Amazon's good neighbor policy

Hi, it’s Matt Day in Seattle. Amazon has a new view of what it means to be a good neighbor. But first...Three things you need to know today: [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Matt Day in Seattle. Amazon has a new view of what it means to be a good neighbor. But first... Three things you need to know today: • China and the EU agree to talk about [tariffs on electric vehicles]( • Nvidia’s sales are increasing so fast that [Wall Street can’t keep up]( • SoftBank aims to create ‘super’ AI with a [new investment push]( Corporate responsibility A couple of Tuesdays ago, Amazon.com Inc. gathered Seattle civic leaders, housing advocates and community groups for coffee, juice and an update on a company program that provides loans and grants to developers of [affordable housing](. Chief Executive Officer [Andy Jassy](bbg://people/profile/15111610), fresh off a hard-hat tour of an affordable housing complex built with Amazon’s help, took the mic to announce the company was [pouring an additional $1.4 billion]( in loans and grants to the effort, which is focused on Seattle, Nashville, and Arlington, Virginia. The mayors of Seattle (Amazon’s hometown) and nearby Bellevue (where Amazon is growing after sparring with Seattle over taxes) spoke next. This was just the kind of schmoozy, reputation-burnishing event that Amazonians used to quietly mock, back in the days when the company hewed to Jeff Bezos’s thinking that any energy spent away from shipping more product to customers was wasted.  Indeed, for most of Bezos’s 27 years leading the online retailer, Amazon eschewed corporate social responsibility, which is the idea that companies owe more than paychecks and business relationships to their employees and the communities where they operate. Some of Bezos’s lieutenants took pride in their institutional intolerance for frills. Their hard-charging company was too busy changing the business world to stage a photo op with a mayor or field a grant request from an elementary school. When Amazon did take on works that had little to do with its business — whether donating supplies to disaster relief or joining an industry push to back clean power — they tended to spring from enterprising employees rather than guidance from above. That was the case in 2017, when Amazon set aside space in its Seattle campus for a homeless shelter on the suggestion of real estate chief John Schoettler, who sat on the board of a nonprofit that provided housing for women and families. Schoettler himself had also long been the main point of contact for Seattle officials who were befuddled that Amazon didn’t seem to employ anyone to take their calls. That ad-hoc model was untenable. Employees, environmental and social justice groups demanded Amazon do more. So Amazon started to build a structure around its corporate social responsibility efforts. A formerly anemic public policy group staffed up to take those calls that had been going to Schoettler and build relationships with government officials around the world. A sustainability team, initially focused on efficiency and rooftop solar projects at Amazon warehouses, was asked to [take bigger swings](. And Amazon hired a veteran nonprofit executive to centralize and expand Amazon’s then-paltry philanthropic efforts. Veterans of those initiatives say part of their reason for being is to bank good will — among employees, socially conscious shoppers and the elected officials who may have a say in Amazon’s battles with unions or regulators seeking to break up the company for its commanding position in online retail.  Yet as Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund shows, the efforts have also built credibility in their own right. And Jassy, who took over from Bezos three years ago, is widely regarded by his employees as a [more natural]( spokesperson for [a more engaged Amazon](. People who wander Seattle street fairs will still encounter stickers portraying Bezos as a sci-fi villain, or T-shirts reframing the Amazon smile as a vampire’s bloody grin. But they also may run into someone like Jamie Lee, a co-executive director of a group working to preserve affordable housing in Seattle’s Chinatown International District: “We are so thrilled to see Amazon expand on their already significant commitment,” she said at the Housing Equity Fund event.—[Matt Day](mailto:mday63@bloomberg.net) The big story The rise of artificial intelligence has turbocharged demand for bigger data centers. The electricity needed to feed those powerful computers [threatens to upend the energy transition plans](of entire nations and the clean power goals of trillion-dollar tech companies. One to watch [City Index Senior Market Analyst Fiona Cincotta speaks on Bloomberg Television about Masayoshi Son’s plans to help spur an era of artificial super intelligence.]( Get fully charged OpenAI made its [most significant acquisition to date](. The US is closer to [restricting investments into China](. A cyberattack is still wrecking havoc [on the $1.2 trillion US car market](. Huawei’s rivalry with Apple is [heating up as sales surge](. More from Bloomberg Bloomberg Screentime: The entertainment landscape is shifting rapidly. Cable empires are crumbling, streaming giants face new challenges, and innovative forces are on the rise. Join Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles on Oct. 9-10 for a look at the future of media. Network with industry titans, immerse in live experiences, and enjoy a curated collection of local eats. Get your tickets today. [Learn More](. Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](