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If you signed up for an Amazon Prime membership between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025, Amazon might owe you as much as $51. This comes after the online retail giant entered into a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that the company used deceptive practices to enroll customers in its Prime membership. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? Amazon and the FTC have agreed to a settlement over allegations that the online retailer used deceptive practices to enroll people in its Amazon Prime membership, while also making it difficult for those same individuals to cancel the membership. The settlement was reached in September 2025, with Amazon agreeing to pay $2.5 billion to eligible U.S. customers. Of that, $1 billion goes toward paying a civil penalty. The remaining $1.5 billion will be used to refund eligible customers up to $51 each. As part of the settlement, Amazon did not admit to any wrongdoing. Who is eligible for the refund? There are two groups of people eligible for a refund. Both groups must have signed up between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. Automatic payment group: In this first group, you must have enrolled in Prime through a so-called “challenged enrollment flow.” And you may not have used more than three Prime benefits in a 12-month period from June 23, 2019, to June 23, 2025. If you’re part of this group, you should have received your payment automatically by December 24, 2025, with no action required on your part. Claims process payment group: In this second group, you must have either unintentionally enrolled in Prime through a challenged enrollment flow or unsuccessfully tried to cancel Prime. Further, you must have used more than three Prime benefits but less than 10 during the covered 12-month period. The window for submitting a claim for the second group opened on Monday, January 5. According to the settlement website, eligible customers should receive a notice via mail or email with instructions for filing a claim by January 23. What is a challenged enrollment flow? According to the FTC and the settlement administrator, that term refers to various pathways to sign up for Prime: The Universal Prime Decision Page (UPDP), Shipping Option Select Page (SOSP), Prime Video enrollment flow, and Single Page Checkout (SPC). The good news is that you don’t personally need to determine if you signed up through a challenged enrollment flow to submit a claim. According to the FTC, Amazon will determine that for you. How much money does Amazon owe me? If you fall into either group, Amazon will refund your Prime membership fee up to $51. What do I have to do to get my refund? If you are part of the first group, you should have automatically received your refund payment from Amazon with no action required on your part. If you are in the second group, you should receive a notice via email or regular mail from Amazon that tells you how you can submit a claim. You have until July 21, 2026, to submit a claim. What else should I know? Those who think they may be eligible for a refund should check out the official settlement website, which has a list of frequently asked questions.
Category:
E-Commerce
Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.Tensions escalated after the White House said Tuesday that the “U.S. military is always an option.” President Donald Trump has argued that the U.S. needs to control the world’s largest island to ensure its own security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier this week that a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.“The Nordics do not lightly make statements like this,” Maria Martisiute, a defense analyst at the European Policy Centre think tank, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “But it is Trump, whose very bombastic language bordering on direct threats and intimidation, is threatening the fact to another ally by saying ‘I will control or annex the territory.'”The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Frederiksen in a statement Tuesday reaffirming that the mineral-rich island “belongs to its people.”Their statement defended the sovereignty of Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark and thus part of NATO.This weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela has heightened fears across Europe, and Trump and his advisers in recent days have reiterated the U.S. leader’s desire to take over the island, which guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.“It’s so strategic right now,” Trump told reporters Sunday.Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, have requested the meeting with Rubio in the near future, according to a statement posted Tuesday to Greenland’s government website.Previous requests for a sit-down were not successful, the statement said.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he spoke by phone Tuesday with Rubio, who dismissed the idea of a Venezuela-style operation in Greenland.“In the United States, there is massive support for the country belonging to NATO a membership that, from one day to the next, would be compromised by any form of aggressiveness toward another member of NATO,” Barrot told France Inter radio Wednesday.Asked if he has a plan in case Trump does claim Greenland, Barrot said he won’t engage in “fiction diplomacy.”While most U.S. Republicans have supported Trump’s statement, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, blasted Trump’s rhetoric in a statement Tuesday.“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” the statement said. “Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.” Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin and Mark Carlson in Brussels contributed to this report. Stefanie Dazio, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Warner Bros. again rejected Paramount’s latest takeover bid and told shareholders Wednesday to stick with a rival offer from Netflix.Warner’s leadership has repeatedly rebuffed Skydance-owned Paramount’s overturesand urged shareholders just weeks ago to back its the sale of its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has sweetened its $77.9 billion offer for the entire company and gone straight to shareholders with a hostile bid.Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday that its board determined Paramount’s offer is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders. It again recommended shareholders support the Netflix deal.Late last month Paramount announced an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Oracle founder Larry Ellisonwho is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellisonto back $40.4 billion in equity financing for the company’s offer. Paramount also increased its promised payout to shareholders to $5.8 billion if the deal is blocked by regulators, matching what Netflix already put on the table.The battle for Warner and the value of each offer grows complicated because Netflix and Paramount want different things. Netflix’s proposed acquisition includes only Warner’s studio and streaming business, including its legacy TV and movie production arms and platforms like HBO Max. But Paramount wants the entire companywhich, beyond studio and streaming, includes networks like CNN and Discovery.If Netflix is successful, Warner’s news and cable operations would be spun off into their own company, under a previously-announced separation.A merger with either company will attract tremendous antitrust scrutiny. Due to its size and potential impact, it will almost certainly trigger a review by the U.S. Justice Department, which could sue to block the transaction or request changes. Other countries and regulators overseas may also challenge the merger. Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
The stock prices of RAM and NAND manufacturers surged yesterday, with Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) up 10%, Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) up 27%, Western Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: WDC) up 16%, and Seagate Technology Holdings (Nasdaq: STX) up 14%. The driving factor behind this recent stock surge is a shortage of RAM, or random-access memory. The shortage expected to last throughout 2026, and it could mean that youll pay much more for personal computers and smartphones this year. Heres what you need to know about the RAM shortage of 2026. Why is there a RAM shortage in 2026? The RAM shortage in 2026 can essentially be blamed on one thing: artificial intelligence. Major tech giants like Google and Amazon, as well as other so-called hyperscalers, are rushing to build as many AI data centers as possible. These data centers are packed with servers, and those servers run all the powerful AI services that are quickly becoming ubiquitous. Data center servers are made of various componentsstorage, CPUs, GPUs, and, critically, RAMthat are needed for them to be able to carry out their AI tasks. RAM is the short-term storage that digital devices use to quickly perform tasks. RAM, also colloquially known as memory chips, holds onto data for the short term. It differs from other forms of computer storage, like NAND chips, which are the flash storage used in SSDs, that are designed to hold data for the long term. The more RAM your smartphone or computer has, the faster it runs and the more quickly it carries out tasks. Manufacturers are racing to keep up with AI demand The problem now, which is driving the RAM shortage, is that RAM manufacturers have limited production capacity, so they must decide which types of RAM to produce. The servers used in AI data centers use a more advanced type of RAM than the RAM found in smartphones and personal computersand right now, that RAM is in high demand from tech giants in need of data centers. Big Tech companies are willing to pay a premium to get their hands on as much RAM as possible for their AI data centers, which means RAM manufacturers are prioritizing the production of the RAM that AI companies require over the RAM that consumer electronics companies acquire. This prioritization is leading to a shortage of the traditional RAM that is used in laptops and smartphones. The shortage could mean pricier smartphones in 2026 A shortage of any component often drives up its price, meaning consumer tech companies are now paying more for the traditional RAM that their devices require. In a TrendForce analysis published on Monday, the market intelligence firm reported that conventional DRAM contract pricesthe kind of RAM used in consumer electronicshave increased between 55% and 60% quarter over quarter. This price increase is due to the RAM shortage, and will likely mean that youll pay more for a new smartphone or laptop this year. Smartphone and computer manufacturers will typically not choose to absorb the costs of pricier components, instead passing them on to consumers to avoid a negative impact on their bottom lines. As for how much more consumers can expect to pay for their devices this year, the Financial Times reported this week that prices could rise by up to 20%. However, some industry analysts are expecting personal device price rises of less than 20%, notes the FT. That’s because consumer device companies could conceivably find ways to cut costs elsewhere, which they may be keen to do to avoid sinking sales of their devices during a period when most consumers already feel cash-strapped. RAM maker stock prices soar Given that the price of RAM chips is rising and demand from deep-pocketed Big Tech companies shows no signs of abating, its little surprise that the stock prices of memory makers are on an upward trajectory as of late. Yesterday, the share prices of four of the largest DRAM and NAND flash memory makers surged on the Nasdaq, with Micron, Seagate, Western Digital, and SanDisk all up by double digits. That sharp rise in memory maker stocks came after Mondays report from TrendForce as well as after comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. At CES 2026 this week, Huang said that the memory storage market was a “completely unserved market today and one that will likely be the largest storage market in the world, basically holding the working memory of the world’s AIs, according to Business Insider. Thanks primarily to this market demand, DRAM and NAND memory makers have seen their stock prices surge over the past six months. As of yesterdays close, Microns stock price was up more than 44% in the past six months, Seagates was up 121%, Western Digitals was up 231%, and Sandisk’s was up a staggering 653%.
Category:
E-Commerce
Chat platform Discord filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the United States, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. IPO market regained momentum in 2025 after nearly three years of sluggish activity, but hopes for a stronger rebound were tempered by tariff-driven volatility, a prolonged government shutdown and a late-year selloff in artificial intelligence stocks. Deliberations are ongoing and the company could decide not to proceed with a listing, the report said. A Discord spokesperson told Bloomberg “the company’s focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for users and building a strong, sustainable business.” Discord did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Discord, which was founded in 2015, offers voice, video and text chatting capabilities aimed at gamers and streamers. It had more than 200 million monthly active users, according to a December statement on its website. Prakhar Srivastava and Nathan Gomes, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
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