Mayor Bruce Harrell on Amazon and Seattle | Blue Origin delays big launch

The relationship between Amazon and the City of Seattle wasn’t always working well. But now the two sides are suddenly more aligned on a key issue for both: return-to-office. We sat down with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, who praised Amazon’s new five-day in-office policy and talked about navigating a delicate balance faced by many city leaders — ensuring that the local corporate giant continues to bolster the economy and tax base, while addressing the ripple effects on housing, transportation, and communities. Read more.

Related: 

• Amazon parents who got used to remote flexibility are frustrated by new 5-day in-office policy

• Downtown Seattle leader calls Amazon’s return-to-office mandate ‘influential’ as 5-day policy begins

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’s delaying the first-ever launch of its orbital-class New Glenn rocket due to unfavorable weather conditions for landing the first-stage booster. Read more.

Microsoft layoffs: The Redmond tech giant is making a new round of performance-related job cuts. Read more.

Rebellyous Foods raised a fresh nugget of cash. The Seattle-based food-tech company, which makes faux chicken products, added $2.4 million to further its R&D on a new high-tech production line. Read more.

The Washington Technology Industry Association’s 12th Founder Cohort will feature 21 early stage startups, including several that are working in AI. Read more.

The Portland Trail Blazers are offering a haptic device from a Seattle startup at home games to give vision-impaired basketball fans a tactile way to track the action on the court. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Microsoft and Google donated $1 million each to Donald Trump' s inauguration fund, following other tech giants. (The Guardian)

• Amazon is aiming to grow its advertising business by letting other sites use its ad tech. (CNBC)

• Book chain Barnes & Noble, which is going through a revitalization, is opening a new store in Bellevue, Wash., where it previously operated a store for 29 years. (Barnes & Noble, GeekWire)

• The SaaS “margin party” is over as AI shakes up software revenue models. (LinkedIn, GeekWire)