Technology
Wednesday, November 13th, 2024 6:21 pm EDT
Key Points
- Amazon has discontinued its four-year project “Encore,” an at-home fertility tracker within its Grand Challenge division, due to high costs and technical challenges; about 100 employees are being laid off as part of the shutdown.
- CEO Andy Jassy’s company-wide cost-cutting initiatives since late 2022 have led to the closure of numerous experimental projects, marking a shift from Jeff Bezos’ more experimental approach within Grand Challenge.
- The fertility tracker project, based on Amazon’s 2020 acquisition of bluDiagnostics, aimed to predict fertility by measuring hormone levels in saliva, but was delayed and ultimately discontinued due to the high weekly costs of development.
Amazon has quietly discontinued its long-term project to develop a fertility tracker, ending a four-year effort under its Grand Challenge, or Special Projects division. The project, codenamed “Encore,” aimed to create an at-home fertility monitoring device with a smartphone app, capable of predicting fertility using saliva samples. Amazon’s project was based on technology from bluDiagnostics, a startup it acquired in 2020, which had developed a thermometer-like device called FertilityFinder. This device measured hormones like estradiol and progesterone from saliva to help women track fertility. However, after a recent review, Amazon opted to shut down the project due to technical issues, the high costs associated with research and development, and ongoing cost-cutting measures across the company.
The decision to close the project was communicated in a brief videoconference with team members on October 28. The roughly 100 affected employees will remain on Amazon’s payroll until December 27, with severance pay provided afterward if they do not secure other positions within the company. Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan confirmed the layoffs, adding that the company is helping affected employees transition and find other roles. The layoffs and project discontinuation are part of a broader cost-cutting initiative led by CEO Andy Jassy, which has seen Amazon cut over 27,000 jobs and shelve multiple experimental projects since late 2022. This shift represents a marked departure from Amazon’s previous willingness under founder Jeff Bezos to fund riskier, longer-term initiatives within the Grand Challenge division.
Grand Challenge has historically been the birthplace of several experimental Amazon projects, some of which have been discontinued, such as Amazon Care, a telehealth service, and Alexa-connected eyeglasses. Today, only one project remains active within the division, focused on health technology. Amazon’s shift away from high-cost, speculative initiatives underlines the company’s current focus on more immediate, profitable ventures in response to economic pressures and a challenging market climate.
For the full original article on CNBC, please click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/13/amazon-shuts-down-secret-project-to-develop-fertility-tracker.html
