US President Donald Trump’s attacks on e-commerce giant Amazon briefly wiped off $5.7bn off the stock market valuation of Amazon as he said on Wednesday the company was “doing great damage to tax paying retailers”, according to reports.
Trump tweeted that “towns, cities and states throughout the US are being hurt - many jobs being lost!”
The president has often criticised the company and CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.
Many traditional retailers are closing stores and blaming Amazon for a shift to buying goods online. But the company has been hiring thousands of warehouse workers on the spot at job fairs across the country. Amazon has announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year
“Amazon’s shares lost 1.2 per cent of their value in two hours of pre-market trading after Mr Trump’s comments. They regained the lost value after markets opened in New York, trading down up 0.33 per cent by lunchtime,” The Independent reported.
On Wednesday, Trump disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks blaming weekend violence in Virginia on anti-racism activists as well as white nationalists.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday, Trump disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks blaming weekend violence in Virginia on anti-racism activists as well as white nationalists.
{{/usCountry}}A parade of prominent Republicans also rebuked Trump, as well as US ally Britain, leaving him increasingly isolated after his comments on Tuesday about the bloodshed in the college town of Charlottesville further enveloped his seven-month-old presidency in controversy.
With inputs from Associated Press