*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)
The fitness industry was one of the most severely impacted at the start of the pandemic. As the omicron variant of COVID-19 threatens fitness centers and gyms, the Global Health and Fitness Association, along with the Community Gyms Coalition, are calling on the federal government to provide pandemic relief before the close of 2021. Crunch Fitness Franchise CEO Ben Midgely joined Cheddar to talk about proactive steps gyms are taking to maximize business as COVID resurges. "It should be a little bit easier," he said. "We hate to have to deal with it again, but it's what businesses in this country have to work with."
According to the FAA, airlines have reported over 5,000 incidents involving unruly passengers this year, with more than 3,600 of those involving people who refused to wear face masks. As a result of all this, airline crews are calling on the federal government to step in to implement protocols to help ensure safety on the ground and while in flight. President of the Association of Flight Attendants- CWA Sara Nelson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
The NHTSA is investigating Tesla over the potential for crashes and distracted driving due to its front touch screen "Passenger Play" game option. The probe covers 580,000 vehicles for all four models from 2017 to 2022.
Cheddar is looking back at the 12 biggest buzzwords of the year leading up to Christmas. The term for Day 11 is Fundamentals. Definition: (noun) information related to a business' profitability, revenue, assets, liabilities, and growth potential.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed staff about workplace culture concerns after they expressed issues with what they perceived as a lack of honesty, candor, and humility from their executives. Pichai attributed some of the challenges to remote communication during the ongoing pandemic.
With Christmas just days away and people rushing out to get last-minute shopping done, Derrick Kinney, host of the "Good Money" podcast, joined Cheddar to provide some financial tips so shoppers can avoid major holiday debt. He suggested people wait until after the holiday to give gifts if possible because stores will likely have discounted goods. For those looking to save a little extra cash around this time of year, Kinney also suggested that they adjust their "commoditized items" like auto insurance and shop for better deals.
Cheddar is looking back at the 12 biggest buzzwords of the year leading up to Christmas. The term for Day 10 is HODL. Definition: (verb) "hold on for dear life." It refers to retaining crypto assets that you own for an extended period, even throughout a highly volatile market movement.
