Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) rejected on Thursday rejected the criticism from US Senator Bernie Sanders about its work conditions, saying its pay and benefits are competitive with other retailers, a report by CNN Money said.
Sanders, who ran for US president in 2016, said Amazon and other big companies should be slapped a special tax because they employ workers who collect food stamps and other public assistance.
Amazon said the claim is "inaccurate and misleading", adding employees are paid more than US$15 an hour, including cash, stock and incentive bonuses. Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men on the planet.
Sanders fired back:
.@amazon, if our claims about wages and working conditions at Amazon are inaccurate then prove it.
Make public the number of people you hire through temporary staffing agencies like Integrity Staffing Solutions and make public the hourly rate and benefits those workers earn. https://t.co/TMDSthqpUF
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 29, 2018
Amazon stock soared on Thursday, hitting a record high of US$2,025.57, and was trading by midday at US$2,023.27, up 1.26% for the session.
Wall Street analysts believe Amazon will become the second US company after Apple to reach US$1 trillion in value.
READ: Amazon upgrade by Morgan Stanley could make it second US company with US$1 trillion valuation
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has apologized to the Anne Frank Center for removing nude images of children holocaust victims because such naked pictures are banned on the platform, Business Insider reported.
The post featured an image of naked and emaciated children during the Holocaust, when six million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany. The post was later restored.
Shares of Facebook were up 1.85% at US$179.16.
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) has released the trailer for the final film of iconic director Orson Welles, a report by Tech Crunch said.
The film is "The Other Side of the Wind". Since his death in 1985, Welles supporters have tried to complete the film but they have been stymied by legal and financial issues, the report said.
Netflix stock traded 1.57% higher at US$373.83.
FAANG Report: Trump claims Google suppressing good news about him; Amazon in new Canada prime plan
Alphabet's Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the search giant accused by US President Donald Trump of hiding the good news about his administration, is not guilty of rigging news stories against the current occupant of the White House, a report by Politifact said.
Trump had tweeted that 96% of Google News results "are from national left-wing media." Politifact said the conservative website categorized any media outlet not expressly conservative as being part of the 'left.'
"The methodology essentially preordains that a large percentage of coverage captured by Google will be what the study defines as "left," which is wrong. We rate the statement (by Trump) False," Politifact said.
Shares of Google inched up 0.01% to US$1,249.37.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is among the tech giants that stands to lose the most if the trade conflict with China gets worse, a report by CNBC said.
The report said that so far, cell phones have been exempt from Trump's move to pressure China on trade, partly because of Apple chief executive Tim Cook's personal lobbying, the report said in quoting CFRA analyst Angelo Zino.
Apple shares added 1.2% to US$225.69.