Amazon Cuts Monthly Bonuses, Stock Awards to Fund Minimum Wage Boost
Did Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) pull the old bait and switch on workers looking for a pay increase?
The company received tons of good press for its decision to raise the minimum wage it pays U.S. workers to $15 an hour, but that pay raise comes at a cost.
The company will no longer offer monthly bonuses and stock awards for warehouse workers and other hourly employees.
Despite that wrinkle, the total compensation for hourly workers will see a net gain, the company said in a statement.
"In addition, because it's no longer incentive-based, the compensation will be more immediate and predictable," Amazon said.
Amazon's move to raise the minimum wage was prompted by pressure from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who criticized the company for having employees who required government assistance at a time when the company was more valuable than it has ever been.
Servers at Amazon, Apple and Others Exposed to Chinese Spyware
Chinese spies implanted microchips no bigger than the size of a grain of rice in hardware used by American companies like Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) as well as the U.S. government, according to a report from Bloomberg Thursday.
U.S. officials interviewed by Bloomberg said that more than 30 companies, including a major bank, government contractors and others, were affected by "the most significant supply chain attack known to have been carried out against American companies."
Officials at Amazon denied knowing about the compromise to its Amazon Web Service servers while Apple denied ever finding malicious spyware on its servers.
Premarket
U.S. futures are taking a hit ahead of Thursday's open, with the Dow indicated to drop triple digits once the market opens for business.
Dow futures are falling 0.37%, indicating an open 100 points lower, while S&P futures are declining 0.41%, indicating an open 12 points lower, and Nasdaq Futures are falling 0.64%, indicating an open 49 points lower.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite continued its strong run, rising 1.06%, while the Hang Seng fell 1.78% and the Nikkei dropped 0.56%.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 was falling 0.9%, while the CAC 40 dropped 1%, and the DAX rose 0.16% with about three hours left in trading.
