EU slaps Amazon with record data privacy fine

Under Andy Jassy, who is now Amazon CEO, the revenue growth accelerated across a broad range of customers…reports Asian Lite News

European Union (EU) has slapped Amazon.com Inc with a record $886.6 million (746 million euros) fine for processing personal data in violation of the bloc’s GDPR rules.

According to media reports, the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) imposed the fine on Amazon in a July 16 decision, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday.

A spokesperson said the company will appeal the fine. The e-commerce giant said in the filing it believed CNPD’s decision was without merit, media reported.

Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is now a $59 billion annualised run rate business, up from $43 billion at this time last year, its parent company Amazon has said.

Under Andy Jassy, who is now Amazon CEO, the revenue growth accelerated across a broad range of customers.

“We see strong growth in enterprises, governments, educational and research institutions and our start-up and digital native customers,” said Brian T Olsavsky, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Amazon.

“If you look at the last quarter AWS added more revenue quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year than any quarter in our history,” Olsavsky told analysts during the company’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew its revenue 37 per cent at $14.81 billion in the second quarter, surpassing $14.2 billion as estimated by analysts.

“AWS customers recognise that the move to the cloud is very positive for their businesses in the medium and long-term. Disruptive economic events like COVID have caused many people to step back and think about how they want to change strategically,” said Olsavsky.

AWS plans to open infrastructure regions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first half of 2022 and Israel in the first half of 2023.

Globally, AWS has 81 Availability Zones across 25 geographic Regions, with plans to launch 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions.

“AWS has helped so many businesses and governments maintain business continuity, and we’ve seen AWS growth reaccelerate as more companies bring forward plans to transform their businesses and move to the cloud,” said Jassy.

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