In a January 14 court filing, Amazon challenged luxury retailer Saks Global’s Chapter 11 petition, arguing that the company breached a 2024 distribution agreement tied to Amazon’s $475 million equity investment. Under that pact, Saks agreed to list its merchandise on Amazon’s platform in exchange for marketing referrals and to pay Amazon at least $900 million over eight years. Amazon now contends that its investment is “presumptively worthless” after Saks burned through hundreds of millions of dollars in less than a year and accrued additional unpaid invoices. The e-commerce giant warns that a newly secured $1.75 billion debtor-in-possession financing introduces “billions of dollars in harmful obligations” that would subordinate Amazon’s claims and leave unsecured creditors with negligible recovery.

On January 15, Amazon Web Services launched its AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Brandenburg, Germany, marking the first of what will become four dedicated Local Zones across Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal. Backed by a €7.8 billion investment and projected to generate 2,800 full-time equivalent jobs annually, the service is physically and logically isolated from other AWS Regions and governed by European resident leadership. Customers—including public-sector bodies and regulated industries—gain exclusive EU-based control over metadata, identity management and encryption keys. The platform initially offers more than 90 services spanning compute, storage, AI and security, and employs AWS Nitro hardware to prevent unauthorized data access, including by Amazon employees.

Amazon has agreed to purchase the first significant new U.S. copper output in over a decade from Rio Tinto’s Arizona operations, which utilizes bioleaching with acid and bacteria to extract the metal. The long-term off-take deal will supply cathode copper for Amazon’s expanding network of data centers and fulfillment facilities. The transaction underscores Amazon’s commitment to secure critical raw materials domestically and reduce reliance on foreign sources, while supporting Rio Tinto’s pilot-scale project which produced its inaugural shipment in late 2025.