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This does not surprise me. I've been waiting to see corporate intelligence agencies pop up. When you think about it, Amazon had an operating budget last year of

This does not surprise me. I've been waiting to see corporate intelligence agencies pop up. When you think about it, Amazon had an operating budget last year of around $309 billion [1], already 75% of Germany's at $399 billion [2]. Facebook has an operating budget of around $35 billion, but that is still enough to field a small intelligence arm. Also, that is Facebook..not all Facebook properties combined. [1] https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AMZN/amazon/operating-expenses https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AMZN/amazon/operat... [2] https://www.dw.com/en/german-parliament-passes-record-budget/a-51463550#:~:text=The%20total%20German%20state%20budget,Bundestag%20chamber%20during%20Friday's%20debate https://www.dw.com/en/german-parliament-passes-record-budget....

saddlerustle 6y ago
Most of Amazon's revenue is retail sales. Buying a product for $10 and selling it for $10.10 is not comparable to $10 of government spending. After deducting cost of sales and cost of fulfilment you're left with ~$60 billion.
- m0llusk 6y ago
  Are you sure about that? My understanding is that the bulk of their profits are from Amazon Web Services. That is potentially a factor that contributes to this skewed and awkward framing of labor.
  - csours 6y ago
    You are both right. The bulk of PROFITS is in AWS. The bulk of ECONOMIC ACTIVITY is in amazon.com sales.
dylan604 6y ago
Wasn't there previous news stories of FB doing exactly this? A 3rd party was hired to investigate something. It's all fuzzy, so if I'm totally wrong, someone please correct me.
HarryHirsch 6y ago
These corporations are their own intelligence agencies. Facebook knows who your friends are, Amazon knows where you live, thanks to their line of doorbell camera, and then there's the Google-Microsoft email duopoly.
paxys 6y ago
The vast majority of Amazon's operating expenses is paying manufacturers for the products that people buy, so there's really no comparison to a country's budget. Plus their margins for that are close to 0, and overall they constantly take large losses from their physical retail business in order to expand everything else.
snowwrestler 6y ago
Corporate intelligence agencies have long existed, but they don't call themselves that. They are usually called corporate law firms or PR agencies. Note that the Amazon job description was specific about working with attorneys.

saddlerustle 6y ago

Most of Amazon's revenue is retail sales. Buying a product for $10 and selling it for $10.10 is not comparable to $10 of government spending. After deducting cost of sales and cost of fulfilment you're left with ~$60 billion.

m0llusk 6y ago
Are you sure about that? My understanding is that the bulk of their profits are from Amazon Web Services. That is potentially a factor that contributes to this skewed and awkward framing of labor.
- csours 6y ago
  You are both right. The bulk of PROFITS is in AWS. The bulk of ECONOMIC ACTIVITY is in amazon.com sales.

dylan604 6y ago

Wasn't there previous news stories of FB doing exactly this? A 3rd party was hired to investigate something. It's all fuzzy, so if I'm totally wrong, someone please correct me.

HarryHirsch 6y ago

These corporations are their own intelligence agencies. Facebook knows who your friends are, Amazon knows where you live, thanks to their line of doorbell camera, and then there's the Google-Microsoft email duopoly.

paxys 6y ago

The vast majority of Amazon's operating expenses is paying manufacturers for the products that people buy, so there's really no comparison to a country's budget. Plus their margins for that are close to 0, and overall they constantly take large losses from their physical retail business in order to expand everything else.

snowwrestler 6y ago

Corporate intelligence agencies have long existed, but they don't call themselves that. They are usually called corporate law firms or PR agencies. Note that the Amazon job description was specific about working with attorneys.