Amazon to acquire Wondery to boost podcasts
On Wednesday, Amazon said it would buy the startup of podcast Wondery, to strengthen the non – musical content of Amazon Music application.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the firms were negotiating deals, giving Wondery a valuation of more than $300 million.
Amazon entered the burgeoning podcast space relatively late, a key area for Spotify Technology. Spotify has been investing in big names to become the Netflix of audio content.
Wondery, which features popular podcasts like “Dirty John,” “Dr Death” and “Business Wars,” has about 20 million unique monthly listeners.
Last month, Bloomberg News reported that both Apple and Sony Music Entertainment had had meetings to purchase Wondery.
Amazon stops selling single-use plastic items across the EU
Amazon stops selling single-use plastic items, such as drinking straws, cotton buds, plates, cutlery and glasses made of plastic in its virtual stores in the European Union, United Kingdom and Turkey.
Specifically, the e-commerce giant sent a note to its sellers last October. The company informed them that this new multinational policy for Comply with European regulations aimed at avoiding plastic waste from that date.
The multinational is thus ahead of the date set by the European directive 2019/904. It sets in July 2021 as a day for the member states to implement policies to limit the sale of these products to promote the transition towards a circular economy.
This policy will prohibit the sale of certain single-use plastic products and those made with oxo-degradable plastic in Amazon’s virtual stores in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Turkey.
Thus, as of today, single-use plastic products such as cotton buds and straws (except for sanitary or medical products), forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks, plates, drink stirrers, will not be sold in the market.
Food containers made with expanded polystyrene, such as boxes, with or without lids, used to contain food intended for immediate consumption, on-site or to take away, will also not be available in the virtual stores of the platform. Besides, Amazon stops selling beverage containers made from expanded polystyrene, including stoppers and lids, and products made from oxo-degradable plastics.
Amazon gave a week those who had stored some type of these products. The company also requested that it be sent to the location of their choice at no cost since it would not charge any fees due to inventory removal.
