Free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) was a platform that got a lot of interest, and still has it to this day. But there is one less FAST platform on the market today, as online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) shut down its FreeVee system. Shareholders seemed somewhat interested, as shares were up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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The move had been in the making for months, reports noted, and earlier today, Amazon officially pulled the plug, rendering the FAST platform unusable. Those attempting to watch FreeVee content after today will be redirected to a Prime Video download app, where the FreeVee content can now be found. Shows ranging from Judy Justice to Bosch:Legacy have made the move to Prime, reports note.
Amazingly, Amazon shut down a system that had around 65 million monthly users, but still decided to shut it down. Amazon wanted to focus its efforts on Amazon Prime. Thus, FreeVee found itself with a big pile of users that Amazon wanted, apparently, to more directly monetize by converting them into subscribers at an unclear ratio.
The “Hardcore Culture Reset”
Meanwhile, Amazon is also retooling its own internal culture, a move which likely sounds incredibly ominous for anyone who draws a paycheck therein. Amazon has ditched heaps of managers, increasing the worker / manager ratio by 15%. Company-issued phone plans are being picked over with fine-tooth combs looking for cost savings. Return-to-office (RTO) mandates are in full swing to the point where remote work is mostly out of the picture.
Further, Amazon even opened up a “bureaucracy mailbox,” which calls on employees to find “…unnecessary processes or rules that could be streamlined or eliminated,” one report noted. And this is not window dressing, either; Amazon has reportedly launched 375 new changes based on that mailbox.
Is Amazon a Good Long-Term Investment?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AMZN stock based on 45 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 30.01% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AMZN price target of $263.95 per share implies 17.08% upside potential.
