Business / Amazon shares hits all-time high, company valued at $1.1 tn as demand surges

New York: Amazon is now worth $1.1 trillion after its shares hit a record high Tuesday amid surging online orders during coronavirus lockdowns.  

As of Tuesday afternoon Amazon's stock was up more than four per cent closing at $2,283.32 per share. That topped the online retail giant's previous high of $2,170.22 per share on February 19.   

Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos was last week named the world's richest person for the third year running after amassing a wealth of $113billion. 

That's despite his divorce last year which cost him a quarter of his stake in the tech giant. Bezos, 56 – who founded the e-commerce company out of his basement in Seattle, Washington in 1994 – gave $36billion worth of stocks to ex Mackenzie. 

The economic damage from the outbreak has been widespread and severe after only a few weeks into the shutdown. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the world economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression.

But for Amazon a surge in demand for online orders from those under lockdown has seen it's stock price rise.

The company said on Monday it would hire 75,000 more people for jobs ranging from warehouse staff to delivery drivers. 

That's on top of the 100,000 positions it advertised earlier which they say have already been filled, and the new jobs are in addition to that.

Amazon said Sunday it will begin to put new grocery delivery customers on a wait list and curtail shopping hours at some Whole Foods stores to prioritize orders from existing customers. 

But the pandemic has not been without its controversies for Amazon. 

There have been a spate of protests across the United States as workers call for more protections as the virus spreads. 

The Seattle-based firm has been facing public scrutiny over safety and working conditions of warehouse, delivery and retail gig workers in the United States after cases of COVID-19 were reported in some of its facilities. 

And on Tuesday it was reported the company had fired three more employees who spoke out over the company's pandemic working conditions.  

Bashir Mohamed was let go from the Minnesota plant where had worked for three years last week after protests there, Buzzfeed reports. 

Designers Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, both critics of the online retail giant's working conditions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, were also let go.  

Amazon say Mohamed was fired because he refused to speak to a supervisor; Cunningham and Costa for 'repeatedly violating internal policies'.  

The terminations came just two weeks after the company fired another employee, Christian Smalls, for raising health and safety concerns for people laboring through the outbreak. Amazon said he came to its Staten Island warehouse for a demonstration in violation of his paid quarantine.

Amazon said it expects to spend more than $500 million globally to increase wages for workers during the pandemic, up from a previous estimate of $350 million.

'We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,' the company said. 

Stocks moved mostly higher on Wall Street Tuesday as investors reviewed earnings reports from big companies and welcomed signs that government officials are considering how to gradually reopen the economy. 

The S&P 500 was up 3% as of 2:56 p.m. Eastern time, recovering all of its losses from a day earlier. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, though it remains about 16% below its all-time high set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 543 points higher, or 2.3%, to 23,930. The Nasdaq climbed 4%.