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Tag: Jeff Bezos

  • Amazon rakes in $187.8 billion in Q4-Because breaking records is a habit

    Amazon rakes in $187.8 billion in Q4-Because breaking records is a habit

    MUMBAI: Jeff Bezos may be off enjoying space tourism, but Amazon is still launching financial rockets. The retail and tech giant didn’t just end 2024 on a high note—it dropped a financial mixtape that went platinum. With a blockbuster fourth quarter, Amazon smashed expectations, delivering record-breaking revenue, sky-high profits, and a holiday shopping season that made Santa look like an amateur.

    Amazon reported net sales of $187.8 billion in Q4, marking a 10 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase, with north America leading the charge at $115.6 billion. Meanwhile, AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing juggernaut, flexed its muscle with a 19 per cent YoY jump, raking in $28.8 billion.

    Profits weren’t just strong—they were Amazon-strong. Operating income skyrocketed to $21.2 billion, up from $13.2 billion in Q4 2023, while net income nearly doubled to $20.0 billion-or $1.86 per diluted share. Amazon’s international segment pulled off an impressive turnaround, swinging from a $400 million loss last year to a $1.3 billion profit.

    For the full year, Amazon’s revenue soared to $638 billion, an 11 per cent increase from 2023, with AWS contributing $107.6 billion. North America’s sales hit $387.5 billion, while international revenue climbed to $142.9 billion. Operating income more than doubled to $68.6 billion, cementing Amazon’s digital dominance.

    Amazon’s free cash flow swelled to $38.2 billion, up from $36.8 billion last year, while operating cash flow leapt 36 per cent to $115.9 billion. The company stepped up investments, pumping $82.9 billion into fulfillment, technology, and AWS infrastructure.

    Meanwhile, advertising revenue proved a bright spot, growing 18 per cent YoY to $17.3 billion-a clear sign that Amazon’s ad business is going toe-to-toe with industry giants. At the same time, third-party seller services surged 9 per cent to $47.5 billion, highlighting Amazon’s commitment to its marketplace model.

    Reflecting on the company’s record-breaking year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy remarked, “2024 was a transformational year for Amazon, with innovation at the core of our growth. From AWS advancements to Prime’s fastest-ever deliveries, we are building for the future.”

    Looking ahead, Amazon projects Q1 2025 net sales between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, signaling 5-9 per cent growth, despite a $2.1 billion currency headwind. Operating income is expected to land between $14 billion and $18 billion, as the company strikes a balance between profitability and reinvestment.

    With Amazon delivering results like a Prime package on express shipping, 2025 is already shaping up to be another blockbuster year.

  • Donald Trump, Mukesh & Nita Ambani, Kalpesh Mehta & Pankaj Bansal: What’s the connection?

    Donald Trump, Mukesh & Nita Ambani, Kalpesh Mehta & Pankaj Bansal: What’s the connection?

    MUMBAI: When the incoming president of the US invites you, you definitely have to go. The pre-swearing in inaugural festivities thrown by the to-be -President  Trump at an intimate gathering of  friends and family at Trump National Sterling in Virginia saw a handful  of Indians mark their presence. But those who really want to make a splash of it are two Indian real estate developers who are the Republican leader’s Indian partners in Trump Towers. 
     

    Mr & Mrs Trump The fireworks celebration

    We are referring to Tribeca Developers founder Kalpesh Mehta and M3M Developers managing director Pankaj Bansal who were seen hobnobbing with Trump and sharing a glass of bubbly with him.  Both Mehta and Bansal are key partners in the development of Trump Towers in India, reflecting the strong ties between Indian business leaders and the Trump Organisation. Kalpesh Mehta, the licensed Indian partner for Trump Towers, has been instrumental in bringing the Trump brand to India. They were also seen cracking a few jokes with India’s richest couple – Mukesh and Nita Ambani.  Mukeshbhai and Nitabhabi, apparently, took an overnighter on their private jet for a spin to Washington DC.

    Global leaders, including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and other prominent business figures, were also in attendance.

    A nearly 20 minute firework display was watched by Trump and his wife Melania and his extended family from the balcony of his club.

    Trump’s alleged excesses have already got critics carping  about his proximity to several American billionaire friends of his who are getting crucial posts and others (one of them read crypto currency industry)  who are handing out $250 million to  the inauguration committee for spending on what is being called the most expensive inauguration  (read party) of a president in history. Other presidents have reportedly spent less than $50  million (Obama) on their inauguration spending prior to Trump who spent a massive $107 million following  his 2017 election victory.

     

    With the Trump-baiters getting their knives out even before he has got into the White House, we wonder what they will come up with after he does. We can only wait and watch.  

  • discovery+ announces coverage of Blue Origin’s space launch

    discovery+ announces coverage of Blue Origin’s space launch

    Mumbai: discovery+ India on Friday has announced the coverage of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ first flight to space made on 20 July. 

    The show, ‘Jeff Bezos In Space: Blue Origin Takes Flight’ is anchored by The Washington Post’s Libby Casey and Discovery’s Chris Jacobs. It also features on-the-ground analysis from The Washington Post’s space industry reporter Christian Davenport and commentaries from astronaut Leland Melvin, Dr Ellen Stofan – the Smithsonian’s Undersecretary for Science and Research, and a team of experts from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

    ‘Jeff Bezos in Space: Blue Origin Takes Flight’ highlights the morning’s event, along with interviews from after the launch, behind-the-scenes material and background stories of Blue Origins and Jeff Bezos. 

    “We are delighted to be joining forces with The Washington Post to once again cover the next major chapter in space advancement,” said Science channel, executive vice president of multiplatform programming, factual & head of content, Scott Lewers. “With no on-site public viewing areas in the vicinity of the launch site, this premiere continues discovery+ mission to bring the world to our viewers.”

    “The Washington Post has made a distinct investment in live coverage of major news events, drawing in tens of millions of viewers to its programs featuring the latest developments alongside real-time analysis and commentary from our top journalists,” added The Washington Post’s director of editorial video, Micah Gelman. “After the success of our joint coverage of SpaceX’s first crewed mission last summer, we are thrilled to be partnering with Discovery and Science Channels once again to bring this historic launch to the eyes of Americans nationwide as the appetite for space tourism intensifies.”

  • Amazon to reimagine, develop MGM titles: Jeff Bezos

    Amazon to reimagine, develop MGM titles: Jeff Bezos

    KOLKATA: It is a mega $8.45 billion deal that has helped Amazon build a bond with that awesome fictional British secret service agent James Bond. Eyebrows were raised, questioning the size of the amount that is being coughed up to acquire the famed Hollywood studio MGM. Outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos is, however, not letting these doubters perturb him; he is excited by the prospects of the deal.

    While speaking at the company’s annual general meeting Bezos once again explained that the decision was driven by MGM’s rich and deep catalogue, but even more exciting is the manner in which Amazon is looking at reimagining and developing the  IPs the studio has under its fold.

    Bezos pointed out that the acquisition theory is “very simple.” The studio has a vast, deep catalogue of much-loved intellectual property, he reminded. It’s also a win for people who love stories, he added.

    He highlighted that MGM’s library of more than 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows, including iconic titles like James Bond, Thelma and Louise, Raging Bull, Robocop and Tomb Raider, The Handmaid’s Tale and Vikings, is very much coveted and valuable.

    “The only way to get above-average returns is to take risks and many won’t pay off. Our whole history as a company is about taking risks, many of which have failed and many of which will fail,” he elaborated.

    On Wednesday evening, the announcement finally came in that the e-commerce giant had decided to acquire the studio. “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IPs in the deep catalogue that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team,” Amazon Studios & Prime Video SVP Mike Hopkins said at the time of the announcement.

    Amazon has 200 million Prime members worldwide with access to its video service. Prime members who watch video have higher free trial conversion rates, higher renewal rates, and higher overall engagement.

     The company has been ramping up its spend on content, even on live sports, to stay competitive with the fare being churned out by  Netflix and  Disney and now with the merged Discovery+Warner Media juggernaut.

  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    KOLKATA: The announcement had been made in February this year: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would vacate his post, handing over the reins to the company’s top cloud executive Andy Jassy. Bezos would transition to chairman of Amazon’s executive board. No date was revealed at that time. Now we know when he will follow through on that announcement. Speaking at the company shareholders’ annual general  meeting (AGM),  Bezos revealed that 5 July will be his last official working day as CEO, and Bassy’s first day as head honcho of Amazon.  

    Under Bezos leadership has transformed from being a bookseller to ecommerce pioneer to cloud computing pioneer to entertainment trail blazer.

    “I’m very excited to move into the [executive] chair role, where I’ll focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” Bezos stated at the AGM. “We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” he added further.

    Jassy is currently heading Amazon Web Services, who will be replaced by Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky after he takes over his new position. Considerably, the cloud segment is now the company’s most profitable segment.

    Bezos shared his confidence in Jassy saying: “He has the highest of high standards and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical. He has the energy needed to keep alive in us what has made us special.”

    While Bezos will still be involved in major corporate decisions, he will focus more on other ventures like Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

  • Amazon Prime hits 200 million subscribers

    Amazon Prime hits 200 million subscribers

    NEW DELHI: Amazon Prime, which comprises the e-commerce giant’s video streaming service, has reached a userbase of 200 million, an increase of over 50 million post the outbreak of the Covid2019 pandemic, revealed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a letter to shareholders.

    For comparison, Netflix had over 204 million users at the end of 2020, while Disney+ has amassed more than 100 million users in an year of its launch. Considering the viewing plans, Amazon is considered the most affordable when compared to Netflix and Disney+, and it is giving the OTT platform widespread acceptance in countries like India. 

    Streaming service Prime Video is simply an added value element included in Prime membership. Amazon has never officially revealed how many Prime subscribers are actively using the Prime Video function. 

    However, the company’s attention to churn out  video content has surged significantly over the years. Web series and movies produced by Amazon Studios (which invariably land on Prime Video) are finding favour not only with viewers but critics, too. The OTT platform’s star has been rising on the back of popular shows like The Boys and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as well as Oscar-nominated films like Borat Subsequent MovieFilm and Sound of Metal.

    Bezos, who will be replaced by former AWS head Andy Jassy as Amazon CEO this year, said in his final letter to the company’s shareholders that Amazon customers have connected more than 100 million smart home devices to Alexa. 

    Further, he informed that Amazon is currently employing more than 1.3 million people worldwide. 

    "Last year, we hired 500,000 employees and now directly employ 1.3 million people around the world. We have more than 200 million Prime members worldwide. More than 1.9 million small and medium-sized businesses sell in our store, and they make up close to 60 per cent of our retail sales," wrote Bezos. 

    The world’s richest man added that Amazon has created $1.6 trillion of wealth for shareowners. Additionally, the etailer spent $11 billion on video and music content in 2020, up from $7.8 billion in 2019, and it includes contents for Amazon Prime Video and royalties from Amazon Music. 

    Talking about Andy Jassy, Bezos said, "Andy is brilliant and has the highest of high standards. I guarantee you that Andy won’t let the universe make us typical. He will muster the energy needed to keep alive in us what makes us special. That won’t be easy, but it is critical. I also predict it will be satisfying and oftentimes fun.'' 

  • Amazon’s net income down to $2.5 billion in Q1

    Amazon’s net income down to $2.5 billion in Q1

    MUMBAI: Amazon.com, Inc. today announced financial results for its first quarter ending March 31, 2020. The result is a measure of how the Covid2019 pandemic is affecting the overall online shopping experience.

    Net income decreased to $2.5 billion in the first quarter, or $5.01 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3.6 billion, or $7.09 per diluted share, in first quarter 2019.

    Operating cash flow increased 16 per cent to $39.7 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $34.4 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2019.

    Free cash flow increased to $24.3 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $23.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2019.

    Net sales increased 26 per cent to $75.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $59.7 billion in first quarter 2019. Excluding the $387 million unfavourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 27 per cent compared with first quarter 2019.

    Operating income decreased to $4.0 billion in the first quarter, compared with operating income of $4.4 billion in first quarter 2019.

    “From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business as never before, but it’s also the hardest time we’ve ever faced,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder-CEO.

    He further added: “Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit. But these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on Covid-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. This includes investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.”

    “There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and the best investment we can make is in the safety and well-being of our hundreds of thousands of employees. I’m confident that our long-term oriented shareowners will understand and embrace our approach, and that in fact they would expect no less,” he added.

    Covid2019 and employees

    Amazon made over 150 significant process changes in its operations network and Whole Foods Market stores to help teams stay healthy — and it conducts daily audits of the measures we’ve put into place.

    “A team of Amazonians — from research scientists and program managers to procurement specialists and software engineers — has moved from their normal day jobs to a dedicated team working to build incremental testing capacity. The team is building its first lab and has begun a pilot to test front-line employees. We’re not sure how far we will get in the relevant timeframe, but we think it’s worth trying, and we stand ready to share anything we learn. In March and April, we announced plans to and have now hired 175,000 people in our fulfillment and delivery network in response to increased customer demand and to assist existing employees. We are happy to welcome these new hires to our team and are continuing to hire,” said the company.

    Alexa is helping customers stay informed and connected, and can now answer tens of thousands of questions related to Covid2019.

    “We’re working to provide accurate and timely information from official government and news sources, globally. Alexa also provides an experience that helps customers in Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, and the U.S. check their risk level for COVID-19. Customers can ask, “Alexa, what do I do if I think I have COVID-19?” or “Alexa, what do I do if I think I have coronavirus?” Alexa then asks a series of questions about the person’s symptoms and possible exposure and provides guidance sourced from local health authorities.”

    Amazon is supporting small businesses by partnering with American Express and its Stand for Small initiative, providing free use of business tools that help with virtual communication and collaboration, such as Amazon Chime, Amazon WorkDocs, and Amazon WorkSpaces, as well as enabling small businesses to use the cloud at no charge for 12 months with AWS Free Tier.

    Shopping and entertainment

    Amazon ranked #1 in the 2019 American Customer Satisfaction Index Internet Retail Category and has been ranked in the top 10 for the past 11 years. In the UK, the Institute of Customer Service named Amazon as the company with the best customer service score for the past decade.

    Prime Video launched Prime Video Cinema in the US, the UK, and Germany. Prime Video Cinema is a premium movie rental offering that allows customers to stream in-theatre movies at home, including titles such as Birds of Prey, Emma, The Invisible Man, Onward,andTrolls World Tour.

    Customers in the US, the UK, and Germany can now rent or buy hundreds of thousands of video titles directly from the Prime Video app on Apple iOS 12 devices and the Apple TV Gen 4+, including new release movies, award-winning TV shows, and Oscar-nominated movies.

    Prime Video premiered several new Amazon Original series including the reality competition Making the Cut, hosted and executive produced by Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn; The Forgotten Army in India; Love Island in France; Celebrity Hunted in Italy; and the docuseries The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team in Australia.

    Prime Video and the National Football League (NFL) announced a multi-year agreement to renew their partnership to deliver a live digital stream of 11 Thursday Night Football games as well as exclusive global streaming rights to one additional regular season game. All NFL games on Prime Video are available at no extra cost to Prime members.

    Amazon launched Amazon.nl and a new Prime program for the Netherlands marketplace. Amazon Prime includes unlimited free shipping, Prime Video, Twitch Prime, and Amazon Photos.

    Devices and Alexa

    Alexa is available on even more devices including TV, mobile, and auto and is now available on select LG and Samsung Smart TV 2020 models and the new OnePlus 8 mobile phone. Additionally, BMW customers in the U.S., and MINI customers in the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, and Austria can now access Alexa on select models.

    Amazon introduced a new speaking style for Alexa skills, enabling U.S. developers to build more natural long-form content experiences by adding conversational pauses to Alexa’s speech when reading articles or blogs.

    Fire TV’s content catalog continues to grow internationally with new apps, including Disney+, available on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

    Amazon Web Services

    AWS announced the opening of the AWS Europe (Milan) and AWS Africa (Cape Town) Regions. AWS now spans 76 Availability Zones within 24 geographic regions, with announced plans for nine more Availability Zones and three more AWS Regions in Indonesia, Japan, and Spain.

    AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Detective, a security service that makes it easy for customers to conduct faster and more efficient investigations into security issues across their AWS workloads. Amazon Detective automatically collects log data from a customer’s resources and uses machine learning, statistical analysis, and graph theory to build interactive visualizations that help customers analyze, investigate, and quickly identify the root cause of potential security issues or suspicious activities.

    AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra), a scalable, highly available, and fully managed database service for Cassandra workloads. Amazon Keyspaces supports the same application code, Apache 2.0 licensed drivers, and developer tools that customers running Cassandra workloads use today. With Amazon Keyspaces, customers can easily migrate on-premises Cassandra workloads to the cloud, without having to provision, configure, and operate servers or large Cassandra clusters, or needing to manually add or remove nodes or rebalance partitions as traffic scales up or down.

    AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Augmented Artificial Intelligence (Amazon A2I), a fully managed service that makes it easy to add human review to machine learning predictions to enhance model and application accuracy by continuously identifying and improving low confidence predictions. Human review for model predictions can be added to new or existing applications using reviewers from Mechanical Turk, third party vendors, or a customer’s own employees.

    AWS is helping schools around the world quickly deploy and transition to online learning through its EdTech customers and partners. In Egypt, the Ministry of Education and CDSM Thinqi are standing up instant access to online learning content, where 22 million K-12 students are able to continue their education in the midst of COVID-19; and in India, EdTech startup Impartus is launching virtual classrooms for more than 530,000 students — the online equivalent of 13,000 physical classrooms. AWS is also working with Blackboard, the largest education technology and services company in the world, enabling them to scale to 50x their usual capacity within a 24-hour timeframe to meet the global surge in demand of daily users for their virtual teaching and learning platform.

    Second quarter 2020 guidance

    Net sales are expected to be between $75.0 billion and $81.0 billion, or to grow between 18 per cent and 28 per cent compared with second quarter 2019. This guidance anticipates an unfavorable impact of approximately 70 basis points from foreign exchange rates.

    Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(1.5) billion and $1.5 billion, compared with $3.1 billion in second quarter 2019. This guidance assumes approximately $4.0 billion of costs related to COVID-19.

    This guidance assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, restructurings, or legal settlements are concluded.

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment

  • Amazon Prime exceeds 150 mn subscribers

    Amazon Prime exceeds 150 mn subscribers

    MUMBAI: E-commerce giant Amazon has revealed that its subscriber base has grown to over 150 million subscribers. More people signed up prime membership in the fourth quarter than ever before.

    Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boasted of its streaming services’ success as well. Bezos said that the Prime members watched double the hours of original movies and TV shows on Prime Video this quarter compared to last year and Amazon Originals received a record 88 nominations and 26 wins at major awards shows.

    The e-commerce company reported its fourth quarter result on Thursday. Net sales increased 21 per cent to $87.4 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $72.4 billion in fourth quarter 2018. Excluding the $120 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 21 per cent compared with fourth quarter 2018.

    Operating income increased to $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with operating income of $3.8 billion in fourth quarter 2018. Net income increased to $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter, or $6.47 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3.0 billion, or $6.04 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter 2018.

  • Amazon Prime Video unveils upcoming Originals line-up for 2020

    Amazon Prime Video unveils upcoming Originals line-up for 2020

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video unveils upcoming content slate with 14 Indian Original titles, including a mix of new series and returning seasons of popular Indian Amazon Originals.

    The preview video offers viewers a glimpse into 13 other upcoming titles, including new scripted series such as The Last Hour, Bandish Bandits, Dilli, Paatal Lok, Gormint, Mumbai Diaries – 26/11, fresh unscripted formats including Sons of Soil – Jaipur Pink Panthers and Comicstaan Tamil.

    The platform with already hit Originals to also come up with its consecutive seasons this year. It plans to roll-out the second seasons of Mirzapur, Four More Shots Please, Breathe and The Family Man, along with the third season of Inside Edge.

    The diverse line-up highlights the creative powerhouses behind these titles, including Kabir Khan, Ali Abbas Zafar, Nikkhil Advani, Raj & DK, Farhan Akhtar & Ritesh Sidhwani, Reema Kagti, Rangita and Ishita Nandy, Mayank Sharma, Amritpal Singh Bindra, Amit kumar and Himanshu Mehra to name a few.

    The launch of these titles were revealed during Amazon’s chief executive officer Jeff Bezos’ recent visit to Mumbai, commemorating Prime Video’s 3 years in India.

  • Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tells Bollywood content is Prime motive

    Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tells Bollywood content is Prime motive

    MUMBAI: Jeff Bezos is used to thinking big. He is also used to controversies. So even as his plan to invest a billion dollars in Amazon’s India operation got a lot of press and protests and a snub from commerce minister Piyush Goyal (at a time when the competition commission is investigating "predatory pricing"), the billionaire sat down with Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan and Zoya Akhtar for a half hour tete-a-tete around his prime video service in Mumbai during an event where the crème de la crème of Bollywood was invited.

    And what he said must have sent a lot of flutters in the hearts of the creative talent that is seeking to put their films and originals on the Prime Video platform.

    “It''s a vehicle to make fantastic content and from a business point of view, it works for us as well. Prime Video is doing well all over the world – Germany, Japan, America, everywhere,” he admitted to Shahrukh. “But nowhere is it doing as well as it is in India where our watch times have grown over six times in two years.”

    With that kind of growth, he has been more than encouraged to double down investment in original content. 

    “The whole world is witnessing ‘a golden age of television.’ When you look at TV series today, they are really good in terms of quality. They're as good as the very best movies have ever been. And now we're getting the best storytellers and actors to come and do TV,” he disclosed.

    "This is one of those businesses where the viewer is always looking for something fresh. And so you can never find a formula because as soon as you find the formula, it's not fresh anymore. So it really takes human ingenuity… I want Amazon Studios to be all over the world."

    He further highlighted that he wants Amazon Studios to be "the most talent friendly studio in the world.”

    "One of the hardest things that humans do is tell riveting, engaging, inspiring stories. When you get it right, it's a lever that can change the world," he pointed out. 

    The Prime Video India team used the ocassion to showcase seven new shows which are to make their debut on the streaming service: "Dilli", "Bandish Bandits", "Paatal Lok", "Gormint", "Mumbai Diaries-26/11", "The Last Hour" and "Sons of Soil- Jaipur Pink Panthers”. Additionally, new seasons of Mirzapur, Four More Shots Please, Breathe, The Family Man, and Inside Edge were also announced.

    Prime Video’s original team is headed internationally by James Farell, while Vijay Subramaniam heads the India piece and has been driving most of the shows which have found traction with audiences as well as from critics.

    The Prime service is subscription driven and is priced at Rs 999 a year in India promising acess to the streaming service as well as overnight delivery of products from the ecommerce platform. In the US, it’s upwards of $100 a year or $12.99 a month. It has, in recent times, launched a free advertising video on demand service ImdbTV, offering its originals and movies to viewers who don’t mind watching TVCs.

    Among those who attended the Mumbai event included: Kamal Haasan, Kabir Khan and his wife Mini Mathur, Farhan Akhtar with Shibhani Dandekar, Ritesh Sidhwani with his wife Dolly, AR Rahman (who later performed), Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh, actor Pankaj Tripathi, Vidya Balan and Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rajkumar Rao, Richa Chadda, Manoj Bajpai, and Vivek Oberoi.