E-commerce/Retail

Links from The Ride Home Podcast

All links categorized under this topic, grouped by year and month.

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2025

December

• Instacart Scraps All Price Tests After Customer Pushback (WSJ)
• Same Product, Same Store, but on Instacart, Prices Might Differ (NYTimes)
• Amazon explores building its own delivery network to replace USPS deal (Washington Post)

November

• Amazon Raises $15 Billion in First US Bond Sale in Three Years (Bloomberg)
• Airbnb Will Test Adding Instacart Grocery Delivery to Its App in Services Push (Bloomberg)
• Apple brings its App Store to the web (The Verge)

October

• Amazon Pharmacy introduces kiosks that can quickly dispense medications at the doctor’s office (GeekWire)

September

• Etsy pops 16% as OpenAI announces ChatGPT Instant Checkout for the shopping site (CNBC)

August

• Exclusive: Patreon crosses $10 billion creator payment milestone (Axios)

June

• Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you (TechCrunch)
• Amazon bringing same-day delivery to ‘millions’ of rural customers (The Verge)
• Amazon Prime Day stretches to four days of deals this year (The Verge)
• Walmart is supercharging revenue — but with fewer workers (FT)
• DoorDash CEO Tony Xu is taking on the role of industry consolidator in food delivery (CNBC)

May

• You can now book a chef or personal trainer while traveling with Airbnb (CNN)
• Airbnb Is in Midlife Crisis Mode (Wired)
• DoorDash strikes £2.9bn deal for Deliveroo (FT)
• Exclusive: Shein, Temu ramp up advertising in UK and France as US tariffs hit (Reuters)
• Temu Blocks US Shoppers From Seeing Products Shipped From China (Wired)

April

• Kickstarter Introduces ‘Tariff Manager Tool’ to Add Charges to Already Fully Funded Projects (404 Media)
• Temu adds ‘import charges’ of about 145% after Trump tariffs, more than doubling price of many items (CNBC)
• Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store (TechCrunch)
• Amazon Seeks Partners for $15 Billion Warehouse Expansion Plan (Bloomberg)

March

• Instacart will pay shoppers to take videos of store shelves (The Verge)

February

• Zelle payments top $1 trillion in 2024 as network’s growth outpaces rivals including PayPal (CNBC)
• How a resurgent Walmart saw off the Amazon threat (FT)
• Amazon, King of Online Retail, Can’t Seem to Make Its Physical Stores Work (WSJ)

January

• Apple shares rise 3% as boost in services revenue overshadows iPhone miss (CNBC)
• Walgreens Replaced Fridge Doors With Smart Screens. It’s Now a $200 Million Fiasco (Bloomberg)

2024

December

• Grubhub to pay $25 million for misleading customers, restaurants, drivers (Reuters)
• You Can Buy a Car on Amazon Now (Wired)

November

• Amazon debuts discount store with everything under $20 to take on Temu and Shein (CNBC)

October

• Kroger and Walmart Deny ‘Surge Pricing’ After Adopting Digital Price Tags (NYTimes)
• Uber explored takeover bid for Expedia (FT)

September

• Amazon’s New ‘Shark Tank’-Style Show Gives Winners Top Billing in Its Store (WSJ)

August

• How Walmart became a force in a $54bn retail advertising industry (FT)
• Airbnb details plans to expand beyond short-term rentals, including co-hosting and relaunching ‘experiences’ (TechCrunch)

July

• Amazon Pushes Fast Delivery Into Rural Areas in Challenge to Post Office (WSJ)
• Airbnb Hosts Want Guests to Come to Them Directly (Bloomberg)
• Apple’s India Sales Surge 33% to Record in Shift From China (Bloomberg)
• Amazon’s Bargain Store Would Use Same Trade ‘Loophole’ as Temu, Shein (The Information)

June

• Amazon To Launch Temu-Like Discount Section With Direct Shipping From China (The Information)
• Apple discontinuing Apple Pay Later, ahead of new features launching this fall (9to5Mac)
• E*Trade Considers Kicking Meme-Stock Leader Keith Gill Off Platform (WSJ)

May

• Food delivery apps rack up $20bn in losses in fierce battle for diners (FT)
• Website-design firm Squarespace to go private in $6.9 billion deal with Permira (Reuters)
• In Latest Stunt, Airbnb Lists the ‘Up’ House. It Floats. (NYTimes)

April

• Amazon Prime Memberships in US Gain 8% to New High After Lull (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Sellers Plagued by Surge in Scam Returns (WSJ)
• Amazon’s Grocery Stores to Drop Just Walk Out Checkout Tech (The Information)

March

• Carvana makes U-turn away from financial abyss (FT)
• Amazon’s New Focus: Fending Off Rivals Temu and Shein (WSJ)
• Temu’s Push Into America Pays Off Big Time for Meta and Google (WSJ)

February

• Thrasio, once king of e-commerce aggregation, files for Ch.11 (TechCrunch)
• Walmart in Talks to Buy TV Maker Vizio (WSJ)
• Walmart Eyeing Deal to Buy Vizio for More Than $2 Billion: Report (Variety)
• Temu Spent Millions on Six Super Bowl Ads as It Tries to Win Back US Shoppers (Bloomberg)
• Ring video doorbell customers angry at 43% price hike (BBC)
• Ring is raising the price of its cheapest subscription plan by 25 percent (The Verge)
• Digital ad market shows signs of sharp rebound as Meta, Amazon point to growth (CNBC)

January

• EBay to eliminate about 1,000 jobs, or 9% of full-time workforce (CNBC)
• Temu’s Most Loyal Shoppers Are Actually Boomers and Gen Xers (Bloomberg)
• Adobe: Online Holiday Sales Reached Record $222 Billion in 2023 (PMNTS)
• Amazon Captured 29% of Online Orders Before Christmas (Bloomberg)

2023

December

• Figma Grew Fast Even as Executives Failed to Clinch Adobe Deal (The Information)
• Adobe Has $6 Billion for AI and Buybacks After Figma Deal Collapses (Bloomberg)
• Etsy Cuts 11% of Headcount as Competition From Shein and Temu Mounts (The Information)

November

• Apple Pulls Plug on Goldman Credit-Card Partnership (WSJ)
• US Thanksgiving weekend sales hit record on big discounts, online boost (Reuters)
• Payments app Zelle begins refunds for imposter scams after Washington pressure (Reuters)
• Amazon links One Medical primary care to Prime memberships (Washington Post)
• Klarna’s financial glow-up is my favorite story in tech right now (TechCrunch)
• DoorDash now warns you that your food might get cold if you don’t tip (The Verge)

September

• Instacart closes up 12% in Nasdaq debut, after first-day rally sputters (CNBC)
• Apple and Goldman were planning stock-trading feature for iPhones until markets turned last year (CNBC)

August

• Shein Strikes Deal With Forever 21 (WSJ)
• TikTok Shop on Track to Lose More Than $500 Million in U.S. This Year (The Information)
• Amazon Unveils Biggest Grocery Overhaul Since Buying Whole Foods (Bloomberg)

June

• Advertising industry seeks refunds over YouTube skippable ads (FT)
• DoorDash launches hourly rates and location sharing for couriers (The Verge)
• Exclusive: Amazon launches local business delivery network (Axios)
• Amazon will hold Prime Day 2023 on July 11-12, adding invite-only deals and ‘Buy with Prime’ sites (GeekWire)
• Alphabet Selling Google Domains Assets to Squarespace (Bloomberg)
• Video Ads Are Coming to All Your Uber Apps (WSJ)
• Amazon Is in Talks to Offer Free Mobile Service to US Prime Members (Bloomberg)
• Apple touts $1.1 trillion in App Store commerce in 2022, with $104B in digital sales (TechCrunch)

May

• IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax-prep giants (Washington Post)
• Airbnb Revamps Site to Ease Tensions Between Guests, Hosts (Bloomberg)

April

• Pinterest announces multiyear ads partnership with Amazon alongside earnings beat (TechCrunch)
• Apple finally launches high-yield Apple Savings account (Apple Insider)

March

• Jack Dorsey’s Block Falls After Hindenburg Says It’s Short the Stock (Bloomberg)
• Hindenburg takes aim at Dorsey’s payments firm Block; shares plunge (Reuters)
• Amazon will discontinue newspaper and magazine subscriptions in September (GoodEReader)
• Payments giant Stripe raises $6.5 billion at a $50 billion valuation (Axios)
• Ryan Reynolds-Backed Mint Is Bought by T-Mobile for $1.35 Billion (Bloomberg)
• SCOOP: Stripe Is Raising $6 Billion to Resolve Taxes & Expiring Employee Shares, Delaying Public Listing (Newcomer)

February

• Uber redesigns app for simpler, more personalized experience (TechCrunch)
• Amazon chief vows to ‘go big’ on physical stores (FT)
• Stripe Can’t Lose (Every)

January

• Thrive Capital Said to Lead Potential Investment in Stripe (NYTimes)
• Amazon adding new fees for grocery delivery (GeekWire)
• Stripe Sets One-Year Timetable to Decide on Going Public (WSJ)
• Amazon launches RxPass, a $5/month Prime add-on for all-you-need generic drugs covering 80 conditions (TechCrunch)
• Banks Plan Payment Wallet to Compete With PayPal, Apple Pay (WSJ)
• How Amazon Became Ordinary
• Amazon to close charitable program AmazonSmile (The Hill)
• Buy with Prime, which brings Prime to third-party sites, officially launches in U.S. on Jan. 31 (TechCrunch)

2022

December

• American Bargain Hunters Flock to a New Online Platform Forged in China (WSJ)

November

• Basically everything on Amazon has become an ad (Vox)
• Airbnb to Make Cleaning Fees Clearer on Searches After Customer Complaints (WSJ)
• Gmail to add a new package tracking feature ahead of holiday shopping season (TechCrunch)

October

• You’re Going To Have To Pay To Use Some Fancy Colors In Photoshop Now (Kotaku)
• The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding (Bloomberg)
• Uber rolls out ad business to reach more riders (FT)
• Apple Card to Offer Savings Account for Daily Cash (MacRumors)

September

• Walmart enters the metaverse with Roblox experiences aimed at younger shoppers (CNBC)
• Unauthorized Shein boutiques are popping up across Mexico (Rest of World)
• The Amazon Experience Comes to the NFL (The Ringer)

August

• Gopuff Tries to Raise Money Again (WSJ)
• Meta and Jio launch grocery shopping on WhatsApp in India (TechCrunch)
• WhatsApp’s super app ambitions are starting to come true in India (The Verge)
• Amazon Among Bidders for Signify Health (WSJ)
• Amazon is raising seller fees for the holidays to manage through surging inflation (CNBC)
• What Amazon’s Roomba and One Medical Deals Have in Common (Bloomberg)
• Amazon is buying iRobot for $1.7B (TechCrunch)
• Robinhood Lays Off 23% of Staff as Retail Investors Fade From Platform (WSJ)
• Uber reports another big loss but beats on revenue, shares pop 14% (CNBC)

July

• The Buy Now, Pay Later Juggernaut Is About to Be Tested (Bloomberg)
• Shopify to Lay Off 10% of Workers in Broad Shake-Up (WSJ)
• The Amazon + One Medical Post (Out Of Pocket)
• Amazon C.E.O. Andy Jassy Breaks From the Bezos Way (NYTimes)
• Amazon is buying primary care tech provider One Medical for $3.9B (TechCrunch)
• The Speedy Downfall of Rapid Delivery Startups (Wired)
• Tiger Global-backed Missfresh faces fight for survival (FT)
• Amazon Has Been Slashing Private-Label Selection Amid Weak Sales (WSJ)
• Amazon takes a Prime step back into restaurant delivery in the US with big Grubhub investment and partnership (TechCrunch)
• Klarna in Talks to Raise Fresh Cash at Slashed $6.5 Billion Valuation (WSJ)

June

• Amazon plans two Prime shopping events this year, with second one in Q4 (CNBC)
• ‘Wallets and eyeballs’: how eBay turned the internet into a marketplace (The Guardian)
• Apple Goes Deeper Into Finance With Buy Now, Pay Later Offering (WSJ)
• Apple Will Handle Lending Itself With New Pay Later Service (Bloomberg)
• Apple Pay Later lets you split up purchases into four payments at no interest (TechCrunch)

May

• In India’s Mobile-Payments Boom, Even Beggars Get QR Codes (WSJ)
• The Collison Brothers Built Stripe Into A $95 Billion Unicorn With Eye-Popping Financials. Inside Their Plan To Stay On Top (Forbes)
• New York Now Has More Airbnb Listings Than Apartments for Rent (Curbed)
• Apple Now Letting Developers Automatically Charge for Some Subscription Price Increases (MacRumors)
• Amazon’s surprising new delivery partners: Rural mom-and-pop shops (Recode)
• Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise (Wired)
• Cameo lays off close to 90, including senior executives (Protocol)
• Uber reports surging revenue as drivers return, but posts massive loss on investments (CNBC)

April

• Bolt, a Checkout Startup Worth $11 Billion, Lost Customers as Revenue Stalled (The Information)
• Robinhood lays off nine percent of its full-time employees (Engadget)
• How Meta Platforms Fell Behind in Indian Mobile Payments (WSJ)
• Video Game Junkie Quietly Builds $3 Billion Payments Powerhouse (Bloomberg)
• Amazon opens up Prime delivery service to other retailers in its latest move to compete with FedEx and UPS (CNBC)
• Just Eat Weighs Grubhub Sale in Tough Food Delivery Market (Bloomberg)
• Over 14,000 Etsy sellers are going on strike to protest increased transaction fees (TechCrunch)
• Digital Ad Revenue Jumped 35% in the U.S. Last Year, Biggest Gain Since 2006 (WSJ)
• The Scoop: Inside Fast’s Rapid Collapse
• Millennial Billionaire Ryan Breslow Created Buzz, And Enemies, Attacking Stripe And Shopify. He’s Just Getting Started. (Forbes)
• Shein Valued at $100 Billion in Funding Round (WSJ)
• Food Delivery Stocks Lose $24 Billion in Just Three Months (Bloomberg)
• Online shopping in the middle of the ocean (Rest of World)

March

• Gopuff Plans Hundreds of Layoffs to Cut $40 Million in Costs (The Information)
• Why Stripe’s ‘Fast’ Horse Is Losing the One-Click Checkout Race (The Information)
• Instacart Slashes Its Valuation by Almost 40% to $24 Billion (Bloomberg)
• [Two ultra-fast delivery startups shut down in one week](https://www.cbs58.com/news/two-ultra-fast-delivery-startups-shut-down-in-one-week#:~:text=(CNN)
• Amazon is shutting 68 retail stores, ending Amazon Books, 4-star and Pop Up shops (CNBC)
• Uber adds new ways to buy concert tickets and book restaurants in its app (The Verge)

February

• Amazon’s sprawling grocery business has become an ‘expensive hobby’ with a cloudy future (CNBC)
• Amazon sues two companies that allegedly help fill the site with fake reviews (CNBC)
• Sea’s $16 Billion Crash Signals Trouble Beyond India Shutout (Bloomberg)
• Gopuff stocks its warehouses with items purchased from Instacart, spending tens of thousands per month on the service (Insider)
• Apple announces new Tap to Pay feature that turns iPhones into contactless payment terminals (9to5Mac)
• Amazon Flexes Its Pricing Muscles (WSJ)
• Amazon Profit Shows Resilience Even as Labor, Supply Crunch Weigh on Results (WSJ)

January

• Losses Mount for Startups Racing to Deliver Groceries Fast and Cheap (WSJ)
• Apple to Rival Square by Turning iPhones Into Payment Terminals (Bloomberg)
• Amazon to try another tech-infused retail concept with ‘Amazon Style,’ its first physical fashion store (GeekWire)
• App Annie: Global app stores’ consumer spend up 19% to $170B in 2021, downloads grew 5% to 230B (TechCrunch)

2021

December

• How Shopify Outfoxed Amazon to Become the Everywhere Store (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• How Shein beat Amazon at its own game — and reinvented fast fashion (Rest of World)
• Amazon Ramps Up Plans for Instacart-Like Service in U.S., Europe (The Information)
• Amazon is making its own containers and bypassing supply chain chaos with chartered ships and long-haul planes (CNBC)
• DoorDash breaks gig worker model to hire couriers as employees in New York trial (FT)
• Instacart Plans 15-Minute Delivery Trial as Rival Startups Grow (The Information)

November

• Cyber Monday Sales Flat as Smaller Savings Curb Incentive to Spend (WSJ)
• Amazon Builds Out Network to Speed Delivery, Handle Holiday Crunch (WSJ)
• Amazon poised to pass UPS and FedEx to become largest U.S. delivery service by early 2022, exec says (CNBC)
• Walmart will be the first retailer to test Twitter’s new livestream shopping platform (TechCrunch)
• Desperate Parents Turn to Shopping Bots to Hunt for Hottest Christmas Gifts (WSJ)
• Zillow to shutter home buying business and lay off 2,000 employees as its big real estate bet falters (GeekWire)
• Zillow Seeks to Sell 7,000 Homes for $2.8 Billion After Flipping Halt (Bloomberg)

October

• Amazon launches in-store pickup option for items from local businesses (CNBC)
• PayPal Is Exploring a Purchase of Pinterest (Bloomberg)
• Plaid Pushes Into Payments Business After Scuttled Visa Deal (WSJ)
• Spotify Adds Virtual Merch Tables for Music Artists in Pact With Shopify (Variety)
• Delivery Hero Leads $1 Billion Funding Round for Gorillas (Bloomberg)
• Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ T-Shirts Are Coming to a Walmart Near You (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Prime members can now send gifts with just a phone number or email address (The Verge)
• Toast built a $30 billion business by defying Silicon Valley and surviving a ‘suicide mission’ (CNBC)

September

• AngelList returns to its founder-focused roots, with a twist (TechCrunch)
• PayPal launches its ‘super app’ combining payments, savings, bill pay, crypto, shopping and more (TechCrunch)
• Walmart+ is gaining momentum, hits 32 million members, Deutsche Bank estimates (CNBC)
• No Chinese Stock Left Among Global Top 10 as Tencent Slides (Bloomberg)
• Former Startup Darling Genius Sells to Media Lab for $80 Million (Bloomberg)
• Canva Raises At $40 Billion Valuation — Its Founders Are Pledging Away Most Of Their Wealth (Forbes)
• Commercetools raises $140M at a $1.9B valuation as ‘headless’ commerce continues to boom (TechCrunch)
• BNPL platform Scalapay raises $155 million in Tiger Global led round (Tech.eu)
• PayPal Closes $2.7B Acquisition Deal For Japan’s Paidy (Pymnts.com)
• Amazon brings its cashierless tech to two Whole Foods stores (CNBC)

August

• OnlyFans no longer plans to ban porn, saying in abrupt U-turn that it wants to be a ‘home for all creators’ (Insider)
• OnlyFans has tons of users, but can’t find investors (Axios)
• OnlyFans to Bar Sexually Explicit Videos Starting in October (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores (WSJ)
• OnlyFans Creates Its First App With a Twist: No Nudity, No Cost (Bloomberg)
• DoorDash Recently Held Talks to Buy Instacart (The Information)
• Square’s $29 billion deal for buy-now, pay-later player Afterpay is the starting gun for the race to build a money super app (Insider)
• Robinhood surges as much as 81% in second day of wild trading (CNBC)
• Apple, Affirm to Join on Buy Now, Pay Later for Canadian Purchases (Bloomberg)
• Twitter’s Dorsey leads $29 bln buyout of lending pioneer Afterpay (Reuters)

July

• Robinhood falls in its public market debut, closes more than 8% lower at $34.82 per share (CNBC)
• Gopuff confirms new $1B cash injection at a $15B valuation to expand its instant grocery delivery service (TechCrunch)
• Groceries in 10 Minutes: Delivery Start-Ups Crowd City Streets Across Globe (NYTimes)
• Robinhood CEO on the meme stock craze: ‘I think it’s a real thing’ (CNBC)
• An ‘Airbnb for Pools’ Is Making a Splash This Summer (WSJ)
• Revolut confirms a fresh $800M in funding at a $33B valuation (TechCrunch)
• Apple, Goldman Plan ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Service to Rival Affirm (Bloomberg)

June

• Shopify drops its App Store commissions to 0% on developers’ first million in revenue (TechCrunch)
• Amazon Appstore will reduce developer revenue cut from 30% to 20% and give 10% in Free AWS Credit (AFTV News)
• Amazon brings cashierless tech to full-size grocery store for first time at new Seattle-area location (Geek Wire)
• Payments giant Stripe launches Stripe Tax to integrate sales tax calculations for 30+ countries (TechCrunch)
• Amazon Prime Day set for June 21 and 22 (CNBC)
• Etsy is buying the fashion resale app Depop for $1.6 billion. (NYTimes)

May

• Airbnb doubles down on flexible search, improves the host flow in preparation for summer 2021 (TechCrunch)

April

• Amazon to spend $1B to boost pay for 500k operations workers by as much as $3 an hour (Geek Wire)
• Amazon is bringing palm-scanning payment system to Whole Foods stores (CNBC)
• DoorDash Drivers Game Algorithm to Increase Pay (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Patreon’s Valuation Triples to $4 Billion as Platform Draws Creators, Fans (WSJ)
• Thrasio raises $100M for its Amazon roll-up play, appoints retail CFO for its next steps (TechCrunch)

March

• Deliveroo drags on the LSE; closes down 44% on debut (TechCrunch)
• Cameo Aims to Connect Celebrities With Fans and It’s Now Valued at $1 Billion (WSJ)
• On-demand logistics and fulfillment startup Flowspace raises $31M (VentureBeat)
• Stripe valuation soars to $95bn after latest fundraising (FT)
• The new Google Pay repeats all the same mistakes of Google Allo (Ars Technica)
• Amazon shaves app icon mustache that raised eyebrows (The Verge)
• Instacart’s valuation doubles to $39 billion (CNBC)
• Klarna Valued at $31 Billion After U.S. Growth Stoked Investors (Bloomberg)
• As BNPL startups raise, a look at Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay earnings (TechCrunch Extra)

February

• Google Maps will now let you pay for public transportation and parking through its app (The Verge)
• Bumble stock closes up 63% after soaring in market debut (CNBC)
• Microsoft approached Pinterest about a takeover (FT)
• Bumble makes Wall Street debut in a milestone moment for female founders (CNN Business)
• TikTok takes on Facebook with US ecommerce push (FT)
• This Hedge Fund Made $700 Million on GameStop (WSJ)
• PFOF is the Ad Model for Brokerage (Justin Paterno)
• Uber buying booze delivery company Drizly for $1.1 billion (Axios)
• Robinhood Raises Another $2.4 Billion From Shareholders (WSJ)

January

• Robinhood, in Need of Cash, Raises $1 Billion From Its Investors (NYTimes)
• The Big Short SQUEEZE from $5 to $50? Could GameStop stock (GME) explode higher?? Value investing! (Roaring Kitty)
• How a Penny Stock Explodes From Obscurity to 451% Gains Via Chat Forums (Bloomberg)
• CashApp Is King (Aika’s Newsletter)
• How WallStreetBets Pushed GameStop Shares to the Moon (Bloomberg)
• WallStreetBets Founder Reckons With Legacy Amid Stock (WSJ)
• SPAC boom could finally provide an exit ramp for digital publishers like Buzzfeed and Vice Media (CNBC)
• When SPACs Attack! A New Force Is Invading Wall Street. (WSJ)
• Plaid Shareholders Field Offers at $15 Billion After Merger Collapse (The Information)
• Hipcamp, ‘Airbnb of the Outdoors,’ Raises $57 Million (The Information)
• Local news app News Break raises $115M (TechCrunch)
• Perfect Corp., developer of virtual beauty app YouCam Makeup, closes $50 million Series C led by Goldman Sachs (TechCrunch)
• Online clothing reseller Poshmark closes up more than 140% on first day of trading (CNBC)
• Max Levchin’s Affirm pops nearly 100% in market debut (CNBC)
• Cameo launches hiring spree following banner year (Axios)
• Trade-in site Gazelle is ending trade-ins (The Verge)

2020

December

• Amazon’s advertising business booms in pandemic (FT)
• Opendoor Rides SPAC Deal to Lofty $18 Billion Valuation at Market Debut (The Information)
• Real estate software and data analytics company RealPage to be acquired for $10.2 billion (VentureBeat)
• Airbnb skyrockets 112% in public market debut, giving it a market cap of $86.5 billion (CNBC)
• DoorDash skyrockets 80% in market debut, opening at $182 per share (CNBC)
• Wish plans to price between $22 and $24 per share at up to $14 billion valuation (CNBC)
• Stripe to Offer Banking Services in Deal With Goldman Sachs, Citigroup (WSJ)
• Stripe: Platform of Platforms (Stratechery)
• PhonePe raises $700 million, becomes a separate entity (TechCrunch)
• FedEx to Buy ShopRunner in Quest for Closer E-Commerce Ties (Bloomberg)

November

• Airbnb, DoorDash Aim for Higher-Than-Expected Valuations Ahead of Debuts (WSJ)
• Payments Startup Stripe in Talks for Funding at $70 Billion Valuation or More (Bloomberg)
• Can Shopify Compete With Amazon Without Becoming Amazon? (NYTimes Magazine)
• BuzzFeed to Acquire HuffPost in Stock Deal With Verizon Media (WSJ)
• Google Pay gets a major redesign with a new emphasis on personal finance (TechCrunch)
• Affirm drops S-1, revealing sharply rising revenue on a narrower net loss (FinLedger.com)
• Amazon jumps into the pharmacy business with online prescription fulfillment, free delivery for Prime members (CNBC)
• Airbnb files to go public, turned a profit last quarter (CNBC)
• DoorDash files to go public (TechCrunch)
• Railsbank, the Banking-as-a-Service, raises $37M in growth funding (TechCrunch)
• ‘This is revolutionary’: new online bookshop unites indies to rival Amazon (The Guardian)
• Walmart Scraps Plan to Have Robots Scan Shelves (WSJ)

October

• THE MASK BARONS OF ETSY (The Verge)
• Shogun raises $35M to help brands take on Amazon with faster and better sites of their own (TechCrunch)

September

• Rally raises $17M to expand a platform that lets you invest in (but not buy) collectibles (TechCrunch)
• Amazon will now let you pay with your palm in its stores (Recode)
• Amazon Prime Day set for Oct 13 and 14 after coronavirus delayed original summer date (CNBC)
• Sneaker Platform Goat Group Raises $100 Million to Fund Expansion Plans (WSJ)
• Walmart+ launches Sept 15, offering same-day delivery, gas discounts and cashierless checkout for $98/yr (TechCrunch)

August

• Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s consumer boss and a top lieutenant to Bezos, will step down in 2021 (CNBC)
• DoorDash launches grocery delivery to compete with Amazon and Instacart (The Verge)
• Alibaba posts 124 per cent gain in quarterly profit, sees China retail back to pre-pandemic levels (SCMP)
• The ecommerce surge (Benedict Evans)
• Apple Gives Users More Time to Buy AppleCare After Sales Slow (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Bets on Office-Based Work With Expansion in Major Cities (WSJ)
• Apple Readies Subscription Bundles to Boost Digital Services (Bloomberg)
• Amazon and Mall Operator Look at Turning Sears, J.C. Penney Stores Into Fulfillment Centers (WSJ)
• Pinduoduo: Vertically Integrated Social Commerce (Turner Novak’s Substack)

July

• Report: Amazon’s Monopoly Tollbooth (ILSR.org)
• Shopify shares jump 7% after hot e-commerce company says second-quarter revenue increased 97% (CNBC)
• Their Businesses Went Virtual. Then Apple Wanted a Cut. (NYTimes)
• Robinhood Has Lured Young Traders, Sometimes With Devastating Results (NYTimes)
• Robinhood and How to Lose Money (The Margins)
• Misfits Market raises $85 million Series B to send you ‘ugly’ fruits and veggies (TechCrunch)
• Jeff Bezos hated ads — now Amazon is America’s top advertiser (Axios)
• EBay Nears Deal to Sell Classified-Ad Unit to Adevinta (WSJ)
• Amazon Influence Program opens to live streamers for broadcasting Amazon Life (TechCrunch)
• Walmart leads $1.2 billion investment in India’s Flipkart (TechCrunch)
• Amazon’s new smart shopping cart lets you check out without a cashier (The Verge)
• Exclusive: Apple is working on QR Code payments for Apple Pay, iOS 14 code reveals (9to5Mac)
• Uber agrees to buy food-delivery service Postmates for $2.65 billion in stock (CNBC)
• Uber acquires meal delivery service Postmates for $2.65 billion (The Verge)
• Strategy Behind Blockbuster Grubhub Deal: Don’t Deliver (WSJ)

June

• Lululemon set to acquire home fitness startup Mirror for $500M (TechCrunch)
• Uber in Talks to Buy Postmates for About $2.6 Billion (WSJ)
• How a “crazy Dutch guy” won the online food delivery war (Silicon Canals)
• How Uber Turned a Promising Bikeshare Company Into Literal Garbage (Vice)
• The Credit-Card Fees Merchants Hate, Banks Love and Consumers Pay (WSJ)
• Amazon forms ‘Counterfeit Crimes Unit,’ under pressure to escalate fight against fake products (GeekWire)
• Brazilian Authorities Suspend WhatsApp Payments (Bloomberg)
• Exclusive: DoorDash valued at $16 billion after new funding round (Axios)
• Apple says its App Store facilitated $519B in commerce in 2019 (TechCrunch)
• Shopify Advances After Deal With Walmart Expands Its Reach (Bloomberg)
• Just Eat Takeaway to Buy Grubhub for $7.3 Billion to Enter U.S. (Bloomberg)
• Just Eat Takeaway.com Nears All-Stock Deal for Grubhub (WSJ)
• Airbnb Joins Vacation-Rental Sites Seeing Surge in Demand (Bloomberg)

May

• Amazon’s Big Breakdown (NYTimes)
• JioMart, the e-commerce venture from India’s richest man, launches in 200 cities and towns (TechCrunch)
• Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook Shops, making it easier for businesses to list products for sale (CNBC)
• Ecommerce penetration graph (Dennis Hong)
• Is the e-commerce shift going to last? (TechCrunch)
• Walmart is shutting down Jet.com 4 years after buying the company for $3.3 billion (Business Insider)
• General Atlantic to invest $870M in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms (TechCrunch)
• London-based Fly Now Pay Later raises £35 million Series A to provide flexible financing to travellers (Tech.eu)
• Austin-Based Real Estate Startup Homeward Secures $105M In Debt & Equity (TechCrunch)
• Doordash and Pizza Arbitrage (Margins, by Ranjan Roy and Can Duruk)
• Uber’s CEO, a Seasoned Dealmaker, Pursues His Biggest One Yet (Bloomberg)
• Founder Of Borders Bookstores, Webvan Returns With Dreams Of Beating Amazon At Food Delivery (Forbes)
• US e-commerce sales jump 49% in April, led by online grocery (TechCrunch)
• Vista Equity Partners to invest $1.5B in India’s Reliance Jio Partners (TechCrunch)
• Instacart’s Frantic Dash From Grocery App to Essential Service (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Uber to lay off 3,700 employees, about 14% of workforce (CNBC)
• Silver Lake to invest $747M in India’s Jio Platforms (TechCrunch)
• Amazon says it’ll spend $4 billion or more dealing with COVID-19 (The Verge)

April

• Shopify launches Shop, a new mobile app (TechCrunch)
• In major shift, Google Shopping opens up to free product listings (Search Engine Land)
• Amazon Retools With Unusual Goal: Get Shoppers to Buy Less Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (WSJ)
• Amazon slashes commission rates for program that gives publishers a cut of sales (CNBC)
• Amazon to Expand Shipments of Nonessential Items, Continue Adding Staff (WSJ)
• Amazon developing coronavirus testing lab for workers (Washington Post)
• The pandemic is playing to almost every one of Amazon’s strengths (CNN Business)
• Can Airbnb Survive Coronavirus? (Citylab)
• Airbnb Paying More Than 10% Interest on $1 Billion Financing Announced Monday (WSJ)
• Airbnb In Talks To Raise More Debt (Bloomberg)
• Airbnb is raising $1 billion amid fallout from coronanvirus (CNBC)
• Airbnb lowers internal valuation by 16% to $26bn (FT)

March

• Airbnb to Halt All Marketing, Most Hiring as Losses Mount (The Information)
• Airbnb Hosts to Help Provide Housing to 100,000 COVID-19 Responders (Airbnb Newsroom)
• StubHub furloughs employees, other ticket sites face challenges in wake of pandemic (ESPN)
• Stripe leads $20M Series A into Fast, which is building a universal checkout service for e-commerce (TechCrunch)
• Apple promises App Store expansion to 20 new countries starting next month (9to5Mac)
• Revolut launches its neobank in the US (TechCrunch)
• Square gains FDIC conditional approval for a banking license (Silicon Angle)
• How Cameo Turned D-List Celebs Into a Monetization Machine (Marker)
• Amazon ramps hiring, opening 100,000 new roles to support people relying on Amazon’s service in this stressful time (Amazon Day One Blog)
• Airbnb’s Loss Nearly Doubles in Fourth Quarter, Before Virus (Bloomberg)
• Why All the Warby Parker Clones Are Now Imploding (Marker)
• A Chatty Auction Site Is Taking the Classic Car World by Storm (NYTimes)
• Amazon Tells New York and New Jersey Employees to Stay Home
• Robinhood goes down again, causing clients to miss out on another historic trading day (CNBC)
• Amazon launches business selling automated checkout to retailers (Reuters)
• Robinhood offers $15 discount, blames outage on record trades (TechCrunch)
• Robinhood offers traders $15 for going down as markets gained $1.1T (TNW)
• Robinhood Trading Site Seizes Up, Customers Miss Stock Rally (Bloomberg)

February

• How Monzo brought Silicon Valley’s ‘wild ideas’ to Britain’s staid banking system (CNBC)
• The bank manager will see you now: is Monzo ready to grow up? (The Guardian)
• Intuit confirms that it is buying Credit Karma for $7.1B in cash and stock (TechCrunch)
• Inside ‘Amazon Go Grocery’: Tech giant opens first full-sized store without cashiers or checkout lines (GeekWire)
• Grab raises up to $856M to boost payments business as rumors swirl of a merger with rival Gojek (TechCrunch)
• Intuit Near Deal to Buy Credit Karma for $7 Billion (WSJ)
• Blue Chip Morgan Stanley to Buy Discount Broker E-Trade (NYTimes)
• In India, mom-and-pop stores are proving to be the holy grail for tech startups (KrASIA)
• Apple Pay is on pace to account for 10% of all global card transactions (QZ)
• Brandless shuts down operations, becoming SoftBank Vision Fund’s first failure (Protocol)
• Casper surges nearly 30% in market debut (CNBC)

January

• Amazon Revenue Jumps on Holiday Sales as Profit Rises (WSJ)
• Uber and DoorDash held merger talks after SoftBank push (FT)
• Seamless, Grubhub deliver confusion with mistaken restaurant listings (The San Francisco Chronicle)
• Uber Tests Feature Allowing Some California Drivers to Set Fares (WSJ)
• App stores saw record 204 billion app downloads in 2013, consumer spend of $120 billion (TechCrunch)

2019

December

• Inside Documents Show How Amazon Chose Speed Over Safety in Building Its Delivery Network (Pro Publica)
• Shopify: A StarCraft Inspired Business Strategy (Non)
• Amazon Blocks Sellers From Using FedEx Ground for Prime Shipments (WSJ)
• Amazon Learns a New Skill: Making Money From Alexa (The Information)
• Amazon Brings in $1.4 Million in 2019 of Alexa Skill Revenue So Far — Well Short of the $5.5 Million Target According to The Information (Voicebot.ai)
• Watch out, UPS. Morgan Stanley estimates Amazon is already delivering half of its packages (CNBC)
• Apple Cards’ interest-free iPhone installment plan goes live, now with 6% back on Apple holiday purchases (TechCrunch)
• Unintended Perk of the Online Mattress Boom: Never-Ending Free (WSJ)
• Red Flags for Robinhood (Fortune)
• Black Friday sees record $7.4B in online sales, $2.9B spent using smartphones (TechCrunch)

November

• EBay to sell StubHub to Viagogo for about $4 billion in cash (CNBC)
• India’s financial services firm Paytm raises $1B (TechCrunch)
• PayPal to acquire shopping and rewards platform Honey for $4B (TechCrunch)
• Amazon unveils new Dash Smart Shelf that automatically reorders items when supplies run low (GeekWire)
• Route’s app auto-tracks all your packages, raises $12M (TechCrunch)
• Next in Google’s Quest for Consumer Dominance: Banking (WSJ)
• DoorDash Picks Up Another $100 Million at Nearly $13 Billion Valuation (Bloomberg)
• Facebook Pay is a new payment system for WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook (The Verge)
• WordPress.com sites can now accept subscriptions with new ‘Recurring Payments’ feature (TechCrunch)
• Amazon will launch new grocery store as alternative to Whole Foods (CNET)
• DoorDash Won Food Delivery by Seizing the Suburbs and $2 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Uber is entering the ads business (TechCrunch)
• Uber Books Another Quarterly Loss as Revenue Climbs (WSJ)

October

• Unraveling the Secret Origins of an AmazonBasics Battery (OneZero)
• Shopify Shares Tumble After Surprise Loss on Spending Boost (Bloomberg)
• Amazon axes $14.99 Amazon Fresh fee, making grocery delivery free for Prime members to boost use (TechCrunch)
• Amazon will let you pay bills with Alexa (VentureBeat)
• 1.5 Million Packages a Day: The Internet Brings Chaos to N.Y. Streets (NYTimes)
• AMAZON.COM ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER SALES UP 24% TO $70.0 BILLION (Amazon)
• Apple Pay Overtakes Starbucks as Top Mobile Payment App in the US (eMarketer)
• Online Influencers Tell You What to Buy, Advertisers Wonder Who’s Listening (WSJ)
• Roku is buying ad tech company Dataxu in $150 million deal (CNBC)
• Airbnb’s quarterly loss reportedly doubled in Q1, a bad sign as investors grow wary of money-losers (CNBC)
• Airbnb’s Q1 Loss More Than Doubled, New Data Shows (The Information)
• SoftBank is reportedly seeking to take control of WeWork through a financing package (CNBC)
• Is Amazon Unstoppable? (The New Yorker)
• Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan (The Atlantic)
• Group Nine to Acquire PopSugar, Continuing Wave of Digital Media Tie-Ups (WSJ)
• Robinhood revives checking with new debit card & 2% interest (TechCrunch)
• Amazon debuts its first ever Kindle Kids Edition (CNET)
• Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300 million to unleash growth. Then things got messy (CNN Business)
• Vice Media to Acquire Refinery29, as Both Digital-Media Players Seek Scale (Variety)

September

• Divvy Homes Raises $43M Series B To Help Renters Become Homeowners (Crunchbase News)
• WeWork CEO Adam Neumann to step down amid controversy and retain chairman role (CNBC)
• Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO (WSJ)
• SoftBank’s Masa Son is in favor of ousting WeWork CEO Adam Neumann (CNBC)
• Airbnb Says It Plans to Go Public in 2020 (NYTimes)
• Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020 (Airbnb)
• Datadog Rises 53% in Trading Debut After Rebuffing Cisco (Bloomberg)
• Automattic raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures (TechCrunch)
• SoftBank Backers Rethink Role in Next Vision Fund on WeWork (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products (WSJ)
• These brothers just raised $15 million for their startup, Dutchie, a kind of Shopify for cannabis dispensaries (TechCrunch)
• Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame (BuzzFeed News)

August

• Mobile payments have barely caught on in the US, despite the rise of smartphones (CNBC)
• Yelp adds personalized search results to its iPhone app (Engadget)
• Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products (WSJ)
• Amazon offered vendors ‘Amazon’s Choice’ labels in return for ad spending and lower prices (Digiday)
• WEWORK ISN’T A TECH COMPANY; IT’S A SOAP OPERA (The Verge)
• WeWTF (ProfGalloway.com)
• Peer-to-peer boat rental marketplace Boatsetter raises $10M as it looks to grow globally (TechCrunch)
• Verizon to Sell Tumblr to WordPress.com Owner (WSJ)
• Uber Posts $5.2 Billion Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate (NYTimes)
• How Piano built a propensity paywall for publishers — and what it’s learned so far (NiemanLab)
• FedEx Ends Ground-Delivery Deal With Amazon (Bloomberg)
• Amazon’s PillPack is battling with CVS and Walgreens over getting patient prescriptions (CNBC)
• The Apple Card starts rolling out today (The Verge)
• Yelp is Screwing Over Restaurants By Quietly Replacing Their Phone Numbers (Motherboard)
• Amazon Squeezes Sellers That Offer Better Prices on Walmart (Bloomberg)
• Amazon is going to kill your Dash button (CNET)
• Verizon overhauls its ‘unlimited’ offerings with four new plans and $5 price cuts (The Verge)
• Jeff Bezos Sells $2 Billion of Amazon Stock After 4% Stake Transfer (Bloomberg)

July

• Apple Reports Third Quarter Results (Apple PR)
• Amazon concedes market share in battle for online consumer goods sales (TalkBusiness.net)
• Amazon Wants to Rule the Grocery Aisles, and Not Just at Whole Foods (NYTimes)
• Just Eat £9bn merger plan sends shares soaring (The Guardian)
• Apple and Goldman Sachs Credit Card Targeting August Launch Date (Bloomberg)

June

• Don’t Know Which Toaster to Buy? There’s a Website for That. (The Ringer)

May

• How the Promise of a $120 Billion Uber I.P.O. Evaporated (NYTimes)
• How Much Is an Idea Worth? In Uber’s Case, $3.7 Billion (Bloomberg)
• The making of Amazon Prime, the internet’s most successful and devastating membership program (ReCode)

April

• Amazon Has Gone From Neutral Platform to Cutthroat Competitor, Say Open Source Developers (OneZero)
• Uber’s Venture Investors Set for a Windfall (WSJ)
• Jeff Bezos challenges retail rivals to outdo Amazon’s $15 minimum wage (The Verge)
• Lemonade picks up $300 million Series D led by SoftBank Group (TechCrunch)
• Jeff Bezos, in divorce settlement, retains 75 percent of the Amazon stock he held with his now ex-wife MacKenzie (The Washington Post)
• The World’s Greatest Delivery Empire (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Walmart Unveils Voice-Activated, Google-Powered Grocery Shopping (Bloomberg)

March

• ‘A battle for the top of the funnel’: Pinterest’s long road to becoming a commerce platform (Digiday)
• The Enormous Numbers Behind Amazon’s Market Reach (Bloomberg)
• Apple introduced its own credit card, the Apple Card (TechCrunch)
• Instagram tests in-app shopping with Kylie Cosmetics, Nike and Huda Beauty (Digiday)
• Meet The Billionaire Who Defied Amazon And Built Wish, The World’s Most-Downloaded E-Commerce App (Forbes)
• Airbnb Wanted Travelers To Stay In Homes. Now It’s Buying HotelTonight. (BuzzFeed News)
• Three Reasons Behind Airbnb’s Deal for HotelTonight (The Information)
• Grab confirms $1.46B investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund (TechCrunch)
• Amazon stops selling Dash buttons, goofy forerunners of the connected home (CNET)

February

• Amazon Prime members can choose a weekly delivery date with launch of ‘Amazon Day’ (TechCrunch)
• Apple, Goldman Sachs Team Up on Credit Card Paired With iPhone (WSJ)
• Walmart’s US e-commerce sales up 43% in Q4, thanks to growing online grocery business (TechCrunch)
• Etsy sellers say their bank accounts were emptied in major billing snafu (BoingBoing)
• Amazon’s Escape From New York (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Uber’s Secret Gold Mine: How Uber Eats Is Turning Into A Billion-Dollar Business To Rival Grubhub (Forbes)
• Zillow Wants to Flip Your House (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters (NYTimes)
• Why Amazon buying Eero feels so disappointing (The Verge)
• When Amazon Went From Big to Unbelievably Big (The Atlantic)
• Amazon Notches Third Record Profit in a Row (WSJ)
• Americans are lining up to work for Amazon for $15 an hour (QZ)

January

• Munchery closes on-demand meal-delivery business (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Apple Pay coming to Target, Taco Bell and more top US retail locations (Apple Newsroom)
• Amazon helped 50,000 SMBs generate $500,000 in sales (Neowin)
• INSIDE THE STRANGE YET PROFITABLE WORLD OF RETAIL ARBITRAGE (Mel Magazine)
• Amazon’s new ad strategy: Free samples based on what it knows about you (Axios)

2018

December

• Amazon gets into health insurance — and more 2019 health-tech predictions from top experts (CNBC)
• Amazon Says Alexa Voice Shopping Tripled During 2018 Holiday Season (Fortune)
• Amazon Targets Unprofitable Items, With a Sharper Focus on the Bottom Line (WSJ)
• Robinhood Will Retool Checking Product Following Scrutiny (Bloomberg)
• Amazon has officially killed the Whole Foods-Instacart partnership (Recode)
• Robinhood launches no-fee checking/savings with Mastercard & the most ATMs (TechCrunch)
• Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund (TechCrunch)
• At this new online banking platform, customers are the owners (Fast Company)
• Vroom nabs $146M from AutoNation, VCs for its used car site (TechCrunch)

November

• Exclusive: Airbnb will start designing houses in 2019 (Fast Company)
• New Parents Complain Amazon Baby-Registry Ads Are Deceptive (WSJ)
• An Amazon revolt could be brewing as the tech giant exerts more control over brands (Recode)
• What If Amazon.com Actually…Is A Horrible Website? (BuzzFeed)
• The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager (Vox)
• Airbnb booked more than $1 billion in third quarter revenue (CNBC)
• Amazon Go competitor Standard Cognition raises $40 million to expand its cashierless store solution (VentureBeat)
• Snap’s former No. 2 exec Imran Khan is building an online shopping startup (ReCode)
• Amazon is finally selling new iPhones after a long and complicated ‘turf war’ with Apple (BusinessInsider)
• Amazon is mailing a printed holiday toy catalog to millions of customers (CNBC)
• India’s Meesho, which enables social commerce via WhatsApp, raises $50M (TechCrunch)
• Amazon waives $25 minimum spend to offer free Christmas deliveries for all U.S. customers (Venture Beat)

October

• Uber’s Secret Restaurant Empire (Bloomberg)
• Kickstarter to End Drip, Fund New Platform with XOXO Festival Creators (The Verge)
• The Team Behind XOXO is Taking Over Kickstarter’s Drip Crowdfunding Community (TechCrunch)
• Inside the $2.6 billion subscription box wars (Fast Company)
• This Is How Amazon Loses (NewCo Shift)
• Snap Is ‘Quickly Running Out of Money,’ Analyst Says (Bloomberg)
• A China Veggie-Selling App May Be Worth $7 billion (Bloomberg)
• Some advertisers are moving half of their search budget from Google to Amazon, say ad industry sources (CNBC)
• Old Unicorn, New Tricks: Airbnb Has A Sky-High Valuation. Here’s Its Audacious Plan To Earn It (Forbes)
• Barnes & Noble names board committee to review possible sale, shares soar (CNBC)
• Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees (CNBC)

September

• Amazon’s Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video (Gizmodo)
• Payment Startup Stripe Is Now a $20 Billion Company (Bloomberg)
• Uber drivers and other gig economy workers are earning half what they did five years ago (Recode)
• Vox Media On Pace to Miss Revenue Target as Digital Advertising Disappoints (WSJ)
• Amazon: Retailers Gonna Retail (Steven Sinofsky)
• Amazon Will Consider Opening Up to 3,000 Cashierless Stores by 2021 (Bloomberg)
• Google, Facebook Lead Digital’s March to Half of U.S. Ad Market (Bloomberg)
• Amazon becoming 3rd-biggest digital ad platform (Axios)
• Amazon Storefronts is a new retail hub exclusively for US small businesses (The Verge)
• Alibaba announces Jack Ma succession plan: CEO Daniel Zhang to take over as chairman in a year (CNBC)
• Walmart partners with delivery logistics platform Bringg on last-mile grocery delivery (TechCrunch)
• Instagram is building a standalone app for shopping (The Verge)

August

• Berkshire Hathaway in talks for a stake in Paytm (Economic Times)
• Walmart takes another jab at Amazon as it begins selling e-books for first time (USA Today)
• Karma raises $12 million for marketplace that helps restaurants and supermarkets reduce food waste (Venture Beat)
• Wish, an Internet Dollar Store, Struggles to Keep Customers (The Information)
• Amazon in Running to Acquire Landmark Movie Chain (Bloomberg)
• Apple Pay Increasingly Central to iPhone (Loop Ventures)
• The Reality Behind Voice Shopping Hype (The Information)
• Airbnb for Work claims 700,000 businesses as bookings tripled for second year in a row (VentureBeat)
• How Software Ate the Point of Sale (The Atlantic)
• Apple tops 300 million paid subscriptions as it reportedly preps new subscription services (Digiday)
• This No-Brand Startup Won $240 Million to Fight Amazon on Price and Quality (Bloomberg)

July

• Grover raises €37M Series A to offer latest tech products as a subscription (TechCrunch)
• Retailers set sights on Facebook, Google ad revenue (Reuters)
• This is the Amazon everyone should have feared — and it has nothing to do with its retail business (Recode)
• Stripe Starts Issuing Credit Cards (Bloomberg)
• STRIKES, BOYCOTTS, AND OUTAGES MAR AMAZON PRIME DAY (Wired)
• Amazon warehouse workers are striking across Europe on Prime Day (The Verge)
• Airbnb is grappling with how to treat people with criminal convictions (Quartz)
• Amazon’s share of the US e-commerce market is now 49%, or 5% of all retail spend (TechCrunch)
• Amazon Takes a Page From Toys ‘R’ Us With a Holiday Catalog (Bloomberg)

June

• I Delivered Packages for Amazon and It Was a Nightmare (The Atlantic)
• Amazon shakes up drugstore business with deal to buy online pharmacy PillPack (CNBC)
• Amazon’s new blue crew: Tech giant enlists entrepreneurs to own the ‘last mile,’ delivering packages in Prime vans and uniforms (GeekWire)
• WHY LYFT IS TRYING TO BECOME THE NEXT SUBSCRIPTION BUSINESS (Wired)
• One Year in, Bird Founder Sells Some Shares (The Information)
• The Million Dollar Homepage (Wikipedia)
• E-Commerce Might Help Solve the Mystery of Low Inflation (NYTimes)
• Scooter startup Bird is seeking a $2 billion valuation (Axios)
• The Scooter Economy (Stratechery)
• Why Aren’t We All Buying Houses on the Internet? (Slate)

May

• Mobile Direct Traffic Eclipses Facebook (Chartbeat)
• Piles of bike-sharing cycles (Atlantic)
• Banned From Amazon: The Shoppers Who Make Too Many Returns (WSJ)
• Amazon cuts Whole Foods prices for Prime members in new grocery showdown (Reuters)
• IAB says online advertising grew to $88B last year — more spending than TV (TechCrunch)
• Goldman Sachs, Apple Team Up on New Credit Card (WSJ)
• Free stock trading app Robinhood rockets to a $5.6B valuation with new funding round (TechCrunch)
• Instagram quietly launches payments for commerce (TechCrunch)
• ‘Hi, It’s Amazon Calling. Here’s What We Don’t Like in Your City.’ (WSJ)
• Over 400 Startups Are Trying to Become the Next Warby Parker. Inside the Wild Race to Overthrow Every Consumer Category (Inc)

April

• Amazon CEO Shareholder Letter (SEC)