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Amazon is spending over $4 billion to boost small-town deliveries

The company already accounts for more than one-quarter of US parcel volumes.

5/1/25 8:00AM

Yesterday, Amazon announced that it’s doubling down on small-town America, revealing plans to invest more than $4 billion into its delivery service in rural locations by the end of next year, as it attempts to speed up delivery times across less populated areas.

The announcement — which came a day before the company’s earnings, expected after the bell today — was packed with big-if-true figures. For example, the expansion will apparently let Amazon ship over 1 billion extra packages a year, add 200 delivery stations, create 100,000 new jobs, and improve its service in more than 13,000 rural ZIP codes across more than 1.2 million square miles.

Boxing match

Elsewhere in the delivery business, UPS said on Tuesday that it would be cutting 20,000 positions (~4% of its workforce) in 2025 and closing 73 US locations by the end of June. While some jumped to tariffs as a potential explanation, the layoffs are more a result of UPS distancing itself from Amazon. The company is planning to halve the business it does with the online giant by mid-2026, with CEO Carol Tome explaining that fulfilling outbound shipments from Amazon centers “is not profitable for us, nor a healthy fit for our network.”

As Jeff Bezos’ retailer looks to bolster its parcel force where others are pulling back, it’ll likely carry on a yearslong trend and only pull further ahead of of its competition in the logistics industry.

According to the annual Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, Amazon Logistics delivered a whopping 6.3 billion parcels across the US in 2024, up 7.3% from the year before and second only to the US Postal Service’s 6.9 billion figure. Amazon now looks clear as the biggest private delivery business in America, taking an impressive 28% share of the market, while UPS and FedEx have both declined in recent years.

Tom Jones

gear shift

5/6/26

Harley-Davidson hopes getting “Back to the Bricks” will help turn its motorcycle business around

Its ~$1 billion financial services segment has helped keep the company ticking over in the meantime.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles cruising along scenic road during European Bike Week, showcasing vibrant atmosphere and camaraderie among riders

Max Knoblauch5/5/26

Xbox CEO overhauls leadership team with Microsoft AI execs amid sales declines

Microsoft is continuing to shake up Xbox, with gaming chief Asha Sharma (who took over the division suddenly in February) announcing an executive overhaul.

According to an internal memo seen by CNBC, Sharma is bringing four leaders from her former CoreAI group into the Xbox fold, as they have “consumer and technical expertise [Xbox does] not yet have.”

“Right now, it is too hard to ship impact quickly. We spend too much time inward instead of with the community, and we lack the depth we need in some of the fundamentals,” Sharma said in the memo.

Aside from the CoreAI team, David Schloss, a former Instacart growth exec, will take over the subscription and cloud business.

Following Microsoft’s earnings report last week, in which Xbox console sales fell 33% from last year, Sharma said the division had work to do. The company forecast more sales declines for Game Pass and consoles in the current quarter.

Microsoft Xbox CEO overhauls leadership amid sinking sales: 'We need to evolve how we work'

Aside from the CoreAI team, David Schloss, a former Instacart growth exec, will take over the subscription and cloud business.

Max Knoblauch5/4/26

Ford’s April EV sales climb from March but make up less than 2% of its total sales this year

Ford sold 22% more EVs in April than in March, but the category makes up just 1.7% of the automaker’s total 2026 sales through April. At the same point last year, EVs were about 4% of sales.

The company released its April sales figures Monday morning, with EVs climbing sequentially but still down nearly 25% from last year. Its more popular hybrids were down 5% from March and about 33% from last year.

Overall, Ford posted a 14.4% drop in sales in April from last year. SUVs were down more than 16%, trucks fell more than 14%, and cars (the company doesn’t sell many) climbed 18%.

When it reported its Q1 earnings last week, Ford boosted its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion.

Rani Molla5/4/26

Amazon opens up its supply chain to everyone

Today Amazon unveiled Supply Chain Services, a new business that turns the vast warehousing and logistics network behind its e-commerce empire into a product for other companies — an AWS-style move applied to the physical world.

As Amazon put it: “Any business can now move, store, and deliver everything from raw materials to finished products using the same supply chain that supports Amazon and its independent selling partners.”

That could make Amazon a behind-the-scenes operator for an even wider swath of commerce, expanding its reach beyond its marketplace and helping it capture more of the $1.3 trillion third-party logistics market.

Shares of traditional shipping companies UPS and FedEx fell after the announcement.

Amazon listed Procter & Gamble, 3M, and American Eagle among the logistics service’s first customers.

Introducing Amazon Supply Chain Services: Amazon’s logistics network, now open to every business

Shares of traditional shipping companies UPS and FedEx fell after the announcement.

Amazon listed Procter & Gamble, 3M, and American Eagle among the logistics service’s first customers.

Ford Announces Plans For New Electric-Vehicle Battery Plant

Ford’s leaving the door open for a Chinese automaker collaboration, says RBC

US lawmakers have raced to introduce legislation to lock in restrictions on cheaper Chinese vehicles and parts ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting in May.

Max Knoblauch4/30/26