Amazon joins YouTube, Apple in investing on live sports content

LOS ANGELS: Amazon has joined the bandwagon of incorporating sports content in its operations.

According to a report by US-based tech portal, TechCrunch, citing The Information, the e-commerce giant is developing an app dedicated to sports content.

The move hints at Amazon's focused action towards investing in Prime Video and live sports content.

The report follows the multinational company's CEO, Andy Jassy referring to live sports as 'a unique asset' at an event in New York.

Currently, the technological giant holds the exclusive rights for NFL's Thursday Night Football. It also showcases some Premier League soccer matches and Yankees baseball games, as per TechCrunch.

The company recently also launched some talk-shows on sports which are featured on both Prime Video and its ad-supported streaming platform Freevee.

Meanwhile, the e-commerce giant, had announced earlier this year that it is discontinuing Amazon Distribution, its wholesale e-commerce website available to small neighborhood stores in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubli.

Amazon Distribution was designed to help small stores, pharmacies and department stores in India to secure inventory from Amazon.

"We don't take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing this program in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition," a spokesperson of the company said in a statement.

The e-commerce giant last week had said that it would be shutting its food-delivery business and online learning academy in India.

"At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments," a spokesperson of the e-commerce giant said.

The exit would result in layoffs of hundreds of workers, with Amazon now focusing only on its core business like online retail, according to the report. On November 17, Amazon began the process of cutting jobs across the company this week, US media reports said.

"After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs. One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required," hardware chief Dave Limp wrote in a memo to workers on November 16.