Latest news with #JessicaMartin
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon's Prime Day celebratory recap was missing one key metric that the tech giant usually reveals
Every year, Amazon holds a 'record' Prime Day, and every year the company boasts about the performance of the annual sales event in a press release. The self-congratulatory announcement isn't exactly absurd—given its size, any year-over-year growth is noteworthy. Last year, while Amazon didn't disclose the total number of items sold, it did note that independent sellers 'sold more than 200 million items during the Prime Day event.' In 2023, Prime members 'purchased more than 375 million items worldwide.' In 2022, that number was more than 300 million, and in 2021, it was north of 250 million. But this year, what stood out to this longtime Amazon watcher is that the company didn't disclose anything about the number of items sold. The last time it made that choice was 2020, when nothing normal was happening anywhere in the world, and Prime Day was moved from summer to October. Before that, you have to go back to the second-ever Prime Day in 2016 to find a wrap-up that didn't provide any update on the number of 'units' sold. It's unclear exactly why Amazon decided to withhold that number for 2025, but this Prime Day was odd for a few reasons. Sellers, and brands big and small, had to come up with different strategies to contend with tariff chaos. And they're trying to woo increasingly pessimistic consumers. Those factors could be weighing on the company's decision to withhold exact numbers. When asked about this year's missing metric, Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin pointed Fortune to an Amazon blog post that shares facts about historical Prime Day events, but otherwise declined to comment on the absence of specific product sales tallies for 2025. To be sure, it's possible that this Prime Day was a success. An outside analysis from Adobe estimated that sales across online retailers overall increased by more than 30% during this year's four day Prime Day period, compared to last year. And Amazon said in this year's recap that the four days of Prime Day 2025 outsold any other four-day period that included previous Prime Days. But historically, the event hasn't run longer than two days. That means that previous years have included two prime days and two regular days, while this year included four prime days. It's unclear why the company would change the basis of comparison. We'll see if Amazon provides any more details in future earnings reports later this year. Until then, the missing metric raises questions about just how successful Prime Day really was. Are you a current or former Amazon employee with thoughts on this topic or a tip to share? Contact Jason Del Rey at jasondelrey@ or through messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp at 917-655-4267. You can also contact him on LinkedIn or at @delrey on X, @jdelrey on Threads, and on Bluesky. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
CBS News
25-03-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Minnesota mom goes on quest for answers when teen son develops mysterious illness
When a 17-year-old Minnesota boy got sick with a mysterious illness, his mom went on a quest for answers. Connor Martin, of Champlin, stays busy. "I play violin. Right now, I play softball," said Connor Martin. He also loves going to Minnesota Twins games to see his favorite players. But a little more than three years ago, Martin and his family were thrown a curveball. "It just felt like he just was sort of slowing down and I just noticed his reaction time was slower than usual, he was perhaps more clumsy than usual," said mother Jessica Martin. His bloodwork and other tests were normal, but Jessica Martin kept pushing for answers to her son's medical mystery. He was quickly referred to children's neurologist Dr. Jessica Goldstein, at M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital. "There's a lot of detective work. Really looking for clues or key elements that kind of point you in one direction or the other," said Goldstein. Within a few months, there was a diagnosis: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC). "It was terrifying," said Jessica Martin. NPC is a rare, inherited, progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease. Jessica Martin pushed for her son to be part of a clinical trial for a new drug called Miplyffa. Since starting the medicine in late 2022, Connor Martin has made improvements. "It really did stabilize things for him pretty quickly," said Goldstein. "We've seen improvement in swallowing, in speech, in energy level." "The medicines have definitely given us more time and more memories and more opportunities to just enjoy our child," said Jessica Martin. Which, for Connor Martin, includes being in the stands for Twins opening day. "We have an OK team this year," said Connor Martin. And his mom will continue to swing for a cure. "For these rare diseases, gene therapy is really the endgame," said Jessica Martin. "These treatments are hopefully going to buy us all the time we need to get there."
