Amazon says it’ll spend $4 billion or more dealing with COVID-19

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon expects to spend $4 billion or more — the predicted operating profit for the company’s entire coming quarter — just on COVID-19-related expenses. In a quarterly earnings release today, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the expenses will come from spending on personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning for facilities, “higher wages for hourly teams,” and expanding its own COVID-19 testing capabilities. Many of the changes have been put in place already and came in response to pressure over treatment of workers during the pandemic. Amazon is under fire for its handling of employees who have publicly criticized working conditions; it fired six tech employees who took a sick day in protest of Amazon’s treatment of workers, and there has... Continue reading…