Despite the pandemic outbreak that has led to many companies including the ones that are well-established reel under tribulations, tech giant Amazon has seen a surge in stock by over 5 percent as per a Forbes report. The stock has surpassed the benchmark index and stands at $2,283 per share thus making the net-worth of Amazon $1.1 trillion and increasing CEO Jeff Bezo’s worth by $6.5 billion.
With the lockdown leading to shutdown of most stores and people adhering to social-distancing, customer footfalls has been decreasing and hence many companies across all sectors have been grappling with the fall in sales. This has inevitably enabled investors and companies to resort to Amazon for a possible surge in their online orders and sales. The e-commerce giant has hired 100,000 people recently to keep up with its increasing demand and few days ago, the company again announced that it was hiring over 75,000 more employees. In these trying times, it is crucial that companies take the onus of supporting their employees in every way they can and Amazon is definitely doing its part. It has proposed to invest over $500 million in payroll increases and its hourly employee wages are increased by $2. Furthermore, it has also doubled the hourly based pay of overtime workers.
Leveraging the increasing demands of online deliveries, the multinational company is further looking to ramp up its grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market with household staples and medical supplies being the key priorities. “We are temporarily asking new Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market delivery and pickup customers to sign up for an invitation to use online grocery delivery and pickup,” wrote Amazon in a statement. It further stated that it is “increasing its capacity each week and will invite new customers to shop every week”.
