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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) delivery station workers in central Italy are on strike over safety conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Around 300 people work at the site in Calenzano, and about one-third are participating in the strike.
Amazon tells Reuters that activity at the site wasn’t affected. The company says it had already cut deliveries and increased safety measures for the workers.
Earlier today, Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York walked out, citing the lack of coronavirus protections.
Previously: Whole Foods workers threaten to strike (Mar. 30 2020)
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working on new versions of the HomePod, Apple TV, MacBook Pro, Watch, iMac, and budget iPads, according to Bloomberg sources.
The sources say the 5G iPhones are still targeting the normal fall release window despite the coronavirus-related supply chain interruption.
Due to the stay at home orders, Apple started allowing engineers to take home early versions of the future devices to continue work.
For secrecy, Apple requires remote employees to communicate through FaceTime, Slack (NYSE:WORK), or Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) Jabber and file share through Salesforce’s (NYSE:CRM) Quip and Box (NYSE:BOX).
William Blair analyst Dylan Carden calls grocery “the next big growth driver” for Amazon (AMZN +2.9%) due to the increased demand from the coronavirus.
Carden says the tech giant is the “biggest looming threat for the traditional brick-and-mortar grocery industry” and notes that Amazon’s Prime offers a “clear advantage” with the popularity of online shopping.
The firm sees Amazon’s grocery tailwind continuing after the pandemic has cleared.
Jefferies says a survey of U.S. consumers showed that Amazon was the only retailer where they were spending more money because of the virus.
The firm thinks the virus could lead to more Amazon Prime subscribers.
Microsoft (MSFT +6.5%) 365 Personal and Family will roll out April 21 and cost $6.99/month for an individual and $9.99/month for the family version, which includes up to six users.
New features include Microsoft Editor, the AI-powered Word assistant, and a tie-up with Plaid Technologies that lets Excel users track and analyze spending habits by importing data from a bank account.
The package includes a new parental control app that can set activity limits on Windows, Xboxes, and Android devices.
Microsoft Teams is also included in the consumer bundle.
In other Microsoft news, the company announces that Skype saw a 70% jump in usage during March compared to April. Skype is now being used by 40M people.
Redfin (NASDAQ:RDFN) agrees to sell $110M of capital stock to Durable Capital Partners LP, including $70M of common stock at $15.61 per share and $40M of convertible preferred stock.
RDFN slips 0.3% in premarket trading.
The preferred stock has annual dividend of 5.5% and a conversion price of $19.51 per share; it’s convertible at Durable’s option and will convert automatically after three years if Redfin’s common stock closes above $27.32 for 30 straight trading days.
Unless previously converted, the preferred stock will redeem on Nov. 30, 2024, in cash or shares of common stock, at Durable’s election.
Maximum number of shares issuable upon conversion of the preferred stock is 2.05M shares.
“Durable’s Henry Ellenbogen has been leading investments in Redfin since 2013, when we were a private company and the market was recovering from the great financial crisis,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman.
Under the proposal, Durable will get 4.48M shares of common stock and 40,000 sahres of series A convertible preferred stock.
