The Virginia Senate voted 36-0 for a comprehensive privacy bill (SB-1392) at a livestreamed floor session Friday. One senator didn’t vote due to a conflict of interest. Companion HB-2307 cleared the House 89-9 on Jan. 29 (see 2102010035). Virginia’s attorney general would enforce the rules. “This bill is an effort to set clear expectations for companies who handle or collect consumer data, and to proactively protect the rights of consumers,” said SB-1392 sponsor Sen. David Marsden (D) in a statement. “We’ve been overwhelmed with feedback from people who have been tracking the Consumer Data Protection Act this legislative session.” The House and Senate versions must be reconciled before session ends Feb. 11, but “that appears to be a mere formality given that the bills are identical and the House bill is already working its way through the Senate,” Husch Blackwell attorney David Stauss blogged Thursday. Other privacy bills are gaining momentum in New York and Washington state, Kelley Drye lawyers blogged Wednesday.

About one in 10 U.S. online shoppers bought something on eBay during the holiday season, said CEO Jamie Iannone on a Q4 call Wednesday evening. In Germany, it was one in seven, and in the U.K., one in four, he said. The platform experienced “unprecedented traffic levels” for most of 2020, he said: “More than 100 days in 2020 exceeded peak 2019 traffic levels.” The holiday contributed to record volume “with high velocity in hard-to-find and sold-out items,” he said. “Refurbished gifts also emerged as a top trend, and we saw many products from top brands in our certified refurbished experience sell out.” The stock closed 5.3% higher Thursday at $61.12.

The production capacity shortage in global semiconductors “appears to be a long-term phenomenon” spanning many industries but seems worst in the automotive sector, Himax CEO Jordan Wu told a quarterly call Thursday. “The shortage has become more severe.” The integrated circuit maker “engaged early,” leveraging its “long-term business relationships” with foundries and “back-end suppliers,” and “successfully secured more capacity for 2021, compared to the level of Q4," he said (see Q4 materials here). The company’s “aim” is to “fully utilize the capacity accessible to us” through its network of foundries. There’s little likelihood of a “significant” industry capacity increase “anytime soon,” he said. “Strong demand is likely to persist longer than expected.” Another “impressive quarter of high growth” is expected for notebooks, said the executive, citing "persistent remote working and e-learning.”

Google grew its “merchant community” by more than 80% in the past year, “with significant growth in small- and medium-sized businesses,” said Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler on a Q4 call Tuesday. The pandemic has obviously been “a very, very challenging environment for SMBs,” said Schindler. “Many weren't online” at all, and others “lost line of sight to demand overnight” due to COVID-19, he said. About a year ago, “as soon as we saw the scale of the impact, we really accelerated product” that gave SMB customers “signals to help them actually navigate and pivot” to the new reality, he said. As more consumers moved online during COVID-19 lockdowns, “and advertisers obviously responded by reactivating spend, we also saw our advertiser base grow,” said Schindler. “As traditional TV ratings continue to decline, TV advertisers are turning to streaming platforms like YouTube to reach people who are no longer watching TV.” Smart TVs “are our fastest-growing screen” for YouTube viewing, said Schindler. The stock closed 7.3% higher Wednesday at $2,058.88.

Social media usage and online shopping traffic "exploded" during COVID-19 lockdowns, forcing many brands to embrace augmented reality and virtual stores “to remain competitive and engaged with their customers,” reported ABI Research Wednesday. It estimates the global AR market in retail and commerce will exceed $12 billion in 2025. “Within the next two years, more and more brands will transfer their marketing campaigns and online shopping platforms from static webpages and 2D images to interactive experiences and platforms,” said analyst Eleftheria Kouri. “Online shopping will continue to grow after the pandemic, especially in product categories supported by AR experiences."

Amazon blew past Q4 guidance of $112 billion-$121 billion -- and analysts' consensus of $119.6 billion -- posting $125.6 billion in revenue, up 44%, in a holiday quarter padded with October Prime Day receipts. Third-party units were 55% of total paid units during the quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky on Tuesday’s earnings call. Olsavsky downplayed changes resulting from Tuesday’s announcement that CEO Jeff Bezos will transition to executive chair in Q3. The move is part of succession planning put in place five years ago, he said. Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy will assume the corporate CEO title when Bezos steps down in Q3. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a Tuesday investor note it’s not clear that Bezos will withdraw from day-to-day oversight of the business, “as we expect him to continue to be integrally involved in company strategy.” The analyst doesn’t foresee major changes at the company with Jassy at the helm and expects the transition to be “seamless and largely inconsequential.” Amazon assumed $4 billion in COVID-19 operating costs in the quarter -- including additional employee pay during the holidays -- bringing total 2020 pandemic costs to over $11.5 billion, Olsavsky said. Amazon's revenue guidance for Q1 is $100 billion-$106 billion, for growth of 33-40% vs. Q1 2020. Operating income is expected to be $3 billion-$6.5 billion vs. $4 billion in Q1 2020. Guidance assumes about $2 billion of COVID-19 costs, said the company.

Spotify shares closed 8% lower Wednesday, at $317.25, after conservative Q1 revenue guidance based on pandemic uncertainties and ongoing effects on user, subscriber and revenue growth. Revenue guidance for Q1 is $2.4 billion-$2.6 billion with 354 million-364 million monthly active users (MAUs), including 155 million-158 million paid, said the company's Q4 shareholder letter Wednesday. Q4 revenue was $2.6 billion vs. $2.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. MAUs rose 8% to 345 million -- 155 million premium, 199 million ad-supported -- but premium user retention rate slipped year on year; the company expects churn to decline in 2021. Average revenue per user (ARPU) among premium subscribers fell by $5.12. Moving into 2021, COVID-19 “still has the potential to be a headwind, as it's difficult to fully gauge its impact,” said CEO Daniel Ek on a Wednesday investor call. Though sheltering at home in 2020 led to more listeners turning to Spotify for music and podcasts, “it also created disruption in listening habits, consumption hours and the release of new music and podcasts,” Ek said. Responding to an analyst question on whether conservative guidance is an indication user growth has peaked, Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel cited promotional activity in Q1 2020 that didn’t repeat in Q1 this year. He also noted a pull-forward of listeners in a strong Q4. Spotify announced family plan price hikes Monday in 25 additional markets and full portfolio price increases in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland to improve ARPU, Ek said. The music service had 2.2 million podcasts on the platform in Q4, up from over 1.9 million in Q3. A quarter of total MAUs engaged with podcasts last quarter, up from 22% in Q3, Ek said, and consumption hours doubled from Q4 2019.

Uber will buy Drizly, the e-commerce alcohol marketplace, for $1.1 billion, 90% in stock, they said Tuesday. Drizly’s marketplace will be integrated into the Uber Eats app, they said. The deal is expected to close by June 30.

Amazon will pay about $62 million to settle allegations that it deceived Amazon Flex drivers about promised tips 2016-19, the FTC announced with a 4-0 vote Tuesday. The company allegedly withheld about $62 million from drivers and started delivering all promised tips only when it learned of an agency investigation in 2019. Amazon stopped paying drivers the “promised rate of $18-25 per hour plus the full amount of customer tips" and started giving them "a lower hourly rate,” the agency alleged. The platform didn’t tell drivers about the change, despite promises they would earn 100% of tips, the agency said: “Amazon used the customer tips to make up the difference between the new lower hourly rate and the promised rate.” Acting Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Commissioner Noah Phillips were pleased that drivers will get “every dollar” back, saying agency authority can be improved: “Congress can give us direct penalty authority to deter deception aimed at workers in the internet-enabled gig economy and rulemaking authority under the Administrative Procedure Act to address systemic and unfair practices that harm those workers.” The threat of civil penalties will deter wrongdoing, they said. Commissioner Rohit Chopra said he agrees with them that “preying on workers justifies punitive measures far beyond the restitution provided here, and I believe the FTC should act now to deploy dormant authorities to trigger civil penalties and other relief in cases like this one.” Amazon fielded hundreds of complaints after the change “as drivers became suspicious when their overall earnings decreased,” the FTC said. Complainants received Amazon responses falsely claiming they were still making 100% of tips, the agency said. Amazon returned to paying drivers the full amount in August 2019, the agency said. The company is barred from making such changes again without receiving the driver’s informed consent. "While we disagree that the historical way we reported pay to drivers was unclear, we added additional clarity in 2019 and are pleased to put this matter behind us," a company spokesperson said. "Amazon Flex delivery partners play an important role in serving customers every day, which is why they earn among the best in the industry at over $25 per hour on average.”

Ford sees 5G as a "big opportunity with what we will do with Google and beyond,” a spokesperson said when we asked about fifth-generation wireless. The carmaker named Google Cloud its preferred cloud provider for data, artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of a six-year partnership, the companies announced Monday. Ford will continue supporting Apple CarPlay, the Ford spokesperson said: “We have always offered customers connected vehicle choice for their third-party apps and services and will continue to.” Ford’s recently launched Sync 4 system provides USB-less CarPlay functionality to make it easier to integrate with Ford vehicles, he noted.