir) obviously, the power that he has was incredible,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “For me, I felt good going into that round. But also he was able to get a minute of bonus time. I only had the 30 seconds of bonus time. He did a great job.”

On a night when Rodriguez had the home crowd on its feet during his electric opening round and Dodgers star Mookie Betts proved his prediction that he had no chance, Arozarena had the most overall homers over the three rounds, 82 to Guerrero’s 72. Arozarena overcame Luis Robert of the Chicago White Sox 35-22 in the semifinals. Robert hit the longest drive of the night, a 484-foot shot to left in the second round. That topped the high of 476 feet by Barry Bonds in the 2001 derby in Seattle.

Trying to become the youngest Derby winner at age 22, Rodríguez knocked out Alonso, a two-time champion who hit 21. Rodríguez beat Texas’ Corey Seager 32-24 in the first round last year at Dodger Stadium, then knocked out Alonso 31-23 before losing to then-Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto 19-18 in the final.

Arozarena beat Texas’ Adolis García 24-17 in the opening pairing before a crowd of 46,952 at T-Mobile Park. García is the godfather to Arozarena’s daughter, and the two jumped into each other’s arms during warmups.

Robert knocked out Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman 28-27 in the opening round. Rutschman hit 21 left-handed, and the switch hitter then turned around to the right side and hit six more right-handed during a 30-second bonus round. From Portland, Oregon, Rutschman grew up attending Mariners games.

Betts spent most of the past two weeks downplaying his chances in the event, and he was prophetic.

Betts, whose 26 home runs this season is tied for the third-most in the majors at the All-Star break, had cautioned that he has never been much of a home run hitter in batting practice-style settings.

Guerrero hit 26 home runs to begin their first-round matchup, batting before Betts. The 5-foot-9 Betts hit 11 in the initial three minutes of his round, then none during the 30-second bonus to end his night.

“You’ve gotta pull the ball, you gotta hit in the air to the left. Do not go to center,” Dodgers teammate J.D. Martinez told Betts during his round.

“I don’t know how!” Betts responded.

Betts’ total was the lowest of the eight participants.

Guerrero was participating for the first time in four years. Four years ago at Cleveland, he hit 29 in the first round and 40 in the second, then lost to Alonso in the final.

Alonso was trying for his third title in four years. Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. is the only three-time winner, taking the title in 1994, ’98 and ’99.

Only three players have won the title at home: the Chicago Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg in 1990, Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier in 2015 and Washington’s Bryce Harper in 2018.

The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts hits during the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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Angels star Shohei Ohtani’s free agency the buzz of the All-Star Game

• July 11, 2023

By TIM BOOTH AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE — At some point, Angels star Shohei Ohtani will entertain the idea of talking about his pending free agency, and what it could mean to the finances of baseball.

But that didn’t stop others from pondering what could happen this offseason when perhaps the most unique free agent in history hits the open market.

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez and Toronto pitcher Jordan Romano both tossed out $600 million as a suggested number. Baltimore outfielder Austin Hays offered everything in his theoretical wallet.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman simply called him a unicorn with a price that can’t be quantified.

“He’s going to get a lot of money and he deserves it. There’s no other player out there like him,” Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy said Monday. “I don’t know what I would do if I was in the position of having to sign him, but he’s incredible.”

The biggest attraction of Tuesday’s All-Star Game is also the biggest prize this offseason. With Ohtani’s Angels contract ending after this season, the two-way star is the desire of everyone in baseball with a checkbook big enough.

But quantifying how much Ohtani deserves isn’t simple or straightforward. How does one create a number that considers his value as a pitcher and a hitter?

“I think when he first came over to Major League Baseball, a lot of people were really saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna have to do one or the other. It’s really special the way you can do it right now, but how long can he do it?’” Philadelphia closer Craig Kimbrel said. “We’re still sitting here talking about him being best on both sides. It’s really fun to watch.”

Ohtani’s deal in free agency is likely to exceed anything baseball has previously seen in contract value, either in total over the life of the deal or average per season.

Whichever route Ohtani and his representatives at CAA choose, the winning suitor will be making a substantial financial commitment. The $426.5 million, 12-year deal signed by Angels star Mike Trout or the $360 million deal signed last offseason by New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge might look minor in comparison.

“As much money as I have. I’m giving him everything that I’ve got,” said Hays, the starting center fielder in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Ohtani was already going to get a staggering payday, but his performance during the first half of this season potentially added a little more paycheck. Ohtani hit the break with 32 homers and 71 RBIs, a 3.32 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 100⅓ innings, and a combined wins above replacement (WAR) of 6.0 per Fangraphs, the highest in baseball.

“As a fan of baseball, it’s just amazing to watch what he’s able to do,” Freeman said. “I know what it takes to be a hitter and how much work and preparation and mindset you’ve got to do to do that every single day. And this man, every five days, is pitching too. I don’t understand it. I don’t even know how to put a number on that. We’ll all find out together.”

Ohtani was swarmed by media on Monday and didn’t address any of the lingering unknowns of next season or the upcoming trade deadline, saying his focus is on helping the Angels win as much as possible.

Sandwiched in between the Ohtani circus and Seattle star Julio Rodríguez on the warning track of T-Mobile Park was Houston’s Kyle Tucker, having a terrific season in his own right.

“They get pretty much all the media and I just hang out here, so that’s kind of nice,” Tucker said.

Tucker has seen his share of Ohtani up close with the Astros and Angels both in the AL West. Tucker described playing against Ohtani as “fun, but tough at the same time.”

“Just that you’re facing Shohei, which is kind of fun,” Tucker said. “Whenever you have a very good pitcher out there on the mound that’s very competitive. It’s a little more fun.”

Fun is relative when it’s someone with the pitch arsenal of Ohtani. The same goes for any pitchers who have tried to find the gaps in Ohtani’s swing and avoid becoming part of his home run highlight reel.

“Every time he’s out there I’m trying to sneak a peek at him and watch him,” Boston closer Kenley Jansen said.

Dodgers catcher Will Smith might have summed it up best, noting that at age 29, Ohtani seems to be hitting his prime.

“It’s incredible what he’s doing,” Smith said. “He seems to keep getting better, which is more incredible, honestly.”

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this story.

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Northwestern fires football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing claims

• July 11, 2023

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university’s reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations.

Fitzgerald’s dismissal completed a rapid fall from grace for the former All-American linebacker, the star of the 1995 Northwestern team that won the Big Ten and played in the Rose Bowl after years of losing. The 48-year-old Fitzgerald had been firmly entrenched at his alma mater, an annual fixture on any list of college coaches with the most job security.

“The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team,” Northwestern president Michael Schill wrote in an open letter to the university community. “The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others.”

Fitzgerald went 110-101 in 17 seasons as Northwestern’s head coach. He led the Wildcats to Big Ten West championships in 2018 and 2020, plus five bowl victories. But they went 4-20 over his last two seasons.

Schill wrote in his letter that Athletic Director Derrick Gragg will announce “the leadership for this upcoming football season” in the next couple of days. The team’s season opener is Sept. 3 at Rutgers.

“I recognize that my decision will not be universally applauded, and there will be those in our community who may vehemently disagree with it,” Schill wrote. “Ultimately, I am charged with acting in the best interests of the entire University, and this decision is reflective of that. The damage done to our institution is significant, as is the harm to some of our students.”

Gragg was hired by Northwestern in June 2021. He got the job after Mike Polisky stepped down amid mounting criticism because he was named in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Big Ten school by former Wildcats cheerleaders.

Fitzgerald had been serving a two-week suspension after the school said Friday that an investigation by a law firm did not find “sufficient” evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing – though there were “significant opportunities” to find out about it.

Schill, who was the president of the University of Oregon before taking over Northwestern in September, said in his Monday letter that the report from ArentFox Schiff will remain confidential. But he wrote that, during the investigation, 11 current or former players acknowledged the hazing within the program.

“The hazing included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values,” Schill wrote.

After Northwestern announced its suspension for Fitzgerald, The Daily Northwestern published a story on Saturday detailing allegations from a former player who described specific instances of hazing and sexual abuse. The report also indicated that Fitzgerald “may have known that hazing took place.”

That led Schill to write a letter to the university community in which he acknowledged focusing “too much on what the report concluded (Fitzgerald) didn’t know and not enough on what he should have known.” Schill went on to say that he planned to speak with university leadership, members of the board of trustees and leaders of the faculty senate to determine his next steps.

“Since Friday, I have kept going back to what we should reasonably expect from our head coaches, our faculty and our campus leaders,” Schill wrote in Monday’s letter. “And that is what led me to make this decision.”

Because the six-month investigation was confidential, Schill said in Monday’s letter that he learned many of the details recently. He spoke with the complainant on Sunday after talking to the student’s parents on Friday.

Fitzgerald, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008, was hired to coach his alma mater in 2006 after the sudden death of then-coach Randy Walker.

Many current and former players rushed to Fitzgerald’s defense after the suspension was announced.

A letter circulated on social media, signed by “The ENTIRE Northwestern Football Team” without identifying an author, said that “throughout his tenure, Coach Fitzgerald has consistently prioritized the well-being and development of his players, and we stand behind him in his unwavering commitment to our team.”

Before Fitzgerald’s dismissal was announced by the school, The Daily Northwestern published a report that had three former Northwestern players describing a “culture of enabling racism.”

The turmoil within the football program comes after the school unveiled plans in September to build a new Ryan Field. The plans call for a state-of-the-art facility featuring a reduced seating capacity and greater emphasis on the fan experience.

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