Amazon Business, PayPal And Good Housekeeping Sizzle While Fraud, Stocks And Cryptos Fizzle

Sizzle

Amazon’s B2B Biz: Amazon is everywhere — and while retail is the name of the game, B2B is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, Amazon’s B2B is growing faster than retail, as Amazon Business is on track to hit $10 billion in sales this year, just four years after launch — it took the unit only one year to reach $1 billion in sales. Amazon says millions of firms have already signed on to the service.

PayPal: PayPal hit a new milestone, reaching 250 million active accounts about 18 months after hitting 200 million. Growth remains in the firm’s sights as it has $3 billion earmarked for mergers and acquisitions.

Good Housekeeping: Looks like a time-honored brand has popped back up — literally. Next month, a pop up store will open in the Mall of America to display as many as 150 recommended products in an experiential retail effort. The items can be purchased with Amazon SmileCodes and delivered to customers’ homes.

Fizzle

British Airways Hack: More than 380,000 individuals’ data was compromised in the British Airways hack in recent weeks, and it turns out the hackers were the same bad actors who targeted Ticketmaster. British Airways will likely be the first company cased under GDPR, and a fine may loom if regulators find the company did not have adequate security measures in place.

Overstock: Shares fall in double-digit percentages after Overstock’s CEO sold 10 percent of his holdings. Though he told investors not to worry — the sales are for personal reasons and tax bills — it should be noted that the shares are down more than 60 percent on the heels of struggling cryptocurrencies and an investigation into a subsidiary’s sale of digital tokens.

Cryptos: Cryptocurrencies take it on the chin yet again, as multi-month lows tested amid the long arm the law — or at least regulators. The SEC said this week that it has suspended trading in two trading vehicles — Bitcoin Tracker One and Ether Tracker One — because there is confusion over whether they are exchange traded funds. The SEC noted that “there is a lack of current, consistent and accurate information.”