Filling Jeff’s pockets! Amazon is now worth $1.1 TRILLION after shares hit a record high

Jeff Bezos has seen his fortune grow by $6.4billion and Amazon is now worth $1.1 trillion after its shares hit a record high on Tuesday amid surging online orders during coronavirus lockdowns.

While Amazon’s founder saw his wealth rocket, his employees at many warehouses have warned their lives are at risk by continuing to go to work.

The Seattle-based firm has been facing public scrutiny over safety and working conditions of warehouse, delivery and retail gig workers in the United States after cases of COVID-19 were reported in some of its facilities. 

On the same day as Amazon shares surged in value, Gerard Tuzara, a worker at an Amazon warehouse in Southern California died from the virus.

The company’s founder was last week named the world’s richest person for the third year running – despite his divorce last year which cost him a quarter of his stake in the tech giant.

Bezos, 56 – who founded the e-commerce company out of his basement in Seattle, Washington, in 1994 – gave $36billion worth of stocks to ex, Mackenzie.

As of Tuesday afternoon Amazon’s stock was up more than four per cent closing at $2,283.32 per share. 

That topped the online retail giant’s previous high of $2,170.22 per share on February 19.

With stocks rocketing, Bezos, who currently owns an 11.2% stake in Amazon, saw his fortune grow by $6.4billion to $138billion yesterday, according to a Forbes estimate. 

The economic damage from the outbreak has been widespread and severe after only a few weeks into the shutdown. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the world economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression.

But for Amazon a surge in demand for online orders from those under lockdown has seen it’s stock price rise.

Amazon stock surged 5.6% on Tuesday, hitting a new record high, up over 20% so far this year, at a time when the benchmark index – the S&P 500 – is down over 12%.

The online retailer is the first major company to rebound from the coronavirus market sell-off, which started in late February as the coronavirus crisis worsened.

Despite the virus lockdown that has caused deep economic downturns and the shuttering of many businesses, Amazon has benefited from skyrocketing demand as consumers who are stuck at home rely on online stores.

The company said on Monday it would hire 75,000 more people for jobs ranging from warehouse staff to delivery drivers.

That’s on top of the 100,000 positions it advertised earlier which they say have already been filled, and the new jobs are in addition to that.

Amazon said on Sunday it will begin to put new grocery delivery customers on a wait list and curtail shopping hours at some Whole Foods stores to prioritize orders from existing customers. 

But the pandemic has not been without its controversies for Amazon.

There have been a spate of protests across the United States as workers call for more protections as the virus spreads.

Protests by part-time workers in Detroit, Chicago and Sacramento, which accelerated due to the pandemic, saw Amazon grant paid time off (PTO) to warehouse workers nationwide.

Today it was claimed by Amazon workers at a UK warehouse who walked out over a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and social distancing rules that bosses were threatening to fire them.

A number of contract staff finishing off Amazon’s Fulfilment Centre in Darlington, County Durham, have slammed ‘unacceptable and unsafe’ conditions on the site.  

Amazon strongly refutes that there has been a walkout at the site following the claims.  

In France a court ordered Amazon to stop selling, receiving or delivering non-essential goods for the next month to protect its employees from the virus.

Amazon protested against Tuesday’s emergency ruling, while unions hailed it as a victory for workers’ rights and public health.

The court ruling requires Amazon to evaluate health risks at all its facilities around France and negotiate new safety measures with worker representatives. 

Amazon must suspend its non-essential trade within 24 hours or face $1.1 million in fines per day. Sales of food, medicine and hygiene supplies are still allowed.  

It comes as Amazon has seen a rising count of warehouse workers confirmed infected with the virus, with at least 153 cases across 65 warehouses worldwide plus nine walkouts and shutdowns globally.

It’s believed there are at least 74 Amazon facilities with employees who have been infected, according to The Washington Post.   

Eugenio Villasante, senior communications manager at international labor federation, UNI Global Union, said  Amazon employees have warned they are at risk of contracting the virus at work. 

He told OneZero: ‘From Poland to Czech Republic to Slovakia, the UK, the US – we hear very similar stories. 

‘People are so close that they’re rubbing each other’s shoulders in the locker room. They are putting people on microbuses to take them to warehouses where they don’t feel they are protected.’

Operations manager, Tuzara, is believed to have passed away on March 31 and is the first known employee from Amazon to die from coronavirus.

The 35-year-old Air Force veteran worked as an operations manager at Amazon’s Hawthorne facility near LAX airport.

His death was announced as an increasing number of claims have been leveled at the company over the level to which the company is providing safety protections for the workers in its warehouses and delivery workers. 

There have been public calls by Amazon’s employees for safer conditions for those working in the company’s warehouse and for its delivery drivers. 

In March a walkout was held at the company’s Staten Island facility with up to 50 workers striking. 

Also on Tuesday it was reported the company had fired three more employees who spoke out over the company’s pandemic working conditions. 

Bashir Mohamed was let go from the Minnesota plant where had worked for three years last week after protests there, Buzzfeed reports.  

Designers Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, both critics of the online retail giant’s working conditions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, were also let go. 

In statements, Cunningham said she believed Amazon could play a powerful role during the crisis, but to do so, ‘we have to really listen to the workers who are on the front line, who don’t feel adequately protected’. 

Amazon say Mohamed was fired because he refused to speak to a supervisor; Cunningham and Costa for ‘repeatedly violating internal policies’.  

The terminations came just two weeks after the company fired another employee, Christian Smalls, for raising health and safety concerns for people laboring through the outbreak. 

Sarah Fields, a returns center associate at an Amazon warehouse in northern Kentucky, told of ‘a culture of fear’ at the company.

She told OneZero: ‘There is a culture of fear. It has always been like that at Amazon. 

‘Especially with unemployment as high as it is, people aren’t trying to risk their jobs, their health insurance.’ 

Amazon said he came to its Staten Island warehouse for a demonstration in violation of his paid quarantine.

Amazon said it expects to spend more than $500 million globally to increase wages for workers during the pandemic, up from a previous estimate of $350 million.

‘We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,’ the company said. 

Stocks moved mostly higher on Wall Street Tuesday as investors reviewed earnings reports from big companies and welcomed signs that government officials are considering how to gradually reopen the economy. 

The S&P 500 was up 3% as of 2.56pm Eastern time, recovering all of its losses from a day earlier. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, though it remains about 16% below its all-time high set in February. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 543 points higher, or 2.3%, to 23,930. The Nasdaq climbed 4%.