Coronavirus pushes Amazon Prime Day to October: Report
New placeholder date is Oct. 5
Amazon has pushed back Prime Day to the "first half of October” amid a surge of coronavirus cases across America, according to emails obtained by Business Insider.
Prime Day offers storewide deals and usually happens annually in July. Amazon said last year that Prime members bought 175 million items and saved more than $1 billion during the two-day sale.
An Amazon spokesperson told FOX Business it hasn't laid out any public dates regarding Prime Day for 2020. “We have not made any announcements regarding Prime Day,” the spokesperson said.
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In an email to sellers obtained by Business Insider, Amazon representatives told sellers that Oct. 5 is the current placeholder date.
"A definitive date will be announced as we get closer to the event,” the email reportedly said.
Amazon has seen soaring demand amid the coronavirus pandemic as people have shopped more online. The company hired 100,000 workers when states first started shutting down their brick and mortar economies in March, then hired another 75,000 workers in April.
But as demand has grown, its supply chains have also faced challenges as warehouse workers figure out how to adapt to the new environment.
Three Amazon workers at a Staten Island, New York, facility are suing the e-commerce giant, saying the company hasn't provided adequate personal protective equipment or allowed enough time for workers to properly sanitize themselves and their workplace.
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"We all want Amazon to succeed because, when they do, we win as well,” one of the employees, Barbara Chandler, told FOX Business in a statement last month. “It’s gotten to the point where we’ve needed to go to court to protect our health, and the health of our households and our communities, but if Amazon takes this opportunity to listens to those of us who are in the facilities every day, it’s a win-win situation."
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Amazon may be trying to secure those supply chains amid a surge of coronavirus cases nationwide. New coronavirus cases rose above 50,000 for the first time Wednesday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has seen his net worth soar during the pandemic to $171.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Amazon stock is up more than 50 percent for the year.
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FOX Business' Evie Fordham contributed to this report.
