Amazon revealed one of its biggest, longest-kept secrets — the company has more than 100 million Prime members globally. In his annual letter to shareholders, CEO Jeff Bezos also said that the 13-year-old subscription service has shipped more than five billion items worldwide, and that the on-demand, ad-free Amazon Music streaming service has “tens of millions of paid customers” — compared to Spotify’s 71 million and Apple Music’s more than 40 million. [Dan Frommer / Recode]
Recode Daily: Amazon finally delivers an actual number of Prime subscribers. (It’s 100 million.)
Plus, Uber whistleblower Susan Fowler gets behind ending forced arbitration, Uber Eats is the fastest-growing food delivery service in the U.S., and VR for cats!
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In the latest pact between frenemies Amazon and Best Buy, the electronics retailer will be the exclusive brick-and-mortar sales channelfor a new line of TVs equipped with Amazon’s Fire TV streaming video capabilities and Alexa voice assistant technology. Amazon gets broad distribution for its technologies in a physical setting, and an outsourced group of sales associates to help shoppers learn new technologies. Best Buy shoppers will get access to exclusive products that might lure them inside its stores, even as Amazon introduces new services that compete with Best Buy. [Jason Del Rey / Recode]
In a Washington, D.C., court, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes defended his company’s planned merger with AT&T as necessary to compete with Google and Facebook. The trial, which began in mid-March, is expected to wrap up this month. [Diane Bartz / Reuters]
Uber whistleblower Susan Fowler is using her platform to help end forced arbitration, which blocks workers from suing their employers. Fowler, the former Uber engineer who exposed the company’s toxic culture of harassment and sexism, is working with the California Labor Federation on a new bill that would prohibit companies from making it a condition of employment that employees agree to settle any issue in arbitration. [Johana Bhuiyan / Recode]
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This is cool
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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