Tag: Amazon

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Article: Amazon Got Some Warrants

Article - Media

Amazon Got Some Warrants

Matt Levine, 30 June 2021

A recurring theme of this column is that if you have the power to make the price of a financial asset go up, you should (1) do that but (2) buy a lot of it first. So for instance Tesla Inc. is a big company and its chief executive officer, Elon Musk, is a famous influential guy with a lot of Twitter followers. So when Tesla announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, the price of Bitcoin went up. This was very predictable. So what did Tesla do? It bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin before announcing the news, and then Bitcoin went up and it had an immediate gain. 1

I am a simple man and to me this seems good. Buy a thing, create good news for the thing, announce that news, watch the price of the thing go up. In general I think it is under-utilized, as a strategy. You don’t hear stories about, like, Moderna Inc. running a successful trial of its coronavirus vaccine and buying a ton of call options on cruise lines and airlines before announcing the news. That would have been a good trade! Continue reading “Article: Amazon Got Some Warrants”

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Article: Why India wants to put an end to Amazon and Flipkart’s flash sales

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Why India wants to put an end to Amazon and Flipkart’s flash sales

Ananya Bhattacharya, 22 June 2021

Online retail giants in India may soon have to play by new rules when it comes to offering discounts.

“No e-commerce entity shall organise a flash sale of goods or services offered on its platform,” says the amended version of India’s Consumer Protection Rules, 2020, released on June 22. The consumer affairs department describes a flash sale as one that offers “significantly reduced prices, high discounts or any other such promotions or attractive offers for a predetermined period of time on selective goods and services or otherwise with an intent to draw large number of consumers.” Continue reading “Article: Why India wants to put an end to Amazon and Flipkart’s flash sales”

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Article: Douglas Todd: Sam Cooper’s exposé of corruption in Canada tops bestseller list

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Douglas Todd: Sam Cooper’s exposé of corruption in Canada tops bestseller list

Douglas Todd, 18 June 2021

It’s not every day a reporter who has worked for The Vancouver Sun and The Province writes a book that hits No. 1 in sales on Amazon.ca and continues to hover near the top.

But that is what dogged journalist Sam Cooper has achieved with his thrilling and deeply disturbing exposé of what he rightly calls the “mind-blowing” connections among organized crime, casinos, the Chinese Communist Party, real estate, money laundering, offshore billionaires and Canadian politicians. Continue reading “Article: Douglas Todd: Sam Cooper’s exposé of corruption in Canada tops bestseller list”

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Article: Indian-Origin Husband Of Ex-Amazon Employee Jailed For Securities Fraud In US

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Indian-Origin Husband Of Ex-Amazon Employee Jailed For Securities Fraud In US

Press Trust of India, 14 June 2021

Washington: The Indian-origin husband of a former Amazon employee has been sentenced to 26 months in prison by a US court for securities fraud and illegally making a profit of USD 1.4 million by using inside trading information from his wife.

Viky Bohra, 37, from Bothell, Washington state, pleaded guilty in November 2020, admitting that between 2016 and 2018, he used Amazon inside information he obtained from his wife, an Amazon finance employee, to place trades in Amazon stock-making a profit of $1.4 million, acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman said. Continue reading “Article: Indian-Origin Husband Of Ex-Amazon Employee Jailed For Securities Fraud In US”

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Article: Husband of Amazon employee sentenced to prison for insider trading in Amazon stock

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Husband of Amazon employee sentenced to prison for insider trading in Amazon stock

SDepartment of Justice, 10 June 2021

Seattle – A 37-year-old Bothell, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 26 months in prison for securities fraud due to his insider trading activity, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Viky Bohra pleaded guilty in November 2020, admitting that between 2016 and 2018, he used Amazon inside information he obtained from his wife, an Amazon finance employee, to place trades in Amazon stock–making a profit of $1,428,264. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart noted that Bohra had turned his wife and father into criminals and added “I firmly believe white collar crime deserves equal treatment to what we call street crime.”

“This defendant and his wife were earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and bonuses from their jobs in tech – but he was not content with that – greedily scheming to illegally profit by trading Amazon stock,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “This case should stand as a warning to those who try to game the markets with insider trading: there is a heavy price to pay with a felony conviction and prison sentence.”

According to records filed in the case, Bohra’s wife had access to confidential information regarding Amazon revenue and expenses. Because of that work, Bohra and his wife were subject to blackout periods during which no Amazon stock could be traded. Bohra’s wife was advised of insider trading policies making it clear the responsibility to safeguard confidential financial information. Despite those warnings, Bohra obtained his wife’s confidential information and traded in Amazon stock and options in accounts tied to him and his father. Trades occurred during blackout periods and, from 2016 to 2018, relied in part on information from his wife to make successful trades in advance of Amazon earnings announcements.

“Mr. Bohra knew exactly what he was doing and was driven solely by greed,” said Donald M. Voiret, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Office. “With his nearly unlimited access and knowledge of securities trading, he undermined public trust in our financial markets.”

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Article: Former NYSE Trader on GameStop Earnings and Naked Shorts

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Former NYSE Trader on GameStop Earnings and Naked Shorts

thestreet, 10 June 2021

Momentum stocks, which have been dubbed “meme stocks” by mainstream media and Wall Street, have taken the stock market by storm in the last six months.

Earlier this week, stocks such as GameStop (GME) – Get Report and AMC (AMC) – Get Report were seeing positive momentum. Even stocks like Clover (CLOV) – Get Report and Wendy’s (WEN) – Get Report joined them.

However, GameStop’s momentum turned negative in Thursday intraday trading following the company’s earnings report late Wednesday. Continue reading “Article: Former NYSE Trader on GameStop Earnings and Naked Shorts”

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Article: Wall Street languid as “meme stock” frenzy hogs spotlight

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Wall Street languid as “meme stock” frenzy hogs spotlight

Stephen Culp, 08 June 2021

Wall Street stocks wavered near the starting line on Tuesday as a lack of clear market catalysts kept institutional investors on the sidelines, while retail traders kept the rally of so-called meme stocks alive. All three major U.S. stock indexes were little changed, with the S&P (.SPX) and the Dow (.DJI) hovering within 1% of their record closing highs.

The tech-laded Nasdaq (.IXIC) fared best, with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) providing the biggest boost. The CBOE volatility index (.VIX), a measure of investor anxiety, touched its lowest level in over a year. Continue reading “Article: Wall Street languid as “meme stock” frenzy hogs spotlight”

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Article: Amazon, Stock Compensation & Equity Valuation

Article - Media, Publications

Amazon, Stock Compensation & Equity Valuation

TYLER DURDEN, 01 April 2021

Bloomberg News recently published an article, Amazon Fights Union Drive With Fact-Free Bombast, discussing Amazon’s alleged use of misinformation to prevent employees from unionizing. In the same manner Kailash recused itself from having a “bull” or “bear” thesis on Bitcoin, we will recuse ourselves from any discussion of unions. What we would like to draw our readers’ attention to however is the method by which Amazon pays many senior executives. In the Bloomberg article it noted that the former head of Amazon’s logistics business was awarded stock compensation worth $160 million dollars. Continue reading “Article: Amazon, Stock Compensation & Equity Valuation”

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Article: Amazon calls on India not to alter e-commerce investment rules – sources

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Amazon calls on India not to alter e-commerce investment rules – sources

Aditya Kalra,  25 March 2021

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Amazon asked the Indian government on Thursday not to change e-commerce foreign investment rules until investigations into its business practices had been concluded, two sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

The commerce ministry met e-commerce players after allegations by retailers, which are a crucial part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support base, that Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart create complex structures to bypass federal foreign investment rules and damage small traders.

Both companies deny any wrongdoing and say they are helping small businesses in India. Continue reading “Article: Amazon calls on India not to alter e-commerce investment rules – sources”

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Article: The future of bitcoin with Max Keiser, plus the US’s bombing addiction, and surveillance capitalism

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The future of bitcoin with Max Keiser, plus the US’s bombing addiction, and surveillance capitalism

RT NEws,  19 March 2021

Max Keiser is Lee Camp’s guest this week, for a conversation about bitcoin. Keiser argues that bitcoin has the potential to change the world in a progressive direction by replacing government-controlled fiat currencies and democratizing the economy. They discuss the future of bitcoin, market manipulation by the oligarchs at the top of the system, how cryptocurrencies can make imperialist wars irrelevant, and the real inflation rate.

After that, Lee explores the results of a new study by the women’s peace organization CODEPINK, which found that, over the past 20 years, the US has dropped an average of 46 bombs a day.

Finally, Natalie McGill reports on the surveillance system Flock, which is similar to the Amazon Ring, but offers extra, creepier methods of invading the privacy of your neighbors. She also looks into a new web search engine from the browser Brave, which allows you to surf anonymously, block third-party vendors from scraping your info, and prioritize independent news sites in search results.

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CEO: Jeff Bezos

CEO, People

Jeffrey Preston Bezos  (/ˈbeɪzoʊs/; né Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur, industrialist, media proprietor, and investor. He is the founder and CEO of the multi-national technology company Amazon. He is the richest person in the world according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires ranking.

Born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and later Miami, Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986. He holds a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. Bezos founded Amazon in late 1994, on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Seattle. Continue reading “CEO: Jeff Bezos”

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Hedge Funds are Getting Crushed by the Worst Short Squeeze in a Quarter Century

Article - Media
Matt Egan | 21.02.02
A mob of traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets page have sent GameStop (GME), AMC (AMC) and other stocks skyrocketing in recent days. GameStop lost a quarter of its value Monday but it’s still up nearly 1,200% on the year. WallStreetBets successfully triggered an epic short squeeze, where investors that bet against GameStop have been forced to unwind their bets and buy the stock back. That in turn has driven GameStop even higher, creating even more losses for short-sellers.

Continue reading “Hedge Funds are Getting Crushed by the Worst Short Squeeze in a Quarter Century”

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Article: Counter-Strike trading found to be ‘nearly all’ money laundering

Article - Media, Publications

Counter-Strike trading found to be ‘nearly all’ money laundering

Alex Hern,  30 October 2019

The gaming firm Valve has halted trading of some in-game items in its popular multiplayer shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive after discovering that “nearly all” of the trading was part of a money-laundering scheme run by “worldwide fraud networks”.

In CS:GO, players can earn containers with cosmetic items, which can be unlocked using keys bought either in-game or for real money from other players.

Valve said it had closed the market between players, and in patch notes for the latest version of CS:GO – first reported by Motherboard – it gave its reasons. Continue reading “Article: Counter-Strike trading found to be ‘nearly all’ money laundering”

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Web: Arne Alsin’s Article on Fails-To-Deliver

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Arne Alsin’s Article on Fails-To-Deliver

Bud Burrell, Arne Alsin

RealMoney cited by Sanity Check via Wayback, 17 April 2006

There is a systemic problem in the equity market, but the magnitude of the problem is impossible to gauge because the parties involved refuse to answer a simple question: Why?

My mutual fund purchased five blocks of stock in Overstock (OSTK:Nasdaq) during the first quarter. There was a failure to deliver shares in four out of the five purchases, with delays for delivery lasting as long as three weeks. Nobody can tell me why shares were not delivered within the requisite three-day settlement period — the so-called T+3 requirement.

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