Why Amazon’s CEO isn’t entirely happy with the state of the company

Amazon went through a one-way door against its will. Now it wants to go back. And its future is at stake. The headlines about Amazon’s return-to-office mandate and quest to thin its management ranks obscure a remarkable set of statements from CEO Andy Jassy about his displeasure with how certain things are going inside the company right now. Read more.

• The company’s decision to bring employees back to the office five days a week adds fuel to the ongoing debate over remote work and productivity. 

• The Downtown Seattle Association called the mandate a “home run.” But some current and former employees beg to differ. Read more.

The last words transmitted by the crew on OceanGate’s Titan submersible before they perished in last year’s catastrophic implosion in the North Atlantic came to light during the opening day of public hearings held by the U.S. Coast Guard. Read more.

Athira layoffs: The publicly traded Seattle biotech company is laying off 49 employees, or about 70% of its workforce. Read more.

Seattle startup Arzeda raised $38 million for its protein design work for industrial, agricultural and other applications. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Intel plans to make a custom AI chip for Amazon Web Services, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the U.S. (Bloomberg)

• Microsoft is boosting its dividend by about 11% and announced a stock buyback program of up to $60 billion. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Microsoft is building two new centers in Abu Dhabi to promote responsible use of AI and broaden access to the technology. (Microsoft)

• Starbucks North America CEO Michael Conway is retiring after just five months in the new role and 11 years at the coffee giant. (Reuters)

• Amazon MGM Studios is developing a film based on the long-running video game series “The Sims.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

• Bill Gates called malnutrition the “world’s worst child health crisis” in the latest Goalkeepers report. (Gates Foundation)