Warner Bros. files suit alleging 'lawless employee shopping spree'
Warner Bros. Discovery filed suit against Amazon on July 25, 2026, accusing the company of "inducing contracted employees to breach their employment agreements" and engaging in a "lawless employee shopping spree." The complaint centers on the recruitment of Pia Barlow, the former executive vice president for originals marketing at HBO Max, whose contract was not set to expire until October 31, 2027. Warner Bros. alleges that Amazon, aware of Barlow's existing contract, offered her a higher pay package and promised to cover her legal representation should she face breach-of-contract litigation. Barlow is scheduled to begin her new role as Amazon's head of original series marketing on August 3.
The suit also references a second alleged approach aimed at Francesca Orsi, head of HBO drama series and films, whose contract ran through December 2027. According to Deadline reports cited in the complaint, Amazon attempted to recruit Orsi to lead its Drama and Comedy department, but the effort was unsuccessful. Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against the alleged conduct, along with unspecified monetary damages, on claims including intentional interference with contractual relations, inducing breach of contract, and unfair competition.
AWS outage in Oregon marks third reliability incident in eleven weeks
Amazon Web Services disrupted Apple Pay, Reddit, Hulu, DoorDash, and PlayStation Network for approximately 80 minutes on July 24, 2026, in the third notable AWS reliability incident in roughly eleven weeks. The disruption centered on the US-West-2 region in Portland, Oregon, with Downdetector reports of failed Apple Pay transactions and broken DoorDash checkouts beginning around 6:40 a.m. ET. AWS acknowledged the issue at 7:40 a.m. ET and declared full restoration by 11:14 a.m. ET, attributing the problem to "internet connectivity to the US-West-2 Region."
The failure follows a cooling-system incident in AWS's Northern Virginia data center on May 7–8, which forced thermal-safety shutdowns and knocked Coinbase, FanDuel, and CME Group offline, and a multi-region network disruption on June 22 linked in some reports to provider Zayo. AWS said no customer data was lost on July 24, and that internal connectivity within the region was unaffected, indicating the breakdown occurred at the boundary between AWS's Oregon data centers and the public internet. The pattern arrives ahead of Amazon's scheduled July 30 second-quarter earnings report, where analysts expect approximately $196 billion in revenue and may press management on infrastructure investment.
Amazon tightens FBA reimbursement window to 60 days
Amazon will reduce the window for filing lost-and-damaged inventory claims under its Fulfillment by Amazon program from 18 months to 60 days from the date a discrepancy is detected, beginning October 15, 2026. The change, drawn from a Seller Central policy update dated June 28, applies to all FBA merchants globally and has prompted third-party tool providers and sellers to launch immediate retrospective audits before the transition date.
Industry estimates have long pegged reimbursement eligibility at roughly 1–3% of gross FBA revenue for active sellers, and automated tools such as GETIDA, Helium 10's Refund Genie, and Sellerboard have built products around surfacing claims. GETIDA is offering free audits for new accounts through September 30, while Sellerboard published a step-by-step seller guide in early July. The change comes against a backdrop of rising costs, with average FBA fees on standard-size items up roughly 4.3% year-over-year as of February 2026, and has been compared in urgency by sellers to last year's inbound placement fee rollout.
Upcoming earnings report as scrutiny on Amazon intensifies
Amazon is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 financial results on July 30 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Wall Street analysts expect approximately $196 billion in revenue and AWS growth to sustain or beat the 28% year-over-year rate recorded in Q1. Management commentary on the three reliability incidents since May and on infrastructure investment specific to US-West-2 is likely to draw particular attention, alongside commentary on the FBA policy change and the pending Warner Bros. Discovery litigation.
Share this article
