Amazon Cuts the Chord on Drone Delivery In Italy (Investors Feel The Crash and Burn)

“Look what you did you little jerks” - Bezos on his yacht, probably… 

So it appears Amazon just rage-quit drone delivery in Italy. After spending the better part of a year flexing Prime Air test flights in San Salvo… posting drone porn, shaking hands with regulators, pretending this was the future… Amazon quietly pulled the plug and said hard pass.

(Source: Tenor) 

Why? According to reports, the official reason is “broader business regulatory issues.” The unofficial translation though is too much pasta, and not enough of that fat margin. Of course, Italian aviation officials were absolutely shook at the move, as the ENAC got a glorious dose of blue balls. Meaning, apparently… drone delivery only works when the math works. And Italy ain’t it. 

(Source: Reuters) 

Instead, Italy is short distances, dense cities, and ancient streets filled with scooter guys who can beat a drone to your door while smoking a cigarette and arguing with their cousin. So Amazon looked at the spreadsheet and realized the drone was the most expensive guy in the room. Translation: While regulators were busy patting themselves on the back for approving the airspace, Amazon was doing what it always does… killing anything that doesn’t scale like a demon.

Which makes this even funnier when you zoom out. Because in the same breath that Amazon is telling warehouse workers they’ll be “upskilled” into more meaningful roles… It's also shelving entire moonshot projects the second they stop juicing margins. Make it make sense. 

 

(Source: Pinterest) 

Obviously, investors weren’t too horned up on the news as shares are down -0.1% on the day. Prime Air was supposed to be the sexy future. Instead it’s turning into a regional side quest… cool in a few U.S. suburbs, totally useless once you leave the bean counting-friendly parts of the world. Meaning, for now Italy gets to keep its skies drone-free, warehouse workers get to race robots, and Amazon keeps doing what it does best: cutting anything that doesn’t print. Bold strategy Cotton let’s see if it pays off for ‘em. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.