*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 Coca-Cola Company is teaming up with science education personality Bill Nye as part of its World Without Waste Initiative to describe the bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling process through a vividly animated, stop-motion short film. Christine Yeager, director of sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company, North America, joined Cheddar News to talk about their initiative and the partnership. "We really wanted to partner with someone who can help us make recycling relatable, but also has a very um respected voice in the climate change space," she said.
Billionaire Elon Musk made waves after revealing he's making an attempt at a hostile takeover of the social media platform Twitter. The Tesla CEO is offering $43 billion to buy the social media platform outright with "freedom of speech" allegedly at the forefront of his agenda. Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, is taking the tech entrepreneur seriously. "I think through many twists and turns over the coming months, he ultimately ends up owning Twitter because Twitter's board, their back is going to be against the wall," he said.
Retail sales grew 0.5 percent in March, largely being attributed to the rise in gas prices. Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research at Refinitiv, joined Cheddar News to discuss why consumer confidence has remained strong despite high prices. "What's holding on the consumer is the strong employment market that we have right now in the United States, which is one of the strongest we had in a very long time. If consumers feel that they are secure in their job, they're going to continue to spend," she said. However, Martis noted that signs that consumer spending is slowing down are already visible as well.
Ann Mukherjee, the chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard North America, joined Cheddar News to talk about Absolut Vodka’s decade-long partnership with the music festival Coachella. Perno Ricard's vodka brand has built the virtual world Absolutland in the Decentraland metaverse for users to explore. "We actually have a vending machine where you can actually purchase the cocktails that will be delivered right to your home," she said. The brand will also be featuring festival headliner Swedish House Mafia.
The tax deadline in the U.S. is on April 18 this year, and some filers may still not be able to complete their return by then. Cheddar has partnered with Jackson Hewitt to let you know what you can do should you blow the deadline.
With tax day just five days away, David Ragland, Certified Financial Planner, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and Chief Executive Officer of IRC Wealth joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to break down everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming tax deadline.
Michelle Benvenuto, Executive Director of Winegrowers of Napa County, talks about the challenges winegrowers are having this season and discusses the battle over expanding vineyards in Napa County.
Digitally native stores like Allbirds and Everlane are beginning to target the suburbs as they look to expand their physical retail locations. It comes as reports show that a large portion of shoppers prefer to make their purchases in store. A new Deloitte report shows that 55 percent of shoppers who began their product search online, ended up making their purchase in store. Nikki Baird, VP of Strategy at Aptos, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Russia has defaulted on some of its foreign debt as a tidal wave of western sanctions threatens its economy. The credit ratings agency S&P has placed Russia under "selective default" after it tried to pay its latest obligations in rubles. Russia now has a 30-day grace period to resolve the issue, but Moscow is threatening to take legal action. George Seay, Annandale Capital's CEO, joined Cheddar to break down what this means, and how Russia defaulting on its debt might impact the global economy.
