this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. closing in on a trillion dollar valuation: amazon sales surge again, and so does the wealth of the boss — already far and away the richest person on the planet. plus political economy: are strong us growth figures a triumph for trump or a bubble about to burst? and on the markets asian shares struggling to gain any ground after a mixed session on wall street. that 20% slump in facebook shares weighing on the us market despite the deal to avert a trans—atlantic trade war. hello there. we start with amazon. from online bookstore to retail, media and data giant,

and all—round titan of the internet — its march towards becoming a trillion dollar company continues after another huge quarter of earnings. let's show you the details. amazon made revenues of almost $53 billion in the three months to the end ofjune — up 39% on the same time last year. $2.5 billion of that was profit — the most it's ever made in a quarter — as it normally reinvests most of what it makes. shares have surged in recent months. they are up 58% this year and 500% since 2015. that's pushed up amazon's stock market value by $300 billion since the beginning of the year to $890 billion — now second only to apple as the most valuable company. they are both closing in on that magic trillion dollar valuation. and it's made founder

and boss jeff bezos far and away the richest person on the planet, with a net worth of $150 billion. that's almost twice as rich as number two, warren buffett. how does he get by? as our north american tech correspondent dave lee reports. there was a time when amazon was just an online store, but now it is more accurate to call it an empire. some estimates suggest half of all sales online in the us go via amazon. any physical world, they make $4.3 billion, thanks mostly to its ownership of whole foods. but if there is one thing is that —— if there is one thing is that —— if there is one thing that can stop it, it is washington. some have raised concerns about its thomas —— dominance and power. —— whole foods.

donald trump has asked for enquiries. but some have suggested this could be because the beatles also owes the washington buys. —— steve bezos. hedley aylott is ceo of online retail consultants summit —— summit. they competing services seems to be where they do pretty well. yes, very clever. in 2006, they entered into the market before anyone thought of it. they now own 50% of that market. the important part is that it is highly profitable for them with massive margins. very sticky. at i.i would like to make is that many of their competitors are actually fuelling amazon's growth because they actually use their cloud

computing. so amazon taken their competitors in two ways, which is a clever strategy. indeed. another thing they seem to have done which is right is that they seem to have managed to get people to willingly pay for a premium service, the brian service. this is the most painful loyalty scheme in the world when people consider it free delivery. typically they are paying £90 a year. they need to make 15 deliveries are yet to make it pay. of course they get other services, but people perceive it is great value. the other thing there is that the things that make e—commerce important and effective our free delivery and payment. by buying prime come at it means that they have the frictionless service. a lot more people like to buy from them because of steve bezos. let us talk about them being the first company to reach the $1 trillion market

valuation. the danger with that is that once a cavity size to get out the cover is asked to get the attention of regulators and competition creeps in and becomes very clear that donald trump is not afan of very clear that donald trump is not a fan of amazon. do you think it could almost be a poisoned chalice for them? the issue is it is a problem if it is not diversified. they competing growth, and they are not dominating the market. you have advertising revenues which are profitable and they are not a major play there. we are seeing growth in all parts of the world. so they may have a challenge in parts of their business in the states, but in other parts of the world, they will continue to dominate. and there will be on to dominate other sectors today where they are also not big players. they are disrupting machine and they can go anywhere in the world and do that. great to get your thoughts on that. let's stay in the us where the latest gdp figures are published later on friday.

they're expected to show the world's biggest economy growing at more than 4% in the three months tojune — the best showing for years. president trump has long boasted that he can deliver significantly higher growth than his predecessors. some economists though remain sceptical — as paul blake reports from new york. because right now, our country is dying at 1% gdp. we at 3.3% gdp. i see no reason why we don't go to 4%, 5%, and even 6%. we already hit at 3.2%, and i think we are going to be seeing fours and fives too. economic growth has been central to donald trump's message, both on the campaign trail and in the white house. gdp numbers will be announced tomorrow sometime. i do not know what they are but i think they are going to be terrific. and on friday, he may see a milestone he has long been waiting for. we are growing rapidly, we are going to get gdp number on friday that is going to be a very significant an impressive number.

some think in the 4%—5% zone. mr cudlow is not necessarily wrong — economists here are expecting gdp to top 5% for the first time since 2014. fears of paris have supercharged activity this quarter in a way that cannot and won't be sustained in the long—term. —— tariffs. the gdp, the highest in four years, i'm not going to complain about that. but this could be the bounce before the storm. businesses are talking about fears. it is showing up in sentiment readings. businesses are concerned and what would you do you knew that was going to cost more you buy today, and that is what we are seeing businesses doing.

whether the strong numbers are here to stay or not, if the reading is as expected to come in at about 4% or 596 expect trump to trumpet as he prepares for the mid—term elections. let's go to asia now where chinese telecoms giant zte reports earnings later. it was temporarily forced out of business after the trump administration banned us firms from trading as punishment for breaking sanctions on iran and north korea. sharanjit leyl is looking at this for us in singapore. is there any evidence that this armed them in their results? plenty of evidence. no surprise that a lot of evidence. no surprise that a lot of the analysts polled are expecting losses. their sales are expected to ta ke losses. their sales are expected to take a big dive from last year. and this is all as the firm assesses the damage from the band which a sense early supperfrom damage from the band which a sense early supper from doing damage from the band which a sense early supperfrom doing business with us companies and forced to two halt its operations. —— forested to

hold. and that is thanks to donald trump. —— forced it to halt its operations. and despite the ban, the outback for zte does not appear great, either, because hours ago, the us house of representatives passed a defence authorisation bill that really aims to rein in china's investments in the united states, and stops us government elements from using technology from foreign firms like zte. that would put question marks over government contracts with zte and huawei over security concerns. now let's brief you on some other business stories. the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier has ruled out allowing the uk to collect customs duties on its behalf, a key uk proposal for post—brexit trade. he said the eu would not delegate

"excises duty collection to a non—member." both he and uk brexit secretary dominic raab said progress had been made in talks but "obstacles" remained before reaching a deal in october. and now what's trending in the business news this morning. 0n forbes: on a bad day for facebook stock, mark zuckerberg's net worth plunges $15.4 billion. it says wednesday's earnings disappointment saw him drop from 3rd to 6th on their global rich list. 0n the wall streetjournal — papa john's founder takes legal action against pizza chain. john schnatter was ousted as boss after using a racial slur on a conference call. that is where we will leave the business reefing. —— briefing. here in the uk, police have appealed

for help to catch a man found guilty of killing a woman in a speedboat crash on the river thames. jack shepherd, who's on the run after skipping bail, will be sentenced today for the death of charlotte brown. this report from ben ando. december 2015 and jack shepherd ta kes december 2015 and jack shepherd takes his date, charlotte brown, for a late—night trip on the river thames on his speedboat. after reaching the houses of parliament, they turned back. moments later, the boat capsized after hitting something floating in the water. a police helicopter of the momentjack shepherd, who was clinging to the boat, was rescued. but charlotte brown, who like to be known as charlie, spent too long in the icy water, and died later in hospital. he had been warned previously that speeding on the river thames, and admitted not asking her to wear a

lifejacket. we were not wearing life jackets. there were two between the seats and the front, but we won't in any way. i didn't even ask if she could swim or anything. tests revealed the boat had falters steering. jack shepherd, who was bailed, went on the run. yesterday he was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence. he was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligencelj he was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence. i would ask anyone who knows where he is to contact police immediately. we are fully resolve to resolve this and ensure that charlotte's family gets the closure they are after. it is still on the run, he could be sent us still on the run, he could be sent us this morning in his absence. for manslaughter, the maximum term available to the judge, although it is rarely given, is one of life imprisonment. ben ando, bbc news, at the old bailey. coming up at 6:00am on breakfast, charlie stayt and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business

and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: coming home at last: the remains of soldiers killed in the korean war are being returned to the united states. a deadline passes for the us government to try and reunite families separated by donald trump's zero tolerance policy. thousands protest in poland, angry at the government's latest moves to reform thejudicial process. now it's time to look at the stories making the headlines around the world. we begin with bbc news online and the latest on brexit after the eu cast further doubt on british pm theresa may's controversial trading proposals. in bloomberg, trade tensions are easing between the us and the eu, but what about china? this story says relations

between washington and beijing are showing no signs of improvement. in the ft, and staying with the tariff story, the french stockmarket has emerged as the strongest in europe thanks in part to being mostly unaffected by trade tensions. the article says a little bit of luxury is also going a long way, as chinese demand for french brands helps the bourse along. looking at the daily telegraph, where the uk government is urging young people to go and get a job for summer. there's been a drastic decline in the number of teens taking holidayjobs and it's claimed many are missing out on vital skills for future workplaces. finally in business insider, brand tommy hilfiger launches a line of clothing bugged with smart chip technology, which tracks how often you wear the items and rewards wearers with gifts like vouchers and concert tickets. so let's begin.

with me is nina trentmann from the wall streetjournal. let's begin with the latest on brexit. it must be quite a blow for theresa may. she has been scrambling to coalesce her team around this proposal, and now it has blown out of the water within days by michel barnier. —— been blown out. of the water within days by michel barnier. -- been blown out. it is a tough one. this was a compromise which was hardfought. the white paper. now we are seeing the european union saying what it has set on previous occasions, that even though you want to, you cannot necessarily bend the rules. we have seen necessarily bend the rules. we have seen the eu say this before with regards to free movement