It’s good news for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), of a sort, as the e-commerce giant pays off $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit. The good news is that this didn’t even kind of annoy shareholders, who sent Amazon shares up fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
The $1.9 million in question will be split over 700 ways, meaning that each employee involved in the suit will land roughly $2,700. The suit stemmed from allegations that various contract migrant workers were exposed to what were called “exploitative labor conditions.” Said exploitative labor conditions were taking place in Saudi Arabia and included fearful accommodations—bedbugs and a lack of restroom facilities were high on the list of issues—as well as misrepresentation of employment and onerous fees connected with quitting.
Taking on Walmart Again
While Amazon was notorious for having such regimented schedules in the United States that bathroom breaks were largely impossible, it’s little surprise to see Amazon pursuing a quick payoff for housing workers in Saudi Arabia without restroom facilities. But beyond that, Amazon is also taking on Walmart (NYSE:WMT) once more in a new field: digital advertising. With Walmart’s recent acquisition of Vizio, it’s got a new stake in the digital advertising market. That’s bringing it into more competition with Amazon and making for more challenges as it faces an old adversary in a different market.
Is Amazon a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on AMZN stock based on 41 Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 86.78% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AMZN price target of $208.23 per share implies 19.31% upside potential.
