is it fair to pick on amazon?think there's always more do.k to do -- work t 7% ofe companies, only board seats are held by women. amazon is at 30%, but not at parity. there will always be more. emily: one of the issues that has been highlighted, the wall street journal just had a big story about founder control and the amount of control tech ceos have, special stock dispensations, special voting rights, influence over the company. we have seen how that can work in the wrong direction like at uber. is that part of the problem when it comes to the lack of board diversity? >> absolutely. we can think about that in a lot of different ways. ethnic, kurt jewell -- virtual -- ethnic, cultural, dispersion of power. dangerous, ass you pointed out. we have seen the report of that like at uber. i think it's very important the power remains distributed so the board can play its role in corporate governance and have oversight power. emily: a bank study found that while more startups are focused on diversity and inclusion math,

where is amazon winning, where is amazon losing? in the same for walmart. battlefield has become a commerce. walmarting back to how dropped the stores from their -- the battlefront has become e-commerce. it is being won through technology or law mark is going through a pretty massive dna change. they are going through -- they are acquiring companies like and they are putting foundations for how to fight with companies like amazon in the future through a dna change which will look very messy over the next decade or so. fromis -- amazon is coming a traditional angle of going with technologies and consumer flows. they don't have to do a g -- a dna change. that is their dna to get that on the heels of technology. amazon waging a war on prices across the board. can walmart keep up? guru: it will be hard for walmart to keep appeared walmart will have to shed a lot of money like they did $14 billion is a lot. and think about the price reduction. amazon hitting 100 million subscribers, that is literally 120 -- i'm sorry, 12 billion dollars in free cash flow coming

emily: i spoke with stephanie landry, the head of amazon prime now and also the head of amazon fresh. i asked her about to our delivery and how they can continue offering such a thing at such a low cost. take a listen to what she said. stephanie: our delivery is expensive. in order to think about cost, we are focused on efficiency. we have done efficiency in a number of ways. first, knowing where the customers are and where the demand patterns are helps a lot. next, we leverage a lot of the algorithms and logistics expertise that amazon has developed over the last 24 years. we are really great at bringing stuff to customers, so we think we have a lot of advantages to do well in this space and drive efficiencies, and then scale, getting customers to use product. those are the things we're focusing on to drive costs down. emily: brad, do you buy the argument that at a certain scale, they can drive the cost down? brad: oh, yes. that is the history of amazon supply chain. they introduce something like prime back in 2007, they take a massive loss on it because they , are guaranteeing two d

we will see how amazon response.g up, it is smaller than a football end zone, and it makes as much leafy greens as an entire football field. farm in a box is next. this is bloomberg. ♪ emily: the vertical farming market in 2016 was valued at somewhere between $1.5 billion to $2 billion, and it has people growing food in places like skyscrapers, warehouses, and shipping containers, which is doing.eight farms is caroline hyde looks at what it is like to farm in a box. ♪ caroline: this might look like your typical burger, topped with all the fixings, including that leafy-green lettuce, cooked and washed in brooklyn, farm to table greens, only it is a afferent kind of farm, 320-square-foot husk of a shipping container in the heart of downtown manhattan. it's called the leafy green machine, and it's the brainchild of boston-based freight farms. it is part of a new wave of vertical farming that is set to be a $6.5 billion industry by 2023. >> shipping containers were pretty much everywhere in the everything.cks and they ar

and amazon's next move. the retail threat to payment services such as paypal and if it is something to worry about. let's kick things off with a check of major averages. of thosecouping some losses. the dow is down one quarter of 1% at the lowest level in a month. careinancials and health are leading the decline and a few sectors are in green. >> investors are continued to read the tea leaves on that statement, and it has been up 11 of the last 13 sections. the canadian dollar is weaker. trade numbers on both sides of the border today. again, we have a small surplus, canada with the u.s. as you can see, the surplus narrowed slightly and we saw a massive jump in the numbers away from the u.s. nervousk was blunt with shareholders during a highly charged earnings call. he cut off analyst and got defensive about the finances. >> next, next. next. sorry. these questions are so to what -- so dry that they are killing me. do not buy if volatility is scary, there you go. >> joining us for more is tony, senior resear

tom: everyone wants to know about amazon. we talk a lot at bloomberg about amazon. going to get the second headquarters? gov. baker: i certainly think amazon will have a presence here one way or another. they have several thousand employees here. they are adding several thousand more. the building that is going to go up right down the street from here. i certainly think they appreciate what we bring to the table which is a wonderful selection of tech talent clusters, terrific environment generally. a great place to raise families and we have terrific public schools and great communities. i fully expect we will be in the hunt. tom: i want to follow up on that. when you were elected, we had that awful winter of 2015-2016, we all still remember it. gov. baker: some of us will never forget it. tom: that is true. you had pledged you would fix public transit, the mbta. i take the commuter rail into boston every day. i have delays, there are mechanical problems. i know there have been some improvements, but if we have amazon, are we going to be ready? gov. baker: today, i

as workers saying amazon founder jeff bezos' wealth increases $275 million every day meanwhile amazonkers have to rely on food stamps and public assistance to survive. this is what a rigged economy is all about. let's handle the privacy part. the facial recognition is happening at scale and they're charging very little, fractions of a penny, for each thousand scans. how does that change our lives >> yeah. first of all, i love this technology i think it's been around for a while. it's tested now. i think it's incredible. i think the idea of being able to scan large groups of people with a certain amount of certainty like they are now, is fantastic. the fact that amazon has brought the price down and made it accessible to police forces and other people, look, i think it's goodness anything that makes me more secure, make me sleep better at night. i understand the complaint from people that oh, they can track somebody, but the reality is, you can be tracked today you can be tracked through credit card, cell phone towers, if the government wants to find you, my friend, they're going to fi

is and amazon didn't offer, as i understand it $2 billion more and they said no. >> why >> amazon wanted this. >> why would they say no >> because it's too examazon guys and they were happy to throw it to them. >> really? >> yes. >> $2 billion more >> that's my understanding. >> why is the stock down >> paid $16 billion. that's a lot of money. >> it's a big number for 77% i don't know what the numbers, i mean, i don't know what the profitability or lack thereof for the company looks like. >> it's more of an ethos than earning. this is about owning a market, david. and that's exactly what the shareholders don't want. >> market cap being erased today. almost the value of the deal others are saying, look, international is very tricky the ways engineer hop from company to company over there is more torn than the valley. and walmart is majority less. >> i think walmart is a family-run business deciding they're not going to seed another toinch amazon. it's anti-death star i was with etsy in brooklyn. paypal this weekend with dan shulman. people are now saying, you know, it has to be stopped it

more interesting to investors or is amazon planning to actually implement. this new technology in their whole foods market food for thought safety szymanski own of wall street good to talk to you as a. fortune has managed to switch from austerity to prosperity now following the financial crisis the socialist government returned to power raising the minimum wage boosting welfare and reversing a tax cuts on the rich the markets were at the time they screamed in panic but these days fortunately has been growing every quarter since late twenty fifty the new policies are also combined with a couple of nice little earnest for the sun the country tourism and white. business is good for evo. he produces portuguese wine on his vineyard outside lisbon he has thirty employees and is looking to expand in the beginning there were only this part and then you have to upgrade it to increase the capacity then we. will double the capacity we. just. because we are in the maximum capacity of production and we have more demand than with what can you produce since twenty fifteen

it has to do with amazon. talking about president trump personally pushing the postmaster general to double rates on amazon and other firms. the president has tweeted about amazon a lot, as well. is it appropriate for the president to be singling out companies like this? >> well, look. i'm not -- that's not in my lane, okay. i can't really comment specifically. i haven't looked at that. >> it comes under the national economic council, doesn't it? >> i suppose so. i haven't been involved in that discussion. look. the president is a man of many opinions. i think you know that. i think we all know that. it's up to him. he may be carrying this ball. i can't comment directly on it. george, i want to go back to a kudlow theme, if you let me for a minute. the american economy is growing very nicely. 3%. they said it couldn't be done, some of the critics. the tax cuts are working. the rollback regulation is working. these trade opening deals, if we can effect them successfully, including the technology pieces, that wi

you have seen amazon alexa in restaurants, but where else do you feel amazon alexa is looking forward? probably technology hubs in seattle, places that in silicon valley, vancouver, europe am a berlin, cambridge in the u.k., german, we haven't -- a number ofve spaces. you look at languages and competency of skills, high efficient engineers. caroline: a second headquarters? tom: i am excited as anybody to find out. it will be an office very near where we sit now. thank you for amazon alexa joining us in boston. and meanwhile amazon is taking a page out of the nfl playbook. it is not about how to run -- it is how to make a board of directors more inclusive. the e-commerce giant has considered women and minorities -- amazon says the new policy normalizes a practice. they faced criticism for imposing a requirement like the nfl which helped increase diversity on its staff like teen interviews with one minority candidate. they have zero people of color and a third made up of women. that would place it above average for e-commerce companies. cookg up, apple ceo tim and president trump on the

it is great to have the scale of amazon. we have financial resources, lots of brilliant people, we can accomplish great things, we have global scope, we have operations all over the world. the downside of that is that you can lose your nimbleness, you can lose your entrepreneurial spirit, you can lose that kind of heart that small companies often have. so if you could have the best of both worlds, if you could have that entrepreneurial spirit and heart, while at the same time having all the advantages that come with scale and scope, think of the things that you could do. the question is how do you achieve that? the scale is good because it makes you robust. a big boxer can take a punch to the head. the question is, you also want to. those pledges. -- you want to dodge those punches. so you want to be nimble. he want to be big and nimble. and i find things that are protective of the day one mentality, and one of them is customer obsession. i think that is the most important thing. it gets harder when you're bigger. let's say

. >> amazon. >> amazon hits a lot of different levers when you caulk about aws, this is something i've been positive on since probably $190 it's a retail name it's a tech name aws everyone bet against that hasn't proven to be the case if netflix you're talk about as dan said, they have to diversify out of video amazon has done that to the umpteenth agree. it's an up stock for everyone. >> everything steve said is correct. it's a matter of diversification and risk what's your time horizon people still think that this is going to be a trillion dollar stock before apple, okay because of that diversification. i would probably go on most time frames amazon because thing is less specific risk. >> can i throw a different name in there with amazon >> whoa. >> just do it. just go ahead. >> okay, fine. >> let's get into the other fang names. and names that fit in the mega cap tech world apple. amazon or apple and apple has had a big move i would much rather own apple. a defensible valuation, a company that is generating 50 billion in market cap. everything apple has ahead with a 1.3 billion inst

anti-trust issues at amazon are real but that's not happening in the near term and candidly amazon investorsl come through that really well anti-trust regulation is one of those things that typically works out really well for investors. >> yeah. >> so i look at this and go, i bet he's looking for an entry point on those stocks. i think that's the signal he's probably giving. that's the signal i take. >> becky, has warren buffett changed the way he looks at technology stocks? for a long time it seemed like he was holding them completely at arm's length. that was the reason why not to get into google, amazon, et cetera then when he got in, it was with ibm. if it had just been microsoft -- if he was going to pick one line company to jump into is his choice of apple now based on different modeling, different mind-set that will make him better at these picks going forward? >> yeah. i think he looks at the entire thing differently. he says that apple, as far as he's concerned, is just a consumer goods company he doesn't view it as a technology company by the way, he still has a flip phone. he does

reach you know in the year two thousand and twenty one amazon will be responsible for fifty percent of all e-commerce sales right so that means that the purchases any of the interactions that we have with amazon's age all that data that the consumers are creating will be used and we think weaponized against vulnerable communities through this software you know i think also besides amazon size and its reach and its influence in the world right now you know jeff bezos has come out and spoken out against selective government surveillance that you know but we believe that actions speak louder than words and we hope to hold these o's and amazon accountable in this situation but surely there are genuine benefits to the sec knology as well any tech of this kind can be abused so does that mean that we should stop making a developing this software completely. yes you know i believe that data or big data tools whether it's machine learning or facial recognition software can be an instrument of social change or a weapon of political oppression depending on whose hands it's in and if somebody y

well first of all let's talk about amazon amazon may not have signed this letter or the other but amazon and jeff bezos issued a very public tract to seattle saying that we are holding this is not their word these are my words they're holding seven thousand construction jobs hostage to use the construction jobs as a club against the movement that is fighting for housing justice but we reject this false dichotomy between affordable housing and decent union jobs working people need to vote and as a matter of fact i'm a zone's threat is an extortion of the trek because amazon is more than capable of playing this tax justice first quarter alone was on made a profit of one point six billion dollars which is eighty years worth of the tax that they would be responsible for paying for the tax really is pocket change for amazon but what amazon is doing is issuing a threat not just to seattle but to every city in the nation that if you have the temerity to levy even a small amount of tax so that this housing the city can be affordable for the rest of the community then we are going to hold a threa

out instead they are being charged on line is in their amazon and that is the thing to a secret new ai technology that is able to identify people and track their movements amazon is planning on opening at least six more stores this year alone and the exciting question is are these simply stores for branding making the stock of amazon more interesting to investors or is eminem planning to actually implement . this new technology in the whole foods market face with a fisherman ski all of wall street good to talk to you as a. portugal has managed to switch from austerity to prosperity now following the financial crisis the socialist government returned to power raising the minimum wage boosting welfare and reversing a tax cuts on the rich the markets well at the time they screamed in panic but these days fortunately has been growing every quarter since late twenty fifteen and your policies are also combined with a couple of nice little earnest for the sunny country tourism and wine. business is good for evil al gore sed he produces portuguese wine on his vineyard outside lisbon he has

>> it will help amazon expand.on't know if it's going to win the grocery wars such a big market. >> yeah. >> this is really a typical example of how technology eliminating all kinds of friction in a system is able to lower prices in a very significant fashion. this is fantastic for consumers. i'm a prime member i will definitely go to whole foods more than i will go to any other supermarket and it's also a -- it shows how if you're not a tech -- if you're one of the other grocery stores and not becoming a tech company it's going to be difficult to compete. >> eric, when i think about how this is going to play in indianapolis, i'm not sure like half priced halibut steaks are going to win you the grocery wars versus walmart and kroger is this really about data? because it seems like if amazon can entice every whole foods shopper to scan in, then they know exactly what people are buying and it will be able to correlate that to their amazon behavior how often they're buying it and optimize around that too. >> absolutel

yes that is pretty exciting this development for amazon and for consumers a scary one for competitors amazon has been trying to get into the market parole for it on different ways first with their delivery service amazon fresh and then with buying the whole foods market chain and now with the opening their own amazon gold doors consumers walk in put everything they need into their back and leave no need to check out instead they're being charged online in their amazon and that is the thanks to a secret new ai technology that is able to identify people and track them movements amazon is planning on opening at least six more stores this year alone and the exciting question is are these simply stored branding making the stock of amazon more interesting to investors or is emblem planning to actually implement. this new technology in the whole foods market phase. i thought safer szymanski own of wall street good to talk to you as ever. for chicago has managed to switch from austerity to prosperity now following the financial crisis the socialist government returned to power raising the min

the amazon forest has a huge diversity. brazil, for example, is one of the megadiverse countries in the world. miguel trefaut rodrigues is heading the expedition. it's taken nearly a year of planning to realise a lifelong dream. made possible with the help of the brazilian army. to get here is normally a long and difficultjourney, from sao paolo to manaus, then nearly three days by boat down the rio negro to sao gabriel da cachoeira. from there, 80 kilometres on rough roads, to the banks of the cauabori river, and ending with another boat journey. the scientists will be here, in a tiny military base in the national park. they will be exploring the area before going up the mountain. our trek begins through nearby jungle. the bait is fresh so that's smelling a lot. hopefully we can get some mice and marsupials. a visiting scientist at london's natural history museum, alexandre percequillo has flown back to brazil to take part. he is looking for small mammals, and south american rodents are his speciality. but it's harder than

i am opposed to the amazon on polk street. i don't think they have adequately explained how the upstairs will be utilized and the plans for lockers and the ability to use the space for a hub. the merchants are small independents that have been negatively impacted by amazon and whole foods, does it make sense to allow them to have a presence on our street. why would they not locate on van ness to serve the area? amazons and whole foods is predatory and practices a business model that destroys it's competition. makes no sense for them to be right next to a multitude of small businesses. the city the in dire need of housing. why would whole foods be pre mitted to take the space of a parking lot. how fair is it that businesses all over the city have seen the removal of their parking with the b babehemouth being able toe that over. let's keep small business wrong and avoid congestion and traffic for our neighborhood and ask them to find a more appropriate place for their neighborhoods >> thank you. >> hello, i am julie besolo. i do

amazon could walk away from seattle. >> conceivably, even walk away from the united states. we seen a trend in the last couple years. just a $50 minimum wage. find a place that doesn't tax their business and impede their business as much. microsoft and amazon have made seattle but they will break if they walk as well. they've got the cash or the stores. they will be opening up another one in chicago and san francisco. they could choose not to expand at all and open up the things they are doing. >> these companies want to invest. they want to build and create some of its municipalities for the regulation in terms of the homeless issue and taxes that make it so inhospitable. 40, $50 million for amazon. think about how many new jobs could be created. >> something else. jonathan hoenig, thanks for getting up with us. we appreciate it. gerri: stayed with amazon. a doorbell that will -- it turns out you could be getting spied on. cheryl: tracee carrasco with the headlines. >> a security flaw in that doorbell could allow people

but vast areas of the brazilian amazon are officially protected, underfierce debate amazon are officially, under fierce debate powerful politicians have been trying to change that to allow mining companies into indigenous reserves. what could be the impact for the habitat, when there is mining, in that area like this? could they get contaminated by the chemicals. ? that area like this? could they get contaminated by the chemicals.?m affects not only the people living in the area, the frogs living in the area, everything,... the whole food chain. yes. for people living close to mine sites, contamination can lead to any number of health problems. including neurological damage. for this man the uni effects are unknown, he regularly had four days up unknown, he regularly had four days up the mountain in search of gold. he now hopes for a different future. a short distance away, the scientists have found what could be a new species of frog. we we don't know what it is. it's very different from what we know, we have a guess for the family, seems to be a hylid, a free frog. what is interesting a

-- with amazon. ambitionort flipkart's to transform to a publicly listed company, and that could be a big boom for them. if walmart continues to push them down that road, this could have some financial benefit. point pick up on that about the difference between china and india. in china, you have alibaba and in india you may have a little bit more running space for a u.s. company to go into e-commerce. brooke: it is more fertile ground, and that is why you saw a amazon and walmart competing for this asset. i think that is why you saw the level of competition. alix: we did a series special on amazon when they reported. we dove into india and how important it was, and it is the payment system. how they wind up paying for things becomes very different. that is sort of a big barrier for a company like amazon coming in and helpful for walmart with flipkart. david: india is largely un-bank ed. mr. modi has been trying to bring them into the 21st century and maybe they will leapfrog it. not going to outfit

we all know that amazon owns whole foods, but what's the plan with amazon within this store and what kind of -- what can we expect? >> you can expect the project that's in front of you, which is a 365 store. amazon acquired whole foods about nine months ago, in september, and i can tell you that, you know, relatively little has changed. we still have our same management structure. my boss, jack mackie is still in place. amazon also owned zappos, and they have maintained the same ceo. and zappos operates independently. i met jeff bezos recently, and he talked about the reason he bought whole foods, he said i look for missionary leaders, not mercenary leaders, and that was powerful to me. because he's interested in the mission of whole foods. i am, too. i've been with this company 25 years ago. i started with this company as a clerk in mil valley, california. now i'm the regional manager. >> president hillis: so go beyond the lockers or who is proposed for the entry to the building, what is planned, amazon related. >> the way that amazon has helped us is ultimately through their techno

>> quite easy liz to sign up for the amazon marketplace and brilliant for amazon to do.t of people criticize amazon for this, amazon gives the small business a greater market and opportunity to reach new customers so really very easy. if you want to sell a lot on amazon, there's a professional fee, about 40 bucks a month or as an individual accept the amount of product that you can sell. hurtle for small businesses is a lot of them think i'm on amazon, i'm turning on the money spigot. you have to promote it, you have to let people know you're there, and the more you get, the more you show up on the rankings on amazon. liz: tell us how business owners are dealing with the economy today, it looks like we're on much firmer footing, may have dry powder in the form of taxes that were cut for them. how are they spending that money or do they get bigger tax returns? what is the true story for small businesses right now? >> it's a mixed review, personally, i believe that the tax reform is great. we were happy to see it. it's not the end all and be all, the pass through entities

web services, amazon's most profitable unit. to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> as i said earlier we've heard a lot about cloud this week. microsoft has its build developer conference, satya nadella made his pitch, google io kick off yesterday. a lot of talk about a.i. which you also talked about at reinvent conference at the end of last year and vision seems to be the lead use case on a lot of cases for bringing developers to a.i. tell investors if you will, how is a.i. going to cloud the economy which we've seen be so profitable and bring in so much revenue for amazon >> well, if you look at the machine learning and the artificial intelligence space it's growing like crazy and the vast majority of machine learning being done in the cloud today is being done on top of aws. look at companies like serner and cox automotive and expedia and the nfl and pinterest and zillow, lots of machine learning is being done. companies have so much data and don't have great ways of getting at that data and getting the gems and predic

you'll get amazon. >> amazon brand underwear?100% cotton. >> do you think google tweaks your searches when you look for stuff? >> i think that i voted for the communist party because i read a communist -- yes it's the new world >> it's the beginning. >> we are. >> do i hear music >> are you okay, jim >> we hear nothing i hear nothing i was trying to get away from that topic because i disagree entirely with the idea that this is bad for the consumer and it is bad for retail. >> we'll keep the a block short because cisco's chuck robbins will join us in a few moments to talk about cisco's quarter take a look at the pre-market. the dow's up 9 and tn d eranthe first since the major average. back in a minute ♪ you can be sure ♪ that it will only get better ♪ you and me together ♪ through the days and nights. ♪ i don't worry 'cause ♪ everything's gonna be all right. ♪ ♪ no one, no one, no one ♪ can get in the way of what i'm feeling. ♪ ♪ no one, no one, no one ♪ can get in the way of what i feel for you. ♪ ♪ you, you ♪ get in the way of

the president thinks amazon has too lucrative and too sweet a deal.e president sees that. the president has also complained about the "washington post" owned by jeff bazos and sometimes complaints about amazon comes after "washington post" stories that he doesn't like. but the president in these meetings are saying it's nothing about the post, it's nothing about the reporting, i just think the postal service is getting ripped off. that's what he's put to his advisers on a number of occasions. >> no offense, josh, look at positive l politifact. they said, no, the postal service isn't losing a fortune on amazon, those sorts of issues. >> and as we reported in our story, a number of the president's advisers do not think amazon is a problem and have told him that. gary cohn, chief economic adviser who left last year. steve mnuchin has held efsevera meetings in the oval office about shipping costs for amazon, and he seems to be one of the main people in the administration who want to raise costs on amazon and other companies that ship. >> thank you for app

they could not let amazon buy this amazon would own india flipkart is not just a platform, it's a payment system. >> like paypal >> like ali pay. >> a lot like alibaba. >> they could not let alibaba and amazon own india if they were going to be serious on the world stage. india is either the best market going forward or second best going forward for retailing. walmart has to be there. i was stunned when the market said we'll take you down 4% because this thing loses over $1 billion a year >> didn't stop them from buying jet.com which was losing money >> yeah. the online company they paid 3 billion for? >> this is almost five times the size of that this is the biggest deal ever that walmart has done. i think it's important to point out, we have before, that walmart only has these 21 cash and carry locations in india they're basically selling to other small businesses it's because of the local indian government regulations that restrict foreign direct investment walmart would have a hard time going into physical retail in india. e-commerce is growing. go to the biggest player already there,

jeff bezos owns amazon and washington post.f getting back at a newspaper? i'm not sure it's that round abou about. he's been very clear he wasn't like some of the stories and called them the lobbying arm of jeffbezos. i think one piece of this is his dis gruntlement. that said i believe he believes amazon isn't paying enough. despite some the evidence to the contrary, including what the post master general has told him directly, it's an issue that has gotten under his skin. >> anita, the post report says that the president has gotten together his advisers at different times to talk about the amazon issue. is the white house developing a bas bezos strategy? >> it sounds like he wants a strategy at the white house, but remember, this isn't something that he can do unilaterally. he doesn't even appoint the post master general. a board does. he does nominate people for the board and he has three people pending in the senate for confirmation. that's a process that has to -- he either has to go through the post master general, who ha

the customer would select the tires they want on amazon. tires would then be shipped to a sears auto center near them sears has been selling merchandise from its die hard brand on amazon since december. >>> call me crazy, but doesn't this seem like a huge move in sears? >> yeah. >> i wonder are we back to the days of the minute you added a.com to anything -- a dot com to anything your stock rose? >> you buy from amtz and you go to sears. >> you wonder, would amazon get into the car business at this point? >> why not >> you can do that on line these days. >>> suppose it drives traffic, literally, to sears. maybe they will go in and buy other stuff. i don't know >> dom chu has been waiting patiently with the market flash. >> die hard batteries and tires are probably one of the few thing people still go back to sears for on a mass market basis. remember, sears gets a cut every time they install tires or batteries. let's talk about what is happening with the vix the volatility index it's down about 6% right now this would be the fifth straight

but in what amazon is calling an unlikely chain ofevents, an amazon echo device inside a home of a rtland,oregon, couple accidentally recorded their private conversation and then sent the audio file to a phone contact. the story is unsettling to echo customers, like alyssa chu. >> that's not what i would intend it to be used for. >> i pretty surprised. that sounds like a lot of mistakes to happen. >> reporter: according to amazon, echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like alexa. then the subsequent conversation was heard as a send message request at which point alexa said to whom. at which point the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer's contact list. >> i think this will have ramifications for people's trust vel for alexa and other in-home devices. the creepy factor on this is huge. lr>> reporter: amazon isdy in a battle for market share in the home speaker category, a i soustry watchers say an incident like this could tip the sces. according to e-marketer amazon dominates two-irds of that market now, but the market research group pr

. >> anthony, given its exclusive deal for smart tvs with best buy, amazon, friend or foe >> well, amazon and a foe. you know, they're a big partner. we sell a lot of partners on amazon.com we're a big distributor of amazon instant video we do compete with them on the platform said but we're doing extremely well we're the number one streaming platform we expect to sell more roku tvs this year than we did last year, through all channels, including best buy the main thing that's happening in sort of the platform side of our business is that in tvs, tv manufacturers are moving away from their home-grown built solutions to license solution. we think that means virtually every tv company will end up licensed in os, just like smart phones have an os. it's just a great position to be in. >> every time you're on, anthony, we try to convince you to get into the original content game you always say no. has the argument for doing that gotten even weaker, given the amount of money others are spending and some would argue the level of crowding we've seen in content in some of the areas? >> you know, o

amazon has been trying to get onto the market in different ways, first with a delivery service amazonresh, then buying whole foods. now they are opening their own amazon gold store. consumers walk in, put everything they need in their bags then leave, no need to check out. instead they will be charged online in the amazon at. thanks to secret new ai technology that can identify people and track their movements, amazon is planning on opening at least six more stores this year alone. the exciting question is, are these simply stores for branding, making the stock of amazon more interesting to investors, or is amazon planning to actually implement this new technology in their whole foods market? helena: food for thought. sophie scimansky, good to talk to you, as ever. european officials have been trying to hold back the u.s. from hiking tariffs at a meeting in paris today, and it is their last chance to diffuse the trade dispute and prevent a trade war. both sides have their lists of targeted goods drawn up. the organization for economic operation and development repeating its warning ag

i don't think amazon will look at whole foods as a money maker as much as part of this amazon prime culthere people pay $120 a year for the privilege of shopping and getting these discounts. the consumer is going to win and for walmart to go buy a competitor halfway around the world and try to compete and beat amazon there, while they're getting, you know, their butt kicked here, that seems like a crazy strategy to me maybe there's something going on that we don't know i think it's also worth noting that benchmark just put $50 million into good eggs, which is my favorite service i use here in san francisco so i think the high-end two-hour delivery, beautiful packaged produce and food is going to be the standard now i don't know that walmart is going to fit into that standard. and this is a place where consumers are going to win so, i don't think it's going to be an anti-trust or a dumping product at a lower price and the government needs to get involved in this one. amazon still under 50% of e-commerce and e-commerce still a small portion of real-world commerce if you look at the innovat

. >>> meanwhile amazon hitting the pause but done. the e-commerce company now halting expansion plans in seattle because that city council is considering a new tax that would charge large employers in the city in an effort to assist with seattle's housing crisis. let's go to deirdre bolton in the newsroom to break this all down. >> a private negotiation between amazon and seattle city council just went public. so the city council wants to tax companies based in seattle with more than $20 million a year in revenue. they want to add a head tax. $500 per employee per year. amazon is seattle's biggest employer. 45,000 local employees. so that tax bill would add up between 30 and $40 million a year for amazon. so amazon is making it clear, it is not on board for that. pending this vote which is may 14th, amazon has already decided to halt construction of a new building one it was planning on in downtown seattle. it also said, we're adding employees. we already have offices in vancouver. we have offices in boston. we're just going to hire m

amazon say they are disappointed and in fact, just a couple of weeks ago, amazon put on hold plans to. since this decision has been announced by the council, they had decided to go ahead with that. perhaps the watering down of the proposal has helped amazon realise it's something they can live with. they say, "we remain apprehensive about the future created by the council's hostile approach and rhetoric towards larger businesses which force us to question our growth here". peter, thank you. we have asked your views on this. many have been in touch will stop we have surely who says she thinks it isa have surely who says she thinks it is a good idea. homelessness is a big concern around the world and we need to start supporting them the best way we can. some of you com pletely best way we can. some of you completely disagree. join the debate. the himalayan region of kashmir has been a flashpoint between india and pakistan for more than six decades. the violence can make it hard for people living there to earn a living. but now a rare an exotic type of mushroom is giving villagers an opp

caroline: still ahead, amazon alexa continues to dominate.e will hear from their executive, tom taylor, next. and if you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio. you can listen on the bloomberg radio app, bloomberg.com, and in the u.s. on sirius xm. this is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: now, back to our special coverage from the boston commerce's meeting. we next turned to the rise of the digital assistant in our everyday life. the latest breakthrough in the technological space has amazed and scared some people. when google's new program called duplex calls to make a restaurant reservation, it called a human on the other end of the line. duplex spoke and sounded just like you or i might, complete pauses.s, ums, and one could be the voice for millions, and this is amazon's alexa. this is in a year were 61 million americans are using a voice enabled speaker, amazon is eating up that market share. currently, 67% of those people using the echo that comes with alexa. we spoke with someone intimately familiar with alexa, tom taylor, senior vice pre

>> a lot of the cities see amazon as a cash cow.evenue for their revenue needs rather than an engine of growth as amazon has suggested. i think scales are falling from the eyes from liberal oriented companies like amazon. >>paul: the ceo is well known as a man of the left of center. but he's above all, a businessman. a ceo who wants success.do you think it's possible he could say, we will do what ge did with connecticut. moved to boston and move out of seattle. >> absolutely. i'm glad you raise connecticut because i think there's a belief among some democratic lawmakers that you can just raise taxes as much as you want and later as much red tape on business and nothing will happen. it's just to find to extort money and there are no consequences. but this is the real world. jeff bezos has to be responsive to shareholders. if the history of amazon is any indication, he is ruthless. he will go to the place where he gets the best deal in the best business environment for amazon. >>paul: when we come back, we ♪ there's nothing more impor

recent tweets about amazon which have called the bezos owned "washington post" amazon's chief lobbyistid amazon is costing the u.s. post office massive amounts of money. that's not all among the protesters we expect to see here today are contract pilots that fly for amazon air you might remember they were also protesting at last year's shareholder meeting. those pilots work for atlas air, which amazon has a contract with they just came out with this video highlighting their grievances over wages and working conditions which they say is leading to growing pilot attrition retention and recruitment challenges affecting amazon prime we'll see if ceo jeff bezos addresses any of these topics momentarily. in his letter to shareholders last month, he anounchsed for the first time amazon prime has moyer than 100 million subscribers and looking for more commentary on that including updates on the product road map amid the fact shares have skyrocketed in the last 12 months alone, it's gone up more than 60% again, guys. demonstrators behind me are voicing their opposition pretty strongly back to y

specifically i wonder melissa if you know amazon is so expensive they really have to keep it like a shark right they have to keep growing they have to keep eating and getting bigger otherwise they're pretty hefty valuation to take on do you think that these big stocks like it like an amazon you know those are good investments you should investors be looking for some of the smaller or even some of the larger specifics like intel we're always going to need chips it seems what's your view but i don't think these stocks are bad investments again they're still in the trends but i don't think right now is a good time to buy and if you're already in them long term investment home they're fine they're still strong we could see better earnings report and better reactions into the later fall of the end of two thousand nine hundred for these companies i would say i actually don't think anything looks like a buy to me right now except for to be honest with the whole tape which is not fang stock but that's the only stock right now it's a go you can go long because that that stock did a correctio