Although most businesses are hurting thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, for a few select companies, the virus has been a blessing.
Amazon, for example, has seen a surge in demand, as has Netflix for its shows.
“Amazon and Netflix may have the best quarter ever,” said Hitendra Chaturvedi, a business professor at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
Amazon has been unable to keep up with customer demand under huge orders from consumers avoiding shopping centers and grocery stores outside. The spike in purchases on Amazon thanks to the coronavirus has been so significant that it plans to hire 100,000 workers in the United States and raise the pay of workers in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Europe.
“We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year,” the company said in an announcement on Monday.
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The online retail behemoth plans to spend $350 million to increase the hourly pay of its workers by $2 in the U.S. and £2 or €2 in the U.K. and EU, respectively, until the end of April. Amazon said that it expects to hire people who are unemployed from their regular jobs as the coronavirus has caused massive layoffs in the restaurant, travel, and hospitality industries.
Amazon currently pays a minimum of $15 an hour in the U.S. and £9.50 an hour in the U.K.
Online video streaming company Netflix has also seen big spikes in consumer usage due to the coronavirus pandemic, helping its stock rise on Tuesday. The latest market data on Tuesday shows that at-home entertainment services such as Netflix are benefiting from people self-quarantining during the outbreak.
“Based on the app download data, we believe there is a strong case to make that Netflix subscriber growth is increasing as people spend more time at home,” Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson said in a note to clients Tuesday, as reported by Investor’s Business Daily.
Hong Kong and South Korea have seen a huge surge in Netflix downloads recently, as have Italy and Spain since mid-February.
Another industry analyst, Michael Graham from Canaccord Genuity, came to a similar conclusion regarding Netflix’s fortunes. “Netflix should see a significant benefit to user engagement, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, which are requiring large-scale social distancing measures resulting in people being stuck at home with limited entertainment options,” Graham said in a report on Monday.
Chaturvedi says that artificial intelligence, the ability of computer systems to solve problems and perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence, is also going through a growth phase as well because it’s a technology based entirely on computers, without any need for humans. There has been significant fear around the potential for AI to control society in unforeseen ways, but the virus may create a unique opportunity for people to realize its benefits and potential as well, Chaturvedi highlighted.
“A biological virus just paved the way for its tech brethren — more AI, more chatbots, more robots, more drones are coming, and fast as they do not catch a virus and get sick,” said Chaturvedi.
AI is sometimes called “machine learning” and refers to advanced computer algorithms that can use data to “learn” and therefore make choices without human input.
