Internal Amazon FAQ reveals return-to-office policies 

• Remote work exceptions will require approval by a member of Amazon’s senior leadership team, according to the internal document, obtained by GeekWire.

• The FAQ sheds new light on how the company is approaching its mandate for employees to be in the office three days a week starting May 1.

• It also shows the challenges that companies face as they bring workers back to the office — including some who were hired during the pandemic and have yet to work regularly with their current colleagues in person. Read the story.

Meanwhile, Amazon began notifying employees impacted by its latest layoffs, part of the 9,000 job cuts announced by Amazon in March, and 27,000 overall cuts since late last year. These cuts primarily impact AWS, human resources, advertising, and Twitch. Read more.

Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard just got twice as tough. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a final decision Wednesday to prevent the tech giant from proceeding with the $69 billion deal, joining the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in opposing what would be the largest acquisition in the history of video games. Read more

Microsoft’s financial results Tuesday afternoon weren’t as bad as Wall Street expected, thanks to continued strength in the company’s cloud division. Revenue was up 7% to nearly $53 billion. But it was still the second straight quarter of single-digit growth. Read more.

Public opinion about Seattle is improving — a little bit. A new survey of Seattle voters found that only 56% are “optimistic about the future” of the region, but that’s up from 50% last year. The Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce survey also asked voters whether they’ve considered leaving, if they feel safe downtown, and more. Read the results.

Blue Origin has been chosen to collaborate with NASA on new technologies that could become part of future missions to the moon and Mars. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space venture is one of 12 companies selected. Read more.

Tech Moves: Apptentive co-founder joins Magnify; Amazon CEO picks new technical advisor; and more personnel moves.

University of Washington students pitched their startup ideas during a DubHacks Next demo day that showed off such things as a platform for brand ambassador programs and a marketplace for rural plots of land. Read about the pitches.

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. —  GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekire.com; GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.