Jason Del Rey
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jasondelrey.bsky.social
Jason Del Rey
@jasondelrey.bsky.social
Tech correspondent at @fortune.com covering Amazon, commerce & more. Author of WINNER SELLS ALL: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets. Signal: 917-655-4267. Jason.delrey@fortune.com
One take on my latest exclusive for @fortune.com
Amazon plans to cut 15% of HR staff. I guess it makes sense that if all you’re doing is layoffs and ignoring people’s feedback about RTO, then you probably can replace your HR department with AI.
Amazon is planning a new wave of layoffs, sources say | Fortune
Amazon's 10,000-plus employee HR division, which includes recruiters, is expected to be among the hardest hit in the job cuts.
fortune.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I spent the last few weeks digging into the remarkable, under-the-radar success of Whatnot -- a $5 billion live-streaming app that's like eBay meets Twitch

Is it the booming collectibles industry? A design that encourages impulse buys? An eclectic group of sellers?

Yes

My latest for @fortune.com
Inside the rapid rise of Whatnot, the wildly-entertaining, FOMO-inducing, most popular shopping app you’ve never heard of
Livestreaming shopping app Whatnot will sell $6 billion in goods this year. Can it keep growing?
fortune.com
June 17, 2025 at 2:03 PM
My latest exclusive for @fortune.com:

Chinese suppliers are offering some solutions to US Amazon sellers to combat crazy high tariffs ….

The problem? They sure sound like customs fraud.

Desperate SMBS are being forced into very tough choices

cc @mcuban.bsky.social

fortune.com/2025/04/12/c...
Panicked Chinese suppliers are offering a tariff solution to Amazon sellers — but it's not legal
In emails and WeChat messages viewed by Fortune, Chinese suppliers proposed illegal workarounds to executives from a brand with a large presence on Amazon.
fortune.com
April 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
“Dynamic” paywall :)
April 8, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Reposted by Jason Del Rey
This headline in @fortune.com: "Exclusive: U.S. Chamber of Commerce is considering suing the Trump administration to halt global tariff assault" - @jasondelrey.bsky.social fortune.com/2025/04/07/c... (Paywalled)
Exclusive: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is considering suing the Trump administration to halt global tariff assault
Many big-company CEOs have been resistant to speaking out against the tariffs: No one wants a target on their back. Enter trade groups like the Chamber of Commerce.
fortune.com
April 7, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Exclusive for @fortune.com:

The US Chamber of Commerce is considering suing the Trump administration to halt global tariff agenda

The move would effectively provide cover for CEOs distressed about the tariffs but fearful of incurring the President’s wrath

fortune.com/2025/04/07/c...
Exclusive: The US Chamber of Commerce is considering suing the Trump administration to halt global tariff assault
Many big-company CEOs have been resistant to speaking out against the tariffs; No one wants a target on their back. Enter trade groups like the Chamber of Commerce.
fortune.com
April 7, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Jason Del Rey
My most recent magazine feature for @fortune.com is one of my favorite pieces I've ever written.

It's ostensibly a profile of the serial entrepreneur Marc Lore.

But it's really a story of trauma, of entrepreneurial ingenuity, and the pain and glory of insatiable ambition.

I hope you'll read it.
The pain—and glory—of a self-made billionaire's insatiable drive
Marc Lore is worth an estimated $2.8 billion and his drive has already cost him his marriage of 22 years. Why is he still working 90 hours a week on Wonder, the startup aiming to be the Amazon of food...
fortune.com
March 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
My most recent magazine feature for @fortune.com is one of my favorite pieces I've ever written.

It's ostensibly a profile of the serial entrepreneur Marc Lore.

But it's really a story of trauma, of entrepreneurial ingenuity, and the pain and glory of insatiable ambition.

I hope you'll read it.
The pain—and glory—of a self-made billionaire's insatiable drive
Marc Lore is worth an estimated $2.8 billion and his drive has already cost him his marriage of 22 years. Why is he still working 90 hours a week on Wonder, the startup aiming to be the Amazon of food...
fortune.com
March 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
If you're at sxsw today, I hope you'll consider dropping into my session with Chewy's CEO at 4 pm

With all the talk of AI displacing jobs, I'm intrigued to talk to the leader of a Fortune 500 company that is known for great, HUMAN-led customer service but also is aggressively investing in tech
March 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Top U.S. Amazon sellers have long complained about an unlevel playing field battling against an "avalanche" of Chinese sellers

Now they are pushing for Trump & Co. to intervene

My latest for @fortune.com explores this dynamic, with a cameo by @mcuban.bsky.social

fortune.com/2025/02/12/a...
Top U.S. Amazon sellers want Trump to intervene in battle with Chinese competitors.
The billionaire investor Mark Cuban is also warning that competition with Chinese merchants on Amazon is a 'huge problem' for small U.S. brands.
fortune.com
February 12, 2025 at 4:03 PM
In 2024, Amazon posted more than $150 BILLION in revenue from fees it charges sellers, EXCLUDING ads

That's basically a Fortune 25 biz

But how much profit Amazon banks from this is a mystery. So after record Amazon earnings, I decided to dissect this in
@fortune.com

fortune.com/2025/02/07/a...
Amazon is boasting record profits but one mystery remains: How much are seller fees boosting the bottom line?
Amazon's cloud and ad divisions are key contributors to its record profit. But the tech giant keeps the full picture murky.
fortune.com
February 10, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Stoked to help program and host this great London AI event. Interested in attending or speaking? Please reach out!
Fortune Brainstorm AI returns to London from May 6-7. Want to participate in our invite-only gathering about the next generation of AI? Drop me a line: www.fortune.com/conferences/...
FORTUNE BRAINSTORM AI London
www.fortune.com
January 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Jason Del Rey
Mark Zuckerberg has lost at least $60 billion over 5 years chasing virtual reality. www.businessinsider.com/meta-apple-m...
January 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
At last night’s #FortuneBrainstorm dinner, @mcuban.bsky.social told guests that BlueSky is where he’s spending most of his social media time since the discourse is by and large level-headed

“Twitter’s a shithole these days”
January 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Thanks to @quinnypig.com & other sources who helped me craft this profile of Amazon's most important exec not named Andy

While Garman is seen as a steady hand who's been with AWS since launch, he faces big challenges on people, product & policy fronts

I hope you'll take a read below (free link)
December 20, 2024 at 6:40 PM
Looking forward to these interviews I'm conducting Monday and Tuesday at @fortune.com 's #brainstormAI conference.

Have questions for Dave, Sanjay or Mano? Hit me up!
December 9, 2024 at 1:32 AM
Amazon's AI strategy for AWS now centers on low prices and wide selection with the introduction of its Nova AI models and its Bedrock Marketplace.

Feel like I've witnessed this playbook inside Amazon before

My latest for @fortune.com with a nod to @simonwillison.net

fortune.com/2024/12/04/a...
Amazon's new AI cloud strategy is ripped straight from the ecommerce playbook that built a $2 trillion juggernaut
AWS is betting that an AI model marketplace with low prices and wide selection will be the key to success.
fortune.com
December 4, 2024 at 10:22 PM
non-update update:

Amazon =CEO Andy Jassy said at today's @amazonwebservices.bsky.social Re:Invent conference that "you can expect [the new Alexa] in the coming months"
Why, hello.

Amazon has repeatedly pushed back the launch of a Gen AI-powered Alexa that it teased over a year ago. I reviewed more than a dozen pages of recent internal docs highlighting major issues with the new version.

Among them: Severe latency and subpar satisfaction scores (4.7 out of 7)
Exclusive: Leaked Amazon memos identify critical flaws in the upcoming AI version of Alexa
The planned update to voice assistant Alexa is bogged down with problems including latency, which requires "significant improvements,” an internal memo said.
fortune.com
December 3, 2024 at 9:06 PM
Thought this was a great interview on both sides. Appreciated Jason’s candor on the stuff that 404 thinks it has figured out and the stuff that’s still a work in progress
Had a fun and at times challenging (in a good way, made me think) conversation with @pkafka.bsky.social about how we built 404 Media and what our editorial strategy is on this week's episode of Channels:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
How to build your own media company - without VCs or billionaires
Podcast Episode · Channels with Peter Kafka · 11/27/2024 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
December 1, 2024 at 5:13 PM
I have a sinking feeling that we are gonna have to talk with family about crypto again this thanksgiving
November 27, 2024 at 3:34 AM
It's amazing to experience a new platform where I'm not greeted with different versions of a post like this every time I log on...

"Today, we said goodbye to my little brother for the final time"
November 22, 2024 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Jason Del Rey
Excited to get to share this story about "Muskification" in a small Texas town that I've been working on in the background since March. fortune.com/2024/11/18/e...
Welcome to Elontown, USA: an unlikely Texas home base for Musk’s business empire
New jobs and developments are booming, but locals have been left to guess how their community fits into the billionaire’s plans.
fortune.com
November 19, 2024 at 4:17 PM
Why, hello.

Amazon has repeatedly pushed back the launch of a Gen AI-powered Alexa that it teased over a year ago. I reviewed more than a dozen pages of recent internal docs highlighting major issues with the new version.

Among them: Severe latency and subpar satisfaction scores (4.7 out of 7)
Exclusive: Leaked Amazon memos identify critical flaws in the upcoming AI version of Alexa
The planned update to voice assistant Alexa is bogged down with problems including latency, which requires "significant improvements,” an internal memo said.
fortune.com
November 19, 2024 at 4:07 PM