Amazon (AMZN) continues to impress investors this week, removing Quidsi apps from the App Store on Friday. The world’s biggest online retailer announced at the end of March that the company will shut down all properties under the Quidsi name, including Diapers.com.
Quidsi, an e-commerce company, has been part of Amazon since 2010 when the company was purchased for $545 million. The company initially didn’t provide clues as to when they would shutter Quidsi’s operations.
Quidsi’s biggest sites include Soap.com and Wag.com along with numerous others, including YoYo.com and Bookworm.com. Reports suggest that the Diapers.com app was pulled on Wednesday or Thursday when the app was last ranking on the App Store. The removal of the app hasn’t been publicly announced by Amazon at this time.
The apps currently work for customers that previously downloaded the apps.
Quidsi failed to become a profitable division for Amazon after seven years. Rumors that execs forecasted the company to become profitable this year lend to further questioning of Amazon’s move. App rankings didn’t indicate a positive uptick of users for any of the sites under the Quidsi brand.
Amazon offered several big announcements this week, including the company’s plan to hire 30,000 part-time employees in the next year. The company includes 5,000 work-at-home, positions with the company already employing over 100,000 full-time employees.
Virtual customer service program employees will fill the at-home positions.
The remaining part-time employees will find work across 70 of the company’s fulfillment centers. Benefits are offered to all part-time workers at the retail giant. The company had over 180,000 employees at the end of 2016.
Earlier in the week, Amazon announced the launch of their Amazon Cash product. The program allows consumers to go to their local CVS store to pay for goods in cash. The process works on the platform’s app. The company sends a barcode to the user, allowing them to go to their local CVS and add money to their account.
The system is similar to the My PayPal (PYPL) Cash card. The system bypasses the need for a standard merchant account in areas where cash is used more than credit or bank accounts. Statistics show a strong need for cash options as 24.5 million households are underbanked or unbanked.
Unbanked households use cash to pay for their goods.
Amazon’s previous system allowed for only credit or debit card payments, limiting the e-commerce store’s reach with unbanked homes. The move is expected to help boost the company’s Amazon Prime membership numbers, too, with the company announcing earlier in the year that the service is expanding at the fastest rate among low-income households.
Low-income households make up the majority of the population lacking a traditional banking option. Amazon considers low-income households as households that make less than $50,000 per year in income. The income bracket increased the number of people using the Prime service by 48.5% during the last holiday season.
Amazon also announced that they have streaming rights for NFL content valued at $50 million. The company’s stock is up 6% in the previous 30-day period.