*By Michael Teich*
Amazon inked a new partnership with American Express, but don't expect the financial industry to be the next area the tech giant jumps into.
"The thing that people misunderstand is that tech companies don't want to manufacture financial products," said Lex Sokolin, Global Director of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous Research. "It's about making the ecosystem and the platform more powerful, and finance is just a feature inside of that."
American Express announced Tuesday it will launch a co-branded Amazon credit card for small businesses. The move accelerates Amazon's foray into financial products and strengthens its position as a lender. The goal, Sokolin said, is to enable small businesses to finance their activities, getting more products on Amazon's platform, and ultimately driving more commerce.
Plus, the opportunity costs of devoting itself to the financial industry are too high.
"Amazon has tremendous high-growth, super interesting, blue oceans to explore,” he said. "They could be investing in building a mortgage business, or they can build artificial intelligence business."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/amazon-bolsters-financial-prowess-with-new-credit-card)
Oliver Chen, senior retail analyst at Cowen, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the latest details about department store chain Kohl's after it received at least two offers from buyers to take the company private. Chen stated that Kohl's is an attractive landing spot for prospective buyers because of its premium real estate and undervalued stock prices. He also noted that despite the rise in online shopping, there is still room for brick and mortar shops to flourish. "We're very bullish on bricks meets clicks. The integration of stores and digital," Chen told Cheddar. "People love to return items in stores, people love the treasure hunt of shopping and the convenience and immediacy of stores."
Four-day week global, an organization in the UK, is pushing for a society where health and wellbeing come first, and a world in which people work to live, rather than live to work. They're demanding a four-day work week based o a recent study that proves productivity increases when working hours are reduced to 32 hours a week. Now, at least 30 companies in the UK are taking part in a four-day work week trial. joining me now is Charlotte Lockhart, founder of four-day week global.
The streaming giant Netflix posted its latest earnings from its fourth quarter after the close on Thursday. The company's stock plummeted shortly after the company warned that its rate of subscription additions are slowing down. Senior Reporter at MarketWatch Jon Swartz, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Revenue operations platform Clari recently raised $225 million in a Series F financing round led by Blackstone, bringing the company's valuation to more than $2.6 billion. Calri says more than 450 companies from around the world use its A.I.-powered platform to make their revenue operations more connected, efficient, and predictable. Clari CEO Andy Byrne joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
